One-photon and two-photon annihilation lines in gamma-bursts,I

This paper and subsequent Paper II are an investigation of the annihilation line formation in gamma-ray bursts based on the assumption of positron production in a strong magnetic field (because of one-photon absorption of hard gamma-quanta radiated in the neutron star hot polar spot). We discuss a two-photon annihilation line in this paper. It is shown that if the star magnetic field is greater than 3×10¹² G, the relative flux in the line depends solely on the hardness of the continuum and is, as a rule, less than or about 10–20% of the total flux. This is consistent with the spectral data recorded by ‘Venera-11’ and ‘Venera-12’ space probes. The annihilation region formation above the hot polar spot is discussed, and positron density and annihilation region dimensions are estimated.     

Gamma-ray lines observed in balloon flights at high rigidity

Gamma-ray lines at 0.511 MeV and 1.632 MeV have been observed at high rigidity (12.5 GV), and up to 4 g cm^–2, during stratospheric balloon flights launched from São José dos Campos, Brazil. The flux of these lines are compared with the results obtained at other rigidity regions. The intensity variations of the most prominent of these lines, the annihilation line at 0.511 MeV, is found to be compatible, at various atmospheric depths, with theoretical predictions. This study has led to the estimation of an upper limit for the flux of the extra-terrestrial 0.511 MeV gamma-ray line.     

The Prompt Ultraviolet/Soft X-ray Emission of GRBs

We discuss the prompt emission of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), allowing for γγ pair production and synchrotron self-absorption. The observed hard spectra suggest heavy pair-loading in GRBs. The re-emission of the generated pairs results in the energy transmission from high-energy gamma-rays to long-wavelength radiation. Due to strong self-absorption, the synchrotron radiation by pairs is in optically thick regime. Thus, the re-emission would appear as a thermal-like spectral bump in the extreme-ultraviolet/soft X-ray band, other than the peak from the main burst. The confirmation of the thermal-like feature and the double-peak structure by future satellites, such as Swift, would indicate that the dominant radiation mechanism in GRBs is synchrotron rather than inverse-Compton radiation.     

Cosmic gamma-ray burst spectroscopy

A review is given of the gamma-ray burst energy spectrum measurements on Venera 11 and Venera 12 space probes. The gamma burst continuum approximates in shape thermal brems-strahlung emission of a hot plasma. The radiation temperature varies over a broad range, 50–1000 keV, for different events. Spectra of many bursts contain cyclotron absorption and/or redshifted annihilation lines. Strong variability is typically observed in both continuum and line spectra. These spectral data provide convincing evidence for the gamma-ray bursts being generated by neutron stars with superstrong magnetic fields 10¹²–10¹³ G.     

Gamma-ray bursts observed from the Hinotori satellite

During February, 1981 and June, 1982 the gamma-ray and the hard X-ray spectrometers on the Hinotori satellite observed four gamma-ray bursts on 28 February, 21 July, 1981, 26 February and 13 March, 1982. These gamma-ray bursts were simultaneously observed by other satellites. The time histories and energy spectra are shown for these gamma-ray bursts, and the burst sizes (erg cm^–2) are estimated. Two possible source locations for the burst of 21 July, 1981 are roughly determined from arrival time delays between two pairs of satellites, PVO-Hinotori and ISEE-3-Hinotori. The weak gamma-ray line peak structure around 1.8 MeV was observed for the burst of 13 March, 1982. The line could be interpreted in terms of gravitationally redshifted neutron capture line at 2.22 MeV.     

One-photon and two-photon annihilation lines in gamma-bursts,II

This paper, which is a continuation of Paper I (Zheleznyakov and Litvinchuk, 1985), studies the formation of a one-quantum annihilation line in the spectrum of gamma-ray bursts. The radiative transfer equation together with the positron density balance relation is solved, and the expected photon fluxes in the one- and two-quantum annihilation lines are calculated. The fractional luminosities of these lines versus source parameters are investigated. For a gamma-burst one-photon annihilation line, the luminosity is always much less than that for the two-photon line-i.e., the positron source power transforms almost entirely into radiation in the two-quantum annihilation line and the positron density depends solely on the specific source power and two-quantum annihilation probability. The flux of one-quantum annihilation quanta 1 MeV is estimated to be less than what modern detectors can resolve. This explains failure to detect the one-photon annihilation lines in gamma-bursts so far.     

Nuclear line spectroscopy of solar flares

The study of nuclear line spectra from solar flares holds a rich promise for elucidating the properties of both the accelerated particles and the interaction or target region. We review the observations and the analysis of the large nuclear line rich flare which occurred near the west limb starting at 08:03 UT on 27 April, 1981. The observed spectrum from this flare contains three intense and isolated gamma-ray lines which can be analyzed in a model independent way. The measured energies are 1.628 ± 0.008, 4.430 ± 0.011, and 6.147 ± 0.022 MeV, identifying them as the de-excitation lines of ²⁰Ne (1.634 MeV), ¹²C (4.438 MeV), and ¹⁶O (6.129 MeV). Elemental abundances of the ambient gas at the site of gamma-ray line production in the solar atmosphere are deduced using these gamma-ray line observations. The resultant abundances are different from local galactic abundances which are thought to be similar to photospheric abundances.Resident Research Associate at NRL under the NRC Associateship Program.     

Electron-positron and photon wind from the surface of a strange star

We consider the problem of strange-star (SS) radiation. The bare quark SS surface and electrons on the stellar surface generate an electric field that is strong enough for electron-positron pairs to be produced from a vacuum at a nonzero temperature. The luminosity in pairs is assumed to be within ?10⁴⁹ erg s^?1 from a surface with a characteristic radius of 10 km. We consider the energy transfer from pairs to photons by taking into account the well-studied reactions between e, e ⁺, γ and obtain a change in the photon spectrum with luminosity. Our analysis is restricted to the spherically symmetric case. The magnetic field is disregarded. To solve the problem, we developed a new numerical method of integrating the Boltzmann kinetic equations for pairs and photons. This method is used to calculate the problem up to a luminosity of 10⁴² erg s^?1 This region is difficult to investigate when the optical path for pairs or photons is considerably larger than unity but the two optical depths are not simultaneously much larger than unity (when hydrodynamics with heat conduction is applicable). It turns out that the mean photon energy is approximately equal to $\bar \in _\gamma \approx m_e c^2$ (the annihilation line for pairs) at a modest luminosity, L?1×10³⁷ erg s^?1, and decreases to ≈210 keV at L?10³⁸ erg s^?1. Hydrodynamic estimates point to an increase in the mean energy $\bar \in _\gamma$ to 1 MeV as the luminosity further increases to L?10⁴⁹ erg s^?1. Our calculations may prove to be useful in interpreting soft gamma repeaters (SGRs) and are of methodological interest.     

Electron-positron annihilation lines and decaying sterile neutrinos

If massive sterile neutrinos exist, their decays into photons and/or electron-positron pairs may give rise to observable consequences. We consider the possibility that MeV sterile neutrino decays lead to the diffuse positron annihilation line in the Milky Way center, and we thus obtain bounds on the sterile neutrino decay rate Γ _e ≥10⁻²⁸ s⁻¹ from relevant astrophysical/cosmological data. Also, we expect a soft gamma flux of 1.2×10⁻⁴–9.7×10⁻⁴ ph cm⁻² s⁻¹ from the Milky Way center which shows up as a small MeV bump in the background photon spectrum. Furthermore, we estimate the flux of active neutrinos produced by sterile neutrino decays to be 0.02–0.1 cm⁻² s⁻¹ passing through the earth.     

Two-photon annihilation radiation in strong magnetic field: the case of small longitudinal velocities of electrons and positrons

Spectra, angular distributions, and polarization of two-photon annihilation radiation in a magnetic field are studied in detail in the case of small longitudinal velocities of annihilating electrons and positrons which occupy the ground Landau level. Magnetic field essentially affects the annihilation if its magnitudeB is not very low in comparison withB _cr=4.4×10¹³G, which may take place near the surface of a neutron star. The magnetic field broadens the spectra (the width depends on an angle betweenB and a wave vector) and leads to their asymmetry. The angular distribution may be highly anisotropic, being fan-like or pencillike for different photon energies . The total annihilation rate is suppressed by the magnetic field (B ^–3 forBB _cr).The radiation is linearly polarized; the degree and orientation of the polarization depend onB, and . The polarization may reach several tens percent even for comparatively small fieldsB 0.1B _crtypical for neutron stars. This means that the polarization may be detected, e.g., in the annihilation radiation from the gamma-ray bursts.     

The Process of Photon-Splitting and its Effect on Pulsar Emission:The Analytic Approach

Magnetic photon splitting γ → γγ, a quantum electrodynamic process that becomes important when magnetic field approaching the quantum critical value, B _c = 4.413 × 10¹³ G, may have important effects on pulsar radio emission. According to the standard model, the pulsar radio emission is produced by coherent curvature radiation of a large amounts of e ^± pairs, which are thought to be generated by the pair creation process γ + B → e ^±. However, if the magnetic field is strong enough, the photon splitting may dominate the pair creation process, then the amounts of e ^± pairs and the radio luminosity will be strongly suppressed and may be undetectable. Here we use the fitted analytical formula of the photon splitting attenuation coefficient to study the above process, and find that the photon splitting will strongly decrease the radio emission when B > 10¹³ G. We also note that the photon splitting can strongly but not totally suppress the creation of pairs due to the diminishing dependence of B in the attenuation coefficient. We find that the ratio of the probability of a photon being absorbed by photon splitting to that by pair creation is no more than about six. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Synchrotron cooling and annihilation of ane +-e − plasma: The radiation mechanism for the 5 March, 1979 transient

Positron-electron pair radiation is examined as a mechanism that could be responsible for the impulsive phase emission of the 5 March, 1979 transient. Synchrotron cooling and subsequent annihilation of the pairs can account for the energy spectrum, the very high brightness, and the 0.4 MeV feature observed from this transient, whose source is likely to be a neutron star in the supernova remnant N49 in the Large Magellanic Cloud. In this model, the observed radiation is produced in the skin layer of a hot, radiation-dominated pair atmosphere, probably confined to the vicinity of the neutron star by a strong magnetic field. The width of this layer is only about 0.1 mm. In this layer, 10¹² generations of pairs are formed (by photon-photon collisions), cooled and annihilated during the 0.15 s duration of the impulsive phase. The very large burst energy implied by the distance of the LMC, and its very rapid release, are unsolved problems. We mention, nonetheless, the possibility of neutron star vibrations, which could transport the energy coherently to the surface, heat the atmosphere mechanically to a hot, pair-producing temperature, and have a characteristic damping time roughly equal to the duration of the impulsive phase.Paper presented at the Symposium on Cosmic Gamma-Ray Bursts held at Toulouse, France, 26–29 November, 1979.     

Annihilation radiation in cosmic gamma-ray bursts

The emission features observed in the energy spectra of cosmic gamma-ray bursts imply the existence of two radiation components of comparable intensity. The softer component is similar to the continua of featureless bursts. The fast decrease in the intensity of this radiation with increasing photon energy is apparently due to the neutron star's magnetosphere being opaque to hard photons because of the formation of electron-positron pairs in single- (,B) and two-photon (,), processes. The hard component originates from the annihilation of electron-positron pairs, its spectrum representing a broad line with an extended power-law wing. Such a shape of the spectrum is apparently due to either thermal broadening in a source with a spatially inhomogeneous and rapidly time-varying plasma temperature, or nonthermal energy distribution of particles in their motion along the magnetic field lines. It is assumed that the sources of these components are spatially separated, the annihilation radiation escaping from the polar regions of a strongly magnetized neutron star in a collimated beam without appreciable attenuation.     

Bremsstrahlung gamma radiation and interstellar electron spectrum in the local interstellar medium

We present a detailed study of the bremsstrahlung gamma-ray emissivity of the galactic disk. We show that there are large uncertainties in the production spectrum of photons in the medium energy range (10–100 MeV) due to our lack of knowledge of the interstellar electron spectrum below a few hundred MeV. In fact, gamma-ray observations can be of great help in determining this spectrum. At present, the spectral shape of the local gamma-ray emissivity above 30 MeV is available, thanks to the SAS-II and the COS-B satellites. Comparing it to our calculations, we determine the local interstellar electron flux in the 50–500 MeV range; the corresponding integrated gamma-ray emissivity above 100 MeV is equal to 2.4×10^–25 photons s^–1 (H-atom)^–1, 60% higher than previously accepted values.     

Coherent Synchrotron Radiation of Gamma-Ray Bursts

By now there is no doubt that the gamma-ray bursts (GRB) have a cosmological origin. This allows to regard GRB as the most powerful known energy sources, ε∼ 10⁵⁴ erg (with a total number of gamma quanta N_γ∼ 10⁶⁰). A plausible mechanism of coherent synchrotron radiation (CSR) of relativistic electrons driven by a local magnetic field is studied in this paper. We consider relativistic electrons arising in the Compton scattering of a GRB in directions close to that of the ray from the source to a ground-based observer. The synchrotron pulses from Compton electrons located at different points on the line between the GRB source and the observer arrive at the observation point simultaneously. This simultaneity ensures the coherence of the detected radiation. Both molecular clouds in the host galaxy of the GRB and our own Galaxy, as well as the Earth atmosphere are assumed to be scatterers of the GRB radiation. Signals of each scatterer reach the Earth surface, and can be detected at radio wavelengths. We estimate the characteristics of this radiation. The comparison of GRB data with the corresponding information on CSR pulses offers a way to determine some global characteristics of the medium between the Earth and the GRB source.     

A pair production telescope for medium-energy gamma-ray polarimetry

We describe the science motivation and development of a pair production telescope for medium-energy (∼5–200 MeV) gamma-ray polarimetry. Our instrument concept, the Advanced Energetic Pair Telescope (AdEPT), takes advantage of the Three-Dimensional Track Imager, a low-density gaseous time projection chamber, to achieve angular resolution within a factor of two of the pair production kinematics limit (∼0.6° at 70 MeV), continuum sensitivity comparable with the Fermi-LAT front detector (<3 × 10⁻⁶ MeV cm⁻² s⁻¹ at 70 MeV), and minimum detectable polarization less than 10% for a 10 mCrab source in 10⁶ s.     

Annihilation radiation from thermal electron-positron plasma on the ground Landau level: The case of low magnetic fields

The intensity and polarization of two-photon annihilation in a magnetic fuieldBB _cr =4.4×10¹³ G are studied in detail for a, one-dimensional thermal distribution of annihilating electrons and positrons on the ground Landau level. With the increase of temperatureT the total annihilation rate and energy losses decrease, being higher than for the isotropic thermal distributions at the sameT. The shapes of intensity spectra at sin =0 ( is the angle betweenB and wave-vector) are close to those in the isotropic case. The widths and blue-shifts of the spectra decrease with increasing sin and increase with increasingT. Logarthmic singularities arise in the spectra atE»mc ²/sin . Power-like parts are formed in the wings of the spectra forkTmc ² and not too small sin . The direction-integrated spectra reach their (finite) maxima, atE=mc ² for anyT. The radiation concentrates near the plane, perpendicular to the magnetic field forE close tomc ² and is beamed along the magnetic field forE far frommc ². Energy-integrated angular distributions are stretched alongB, the stronger the higherT. The rediation is linearly polarized in the plane formed by the magnetic field and weve-vector. Typical values of the polarization inside the cores of the annihilation spectra are (kT/mc ²) sin and [ln (kT/mc ²)]^–1 forkTmc ² andkT sin mc ², respectively. Annihilation radiation dominates over Bremsstrahlung in thee plasma atkT7mc ². The results are useful for interpretation of the annihilation radiation in the gamma-ray bursts. They permit to estimate temperature, gravitational potential, and emission measure of radiating regions and the beaming of the radiation.     

Particle Acceleration in Reconnecting Current Sheets in Impulsive Electron-Rich Solar Flares

Electron and proton acceleration in reconnecting current sheets in electron-rich solar flares is considered. A significant three-dimensional magnetic field is assumed in the current sheet where the particles are accelerated by the DC electric field. The tearing instability of a pre-flare current sheet leads to the formation of multiple singular lines of magnetic field where the electric and magnetic fields are coaligned. Magnetized electrons are shown to be accelerated to a few tens of MeV before they leave the vicinity of a singular line. The acceleration time is estimated to be less than 10^–3 s. By contrast, much heavier protons are unmagnetized and their energy gain is more modest. The model explains a high electron-to-proton ratio and the unusually intense gamma-ray continuum above 1 MeV observed in the electron-rich flares.     

Possible effects of positronium negative ion on 0.511 MeV ψ-ray line in astrophysical sources

The astrophysical importance of the negative positronium ion, detected recently in the laboratory, has been pointed out. It is found that the presence of Ps^– ions will contribute additionally to the width of 0.511 -ray line formed by pair annihilation. The formation of Ps^– ion from an aggregate of electrons, positrons and positronium results in a variable positron population in the 0.511 MeV -ray line source.     

Pulsar radio emission

The theory of pulsar radio emission has been developed in a series of our papers since 1992. It was shown that pulsar radio emission is produced in the lower part of a channel of open magnetic field lines, in a region with a height h ≈ 1.1-10⁷ μ ₃₀ ^1/3 /P^4/21 cm above a magnetic cap of the neutron star (P is the pulsar’s period and μ is the star’s magnetic moment). Here, owing to vigorously occurring processes (the production of photons of curvature radiation and their annihilation into e⁺e^- pairs), two ultrarelativistic particle fluxes are formed: an electron flux moving upward and a positron flux falling onto the star’s magnetic cap. These main fluxes are accompanied by narrow strips of positron and electron fluxes of relatively low energy, the curvature emission from which is a strong coherent radio source. The present paper is a review of earlier papers, and important additions and refinements are also made. Equations are offered for the radio luminosity of a pulsar, the solid angle of the radio beam, and the magnetic moment and moment of inertia of the pulsar’s neutron star. Translated from Astrofizika, Vol. 43, No. 1, pp. 147-169, January–March, 2000.