TY - JOUR
T1 - A gamma-ray signature of energetic sources of cosmic-ray nuclei
AU - Kusenko, Alexander
AU - Voloshin, M. B.
PY - 2012/1/20
Y1 - 2012/1/20
N2 - Astrophysical sources of nuclei are expected to produce a broad spectrum of isotopes, many of which are unstable. An unstable nucleus can beta-decay outside the source into a single-electron ion. Heavy one-electron ions, thus formed, can be excited in their interactions with cosmic microwave background photons, in which case they relax to the ground state with the emission of a gamma ray. Repetitive cycles of excitation and gamma-ray emission can produce an observable feature in the gamma-ray spectrum with a maximum around 8 GeV (for iron). We find that the observed spectrum of Centaurus A is consistent with a substantial flux of nuclei accelerated to 0.1 EeV. A characteristic 5-10 GeV (iron) shoulder in the gamma-ray spectra of various sources can help identify astrophysical accelerators of nuclei or set upper limits on nuclear acceleration.
AB - Astrophysical sources of nuclei are expected to produce a broad spectrum of isotopes, many of which are unstable. An unstable nucleus can beta-decay outside the source into a single-electron ion. Heavy one-electron ions, thus formed, can be excited in their interactions with cosmic microwave background photons, in which case they relax to the ground state with the emission of a gamma ray. Repetitive cycles of excitation and gamma-ray emission can produce an observable feature in the gamma-ray spectrum with a maximum around 8 GeV (for iron). We find that the observed spectrum of Centaurus A is consistent with a substantial flux of nuclei accelerated to 0.1 EeV. A characteristic 5-10 GeV (iron) shoulder in the gamma-ray spectra of various sources can help identify astrophysical accelerators of nuclei or set upper limits on nuclear acceleration.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.physletb.2011.12.045
DO - 10.1016/j.physletb.2011.12.045
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84855333157
VL - 707
SP - 255
EP - 258
JO - Physics Letters, Section B: Nuclear, Elementary Particle and High-Energy Physics
JF - Physics Letters, Section B: Nuclear, Elementary Particle and High-Energy Physics
SN - 0370-2693
IS - 2
ER -