Positronia’ Clouds in Universe
The intense emission of 511 keV photons from the Galactic center and within terrestrial thunderstorms is attributed to the formation of parapositronia clouds. Unbound electron–positron pairs and positronia can be created by strong electromagnetic fields produced in interactions of electrically charg...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-02-01
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| Series: | Universe |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2218-1997/7/2/42 |
| _version_ | 1797396825373671424 |
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| author | Igor M. Dremin |
| author_facet | Igor M. Dremin |
| author_sort | Igor M. Dremin |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The intense emission of 511 keV photons from the Galactic center and within terrestrial thunderstorms is attributed to the formation of parapositronia clouds. Unbound electron–positron pairs and positronia can be created by strong electromagnetic fields produced in interactions of electrically charged objects, in particular, in collisions of heavy nuclei. Kinematics of this process favors abundant creation of the unbound electron–positron pairs with very small masses and the confined parapositronia states which decay directly to two 511 keV quanta. Therefore, we propose to consider interactions of electromagnetic fields of colliding heavy ions as a source of low-mass pairs which can transform to 511 keV quanta. Intensity of their creation is enlarged by the factor Z<inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><msup><mrow></mrow><mn>4</mn></msup></semantics></math></inline-formula> (Z is the electric charge of a heavy ion) compared to protons with Z = 1. These processes are especially important at very high energies of nuclear collisions because their cross sections increase proportionally to cube of the logarithm of energy and can even exceed the cross sections of strong interactions which may not increase faster than the squared logarithm of energy. Moreover, production of extremely low-mass <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><msup><mi>e</mi><mo>+</mo></msup><msup><mi>e</mi><mo>−</mo></msup></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>-pairs in ultraperipheral nuclear collisions is strongly enhanced due to the Sommerfeld-Gamow-Sakharov (SGS) factor which accounts for mutual Coulomb attraction of non-relativistic electrons to positrons in case of low pair-masses. This attraction may lead to their annihilation and, therefore, to the increased intensity of 511 keV photons. It is proposed to confront the obtained results to forthcoming experimental data at NICA collider. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T00:57:08Z |
| format | Article |
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| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2218-1997 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T00:57:08Z |
| publishDate | 2021-02-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Universe |
| spelling | doaj.art-f7fa42acec904230a4488856ba7be2bb2023-12-11T16:50:57ZengMDPI AGUniverse2218-19972021-02-01724210.3390/universe7020042Positronia’ Clouds in UniverseIgor M. Dremin0Lebedev Physical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119991 Moscow, RussiaThe intense emission of 511 keV photons from the Galactic center and within terrestrial thunderstorms is attributed to the formation of parapositronia clouds. Unbound electron–positron pairs and positronia can be created by strong electromagnetic fields produced in interactions of electrically charged objects, in particular, in collisions of heavy nuclei. Kinematics of this process favors abundant creation of the unbound electron–positron pairs with very small masses and the confined parapositronia states which decay directly to two 511 keV quanta. Therefore, we propose to consider interactions of electromagnetic fields of colliding heavy ions as a source of low-mass pairs which can transform to 511 keV quanta. Intensity of their creation is enlarged by the factor Z<inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><msup><mrow></mrow><mn>4</mn></msup></semantics></math></inline-formula> (Z is the electric charge of a heavy ion) compared to protons with Z = 1. These processes are especially important at very high energies of nuclear collisions because their cross sections increase proportionally to cube of the logarithm of energy and can even exceed the cross sections of strong interactions which may not increase faster than the squared logarithm of energy. Moreover, production of extremely low-mass <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><msup><mi>e</mi><mo>+</mo></msup><msup><mi>e</mi><mo>−</mo></msup></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>-pairs in ultraperipheral nuclear collisions is strongly enhanced due to the Sommerfeld-Gamow-Sakharov (SGS) factor which accounts for mutual Coulomb attraction of non-relativistic electrons to positrons in case of low pair-masses. This attraction may lead to their annihilation and, therefore, to the increased intensity of 511 keV photons. It is proposed to confront the obtained results to forthcoming experimental data at NICA collider.https://www.mdpi.com/2218-1997/7/2/42positroniumionultraperipheralUniversethunderstorm |
| spellingShingle | Igor M. Dremin Positronia’ Clouds in Universe Universe positronium ion ultraperipheral Universe thunderstorm |
| title | Positronia’ Clouds in Universe |
| title_full | Positronia’ Clouds in Universe |
| title_fullStr | Positronia’ Clouds in Universe |
| title_full_unstemmed | Positronia’ Clouds in Universe |
| title_short | Positronia’ Clouds in Universe |
| title_sort | positronia clouds in universe |
| topic | positronium ion ultraperipheral Universe thunderstorm |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2218-1997/7/2/42 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT igormdremin positroniacloudsinuniverse |