Related papers: Gamma-Rays from Positron Annihilation
The imaging spectrometer SPI on board ESA's INTEGRAL observatory provides us with an unprecedented view of positron annihilation in our Galaxy. The first sky maps in the 511 keV annihilation line and in the positronium continuum from SPI…
Since its launch in October 2002, ESA's INTEGRAL observatory has enabled significant advances to be made in the study of Galactic nucleosynthesis. In particular, the imaging Ge spectrometer SPI combines for the first time the diagnostic…
The annihilation of positrons in the Galaxy's interstellar medium produces characteristic gamma-rays with a line at 511 keV. This emission has been observed with the spectrometer SPI on INTEGRAL, confirming a puzzling morphology with bright…
The center of our Galaxy is a known strong source of electron-positron 511-keV annihilation radiation. Thus far, however, there have been no reliable detections of annihilation radiation outside of the central radian of our Galaxy. One of…
The 511 keV line from positron annihilation in the Galaxy was the first $\gamma$-ray line detected to originate from outside our solar system. Going into the fifth decade since the discovery, the source of positrons is still unconfirmed and…
The diffuse continuum emission from the Galactic plane in the energy range 18-1000 keV has been studied using 16 Ms of data from the SPI instrument on INTEGRAL. With such an exposure we can exploit the imaging properties of SPI to achieve a…
We present a measurement of the sky distribution of positronium (Ps) annihilation continuum emission obtained with the SPI spectrometer on board ESA's INTEGRAL observatory. The only sky region from which significant Ps continuum emission is…
The bulge of our Galaxy is illuminated by the 0.511 MeV gamma-ray line flux from annihilations of nonrelativistic positrons. The emission is strongly concentrated at the Galactic Center, in contrast to gamma-ray maps tracing nucleosynthesis…
The SPI instrument on-board the ESA/INTEGRAL satellite is engaged in a mission-long study of positron annihilation radiation from the Galaxy. Early results suggest that the disk component is only weakly detected at 511 keV by SPI. We review…
The 511 keV positron annihilation emission remains a mysterious component of the high energy emission of our Galaxy. Its study was one of the key scientific objective of the SPI spectrometer on-board the INTEGRAL satellite. In fact, a lot…
The first gamma-ray line originating from outside the solar system that was ever detected is the 511 keV emission from positron annihilation in the Galaxy. Despite 30 years of intense theoretical and observational investigation, the main…
The International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory, i.e. the INTEGRAL satellite of ESA, in orbit since about 3 years, performs gamma-ray observations of the sky in the 15 keV to 8 MeV energy range. Thanks to its imager IBIS, and in…
I review our current understanding of positron sources in the Galaxy, on the basis of the reported properties of the observed 511 keV annihilation line. It is argued here that most of the disk positrons propagate away from the disk and the…
The e$^+$ e$^-$ annihilation line at 511 keV provides a unique probe for studying the distribution and origin of positrons in our Galaxy. The SPI spectrometer on INTEGRAL has observed this gamma-ray line for two decades. We analyze 20 years…
The electron-positron annihilation gamma-ray signal at 511 keV in the Milky Way is investigated towards a possible dark matter interpretation. If all bulge positrons were created by dark matter particle annihilation, the satellite galaxies…
During its first year in orbit the INTEGRAL observatory performed deep exposures of the Galactic Center region and scanning observations of the Galactic plane. We report on the status of our analysis of the positron annihilation radiation…
The INTEGRAL observatory has been performing a deep survey of the Galactic central radian since 2003, with the goal of both extracting a catalog of sources and gaining insight into the Galactic diffuse emission. This paper concentrates on…
Measurement and astrophysical interpretation of characteristic gamma-ray lines from nucleosynthesis was one of the prominent science goals of the INTEGRAL mission and in particular its spectrometer SPI. Emission from 26Al and from 60Fe…
The positron annihilation gamma-ray signal in the Milky Way (MW) shows a puzzling morphology: a very bright bulge and a very low surface-brightness disk. A coherent explanation of the positron origin, propagation through the Galaxy and…
The electron-positron annihilation spectrum observed by SPI/INTEGRAL during deep Galactic Center region exposure is reported. The line energy (510.954$\pm$0.075 keV) is consistent with the unshifted annihilation line. The width of the…