Comet Encounters and Carbon 14
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
2015-06-12 v1 High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract
The C production of shock-accelerated particles is calculated in terms of the total energy released in energetic particles. The recently reported 1.2% jump in the C content of the atmosphere in the year C.E. 775, it is found, would require erg in energetic particles, less than first estimates but far more than any known solar flare on record. It is noted that the superflare from a large comet (comparable to C/Hale-Bopp) colliding with the sun could produce shock-accelerated GeV cosmic rays in the solar corona and/or solar wind, and possibly account for the CE 775 event. Several additional predictions of cometary encounters with the sun and other stars may be observable in the future.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1211.6121,
title = {Comet Encounters and Carbon 14},
author = {David Eichler and David Mordecai},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1211.6121},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
to appear in ApJ Letters