X-ray vision: Seeing through the mystery of an X-ray emissions mechanism

Since the 1960s, scientists who study X-rays, lightning and similar phenomena have observed something curious: In lab experiments replicating these occurrences, electrons accelerated between two electrodes can be of a higher energy than the voltage applied. According to researchers, this defies an assumption in physics that the energy of the electrons should correspond with the voltage applied. Despite the decades-long awareness of this apparent contradiction, researchers couldn't figure out why this was happening. Recently, a team of researchers used mathematical modeling to explain the underlying mechanism at play.