The intense 0.511 MeV gamma-ray line emission from the Galactic Center observed by INTEGRAL requires a large annihilation rate of nonrelativistic positrons. If these positrons are injected at even mildly relativistic energies, higher-energy gamma rays will also be produced. We calculate the gamma-ray spectrum due to inflight annihilation and compare it with the observed diffuse Galactic gamma-ray data. Even with a simplified but conservative treatment, we find that the positron injection energies must be less than or similar to 3 MeV, which strongly constrains models for Galactic positron production.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.97.071102 | DOI Listing |
Nature
October 2024
Tsung-Dao Lee Institute, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
Microquasars are laboratories for the study of jets of relativistic particles produced by accretion onto a spinning black hole. Microquasars are near enough to allow detailed imaging of spatial features across the multiwavelength spectrum. The recent extension measurement of the spatial morphology of a microquasar, SS 433, to TeV gamma rays localizes the acceleration of electrons at shocks in the jet far from the black hole.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Rep
October 2024
Department of Physics, Kansas State University, 116 Cardwell Hall, Manhattan, KS, 66506-2601, USA.
In the electron Born self-energy (eBse) model, free electrons are of finite-size and possess both a rest mass, m, as well as, a Born mass, m = 74,000 m. The Born mass, which originates from the energy contained within the electric field that surrounds a finite-sized electron, serves as a Dark Matter (DM) particle in this theory (designated eBDM, electron Born Dark Matter). The equation of state for m is w = -1, which implies that two Born masses experience a repulsive gravitational interaction.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRadiat Prot Dosimetry
May 2024
National Radiation Protection Agency, P.O. Box 33732, Yaounde, Cameroon.
According to UNSCEAR, cosmic radiation contributes to ~16% (0.39 mSv/y) of the total dose received by the public at sea level. The exposure to cosmic rays at a specific location is therefore a non-negligible parameter that contributes to the assessment of the overall public exposure to radiation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFACS Earth Space Chem
January 2024
Department of Physics & Astronomy, Wellesley College, Wellesley, Massachusetts 02481, United States.
We demonstrate for the first time that Galactic cosmic rays with energies as high as ∼10 eV can trigger a cascade of low-energy (<20 eV) secondary electrons that could be a significant contributor to the interstellar synthesis of prebiotic molecules whose delivery by comets, meteorites, and interplanetary dust particles may have kick-started life on Earth. For the energetic processing of interstellar ice mantles inside dark, dense molecular clouds, we explore the relative importance of low-energy (<20 eV) secondary electrons-agents of radiation chemistry-and low-energy (<10 eV), nonionizing photons-instigators of photochemistry. Our calculations indicate fluxes of ∼10 electrons cm s for low-energy secondary electrons produced within interstellar ices due to attenuated Galactic cosmic-ray protons.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLife Sci Space Res (Amst)
November 2023
Oculus, Redmond, WA, USA.
We report the results of the first six years of measurements of the energetic particle radiation environment on the International Space Station (ISS) with the Radiation Assessment Detector (ISS-RAD), spanning the period from February 2016 to February 2022. The first RAD was designed and built for MSL, the Mars Science Laboratory rover, also known as Curiosity; it has been operating on Mars since 2012 and is referred to here as MSL-RAD. ISS-RAD combines two sensor heads, one nearly identical to the single MSL-RAD sensor head, the other with greatly enhanced sensitivity to fast neutrons.
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