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Perhaps it's the other way around--electrons and positrons are produced by (some unknown means), they collide, and this is what causes the gamma ray flashes. Is
by jpeterson 15y ago
Perhaps it's the other way around--electrons and positrons are produced by (some unknown means), they collide, and this is what causes the gamma ray flashes. Isn't that a possibility? I was surprised they didn't explore it in the article.
- jcarreiro 15y agoThis is how we know that the initial gamma-ray flash is not caused by positron-electron recombination: > The dance of light and matter continues when positrons encounter electrons again; they recombine and produce a flash of light of a precise and characteristic colour. So the spectrum of the initial flash is different from the spectrum of the light produced when the particles recombine. Or so I assume from reading the article. :)
- gammarator 15y agoRight. Electron-positron annihilation produces gamma-rays in a line at a very specific energy (E = m_e c^2 = 511 keV), while the typical TGF spectrum is spread over a wide range of energies.