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Annihilation Radiation and Gamma-Ray Continuum from the Galactic Center Region

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 September 2016

Richard E. Lingenfelter
Affiliation:
Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences University of California, San Diego La Jolla, CA 92093 U. S. A.
Reuven Ramaty
Affiliation:
Laboratory for High Energy Astrophysics Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD 20771 U. S. A.

Abstract

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Observations of the time-dependent, electron-positron annihilation line radiation and gamma-ray continuum emission from the region of the Galactic Center show that there are two components to the annihilation line emission: a variable, compact source at or near the Galactic Center, and a steady, diffuse interstellar distribution. We suggest that the annihilating positrons in the compact source, observed from 1977 through 1979, result from photon-photon pair production, most likely around an accreting black hole, and that the annihilating, interstellar positrons result from the decay of radionuclei produced by thermonuclear burning in supernovae.

Type
The High - Energy View
Copyright
Copyright © Kluwer 1989 

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