Related papers: Life Extinctions By Cosmic Ray Bursts
Cosmic ray bursts (CRBs) from mergers or accretion induced collapse of neutron stars that hit an Earth-like planet closer than $\sim 1 kpc$ from the explosion produce lethal fluxes of atmospheric muons at ground level, underground and…
A nearby supernova (SN) explosion could have negatively influenced life on Earth, maybe even been responsible for mass extinctions. Mass extinction poses a significant extinction of numerous species on Earth, as recorded in the…
Extraterrestrial processes like neutrinos from collapsing stars, cosmic rays from supernovae and cosmic rays from neutron star mergers etc. have recently been proposed as models to explain the periodic mass extinctions such as that which…
"The investigation into the possible effects of cosmic rays on living organisms will also offer great interest." - Victor F. Hess, Nobel Lecture, December 12, 1936 High-energy radiation bursts are commonplace in our Universe. From nearby…
We examine the possibility that a nearby supernova explosion could have caused one or more of the mass extinctions identified by palaeontologists. We discuss the likely rate of such events in the light of the recent identification of…
High-energy astrophysical events, particularly Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs), have been proposed as significant contributors to mass extinction events on Earth-like planets in most of the galaxy, internal to our radius in it. This paper examines…
We propose that the cosmological gamma ray bursts arise from the collapse of neutron stars to black holes triggered by collisions or mergers with main sequence stars. This scenario represents a cosmological history qualitatively different…
Based on cosmological rates, it is probable that at least once in the last Gy the Earth has been irradiated by a gamma-ray burst in our Galaxy from within 2 kpc. Using a two-dimensional atmospheric model we have performed the first…
Cosmic radiation backgrounds are a constraint on life, and their distribution will affect the Galactic Habitable Zone. Life on Earth has developed in the context of these backgrounds, and characterizing event rates will elaborate the…
Recent studies of the effects on the Earth's atmosphere by astrophysical sources, such as nearby gamma-ray bursts or supernovae, have shown that these events could lead to severe changes in atmospheric composition. Depletion of ozone, the…
We indicate a possible mechanism of generating gamma ray bursts. They are generated by a collision between an axionic boson star and a neutron star. The axionic boson star can dissipates its whole energy $10^{50}$ erg in the magnetized…
It is likely that one or more gamma-ray bursts within our galaxy have strongly irradiated the Earth in the last Gy. This produces significant atmospheric ionization and dissociation, resulting in ozone depletion and DNA-damaging ultraviolet…
Supernova explosions are one of the most energetic--and potentially lethal--phenomena in the Universe. Scientists have speculated for decades about the possible consequences for life on Earth of a nearby supernova, but plausible candidates…
We propose a model in which ultra high energy cosmic rays and gamma ray bursts are produced by collisions between neutron stars and axion stars. The acceleration of such a cosmic ray is made by the electric field, $\sim 10^{15} (B/10^{12}…
The current understanding of supernova and gamma-ray burst events suggests important effects on the biosphere if one of more of them happened to strike the earth in the past. In this paper we evaluate the possibility that life extinctions…
Gamma-ray bursts (hereafter GRB) produce a flux of radiation detectable across the observable Universe, and at least some of them are associated with galaxies. A GRB within our own Ggalaxy could do considerable damage to the Earth's…
Neutron star binaries, such as the one observed in the famous binary pulsar PSR 1916+13, end their life in a catastrophic merge event (denoted here NS$^2$M). The merger releases $\approx 5 \cdot 10^{53}$ergs, mostly as neutrinos and…
It is proposed that gamma-ray bursts are created in the mergers of double neutron star binaries and black hole neutron star binaries at cosmological distances. Bursts with complex profiles and relatively long durations are the result of…
The stellar origin of gamma-ray bursts can be explained by the rapid release of energy in a highly collimated, extremely relativistic jet. This in turn appears to require a rapidly spinning highly magnetised stellar core that collapses into…
The spectacular outbursts of energy associated with supernovae (SNe) have long motivated research into their potentially hazardous effects on Earth and analogous environments. Much of this research has focused primarily on the atmospheric…