Date of Award

12-2008

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Legacy Department

Physics

Committee Chair/Advisor

Lesing, Mark

Committee Member

Hartmann , Dieter

Committee Member

King , Jeremy

Abstract

The 511 keV positron annhilation emission from the Galactic bulge has yet to solely be attributed to any astrophysical source of positrons. The 511 keV line, characteristic of electron-positron annihilation, was discovered in 1970 by Johnson and Haymes [1973] almost 40 years ago. Most recently the INTERnational Gamma-Ray Astrophysical Laboratory (INTEGRAL) [Knodlseder 1997] has measured the annihilation rates of both components of the Galaxy. The bulge and disk annihilation rates are (1.5 ± 0.1) x 10^43 e+ s^-1 and(0.3 ± 0.2) x 10^43 e+ s^-1, respectively. The ratio of the bulge rate to that of the disk ranges from 3-9. Many astrophysical galactic sources have been proposed to be the source of positrons.

Included in

Physics Commons

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.