Related papers: The Positron Puzzle
A mosaic of 5 \ros~PSPC pointed observations in the Galactic plane ($l\sim25^{\circ}$) reveals X-ray shadows in the $0.5-2.0$ keV band cast by distant molecular clouds. The observed on-cloud and off-cloud X-ray fluxes indicate that…
Entanglement of photons originating from the electron-positron annihilation has not been proven experimentally. Though the independent experiments performed so far unanimously confirm that correlation between the linear polarizations of…
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…
We show that the positron excess measured by the PAMELA experiment in the region between 10 and 100 GeV may well be a natural consequence of the standard scenario for the origin of Galactic cosmic rays. The 'excess' arises because of…
The 511 keV gamma emission from the galactic core may originate from a high concentration ($\sim 10^{22}$) of primordial black holes (PBHs) in the core each of whose Hawking radiation includes $\sim 10^{21}$ positrons per second. The PBHs…
Positron annihilation line at 511~keV is a known component of the gamma-ray diffuse emission. It is believed to be produced in the Galaxy, but there could be possible extragalactic contribution as well. E.g., positrons can be produced in…
The PAMELA and Fermi measurements of the cosmic-ray electron and positron spectra have generated much interest over the past two years, because they are consistent with a significant component of the electron and positron fluxes between 20…
The galactic 511 keV gamma-ray line has been observed since 1970's, and was identified as the result of electron-positron annihilation, but the origin of such positrons is still not clear. Apart from the astrophysical explanations, the…
In the Milky Way galaxy, positrons, which are responsible for the diffuse $511\,\mathrm{keV}$ gamma ray emission observed by space-based gamma ray observatories, are thought to annihilate predominantly through charge exchange interactions…
The bulk of the extragalactic background between 10 keV and 10 GeV is likely to be explained by the emission of Seyfert galaxies, type Ia supernovae, and blazars. However, as revealed by the INTEGRAL satellite, the bulge of our galaxy is an…
Recent measurements made by the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) have detected accurate positron flux for energy range 1-1000 GeV. The energy spectrum can be best described by two source terms: the low-energy background diffusion term and…
The dark matter halo profile in the inner Galaxy is very uncertain. Yet its radial dependence toward the Galactic Center is of crucial importance for the determination of the gamma-ray and radio fluxes originating from dark matter…
Cosmic-ray positrons have long been considered a powerful probe of dark matter annihilation. In particular, myriad studies of the unexpected rise in the positron fraction have debated its dark matter or pulsar origins. In this paper, we…
The nuclear $\gamma$-ray lines in the MeV range of the electromagnetic spectrum hold a vast variety of astrophysical, particle-physical, and fundamental physical information that is otherwise extreme difficult to access. MeV $\gamma$-ray…
We calculate the rate of production of dark photons from electron-positron pair annihilation in hot and dense matter characteristic of supernova progenitors. Given the non-linear dependence of the emission rate on the dark photon mass and…
We analyse SPI/INTEGRAL data on the 511 keV line from the Galactic Centre, accumulated over ~6 years of observations. We decompose the X-ray and soft gamma-ray emission of the central part of the Milky Way into a relatively compact "Bulge"…
The Galactic bulge, that is the prominent out-of-plane over-density present in the inner few kiloparsecs of the Galaxy, is a complex structure, as the morphology, kinematics, chemistry and ages of its stars indicate. To understand the…
Several cosmic ray experiments have measured the positron fraction up to few hundred GeV. Their data have revealed an excess of positrons above 10 GeV that is not consistent with the secondary production of these particles in the…
Positron and electron cosmic rays provide a complementary way to study the galactic environment. The actual cosmic rays experiments, for instance PAMELA and HEAT, have presented very exciting results in this field. The observed positron…
We test the origin of the 3.5 keV line photons by analyzing the morphology of the emission at that energy from the Galactic Center and from the Perseus cluster of galaxies. We employ a variety of different templates to model the continuum…