The Observed Galactic Annihilation Line. Possible Signature of the Cluster for Accreting Small Mass Black Holes

Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, OSSE, SMM, TGRS, balloon and recent INTEGRAL data reveal a feature of the 0.511 MeV annihilation radiation of the Galactic Center with a flux of approximately 5x 10^{-4}~0.511 MeV photons cm^{-2} s^{-1}. We argue that e+e- pairs can be generated when the X-ray radiation photons and ~10-30 MeV photons interact with each other in the compact region in the proximity of the Galactic Center black hole. In fact, disks formed near black holes of 10^{17} g mass should emit the ~ 10 MeV temperature blackbody radiation. If positron e+ sources are producing about 10^{42} e+ s^{-1} near the Galactic Center they would annihilate on the way out and result in 0.511 MeV emission. We suggest that the annihilation radiation can be an observational consequence of the interaction of the accretion disk radiation of the SMall Mass Black Holes (SMMBHs) with X-ray radiation in the Galactic Center. This is probably the only way to identify and observe these SMMBHs.Comment: 21 pages, 1 figure, to appear in the ApJ, 10 March 2006, v 639 2 issu

The Production of Anti-Matter in our Galaxy

The discovery of a single anti-helium nucleus in the cosmic ray flux would definitely point toward the existence of stars and even of entire galaxies made of anti-matter. The presence of anti-nuclei in cosmic rays has actually profound implications on the fundamental question of the baryon asymmetry of the universe. It is therefore crucial to determine the amount of anti-matter which our own galaxy already produces through the spallation of high-energy protons on the interstellar gas of the galactic disk. We have used here a coalescence model to assess the amount of anti-deuterium and anti-helium 3 present in cosmic rays together with anti-protons. The propagation of cosmic rays in the galaxy is described through a two-zone diffusion model which correctly describes the observed abundances. We find that the antideuterium/proton ratio exceeds $10^{-9}$ above a momentum per anti-nucleon of about 4 GeV/c. Would the universe be purely made of matter, the AMS collaboration should be able to detect a few anti-deuterons during the space station stage of the experiment. However, the antihelium3/proton abundance does not exceed $4 10^{-13}$. Heavier anti-nuclei are even further suppressed.Comment: 15 pages, 2 figure

GRB 980425, SN1998bw and the EMBH model

The EMBH model, previously developed using GRB 991216 as a prototype, is here applied to GRB 980425. We fit the luminosity observed in the 40-700 keV, 2-26 keV and 2-10 keV bands by the BeppoSAX satellite. In addition we present a novel scenario in which the supernova SN1998bw is the outcome of an ``induced gravitational collapse'' triggered by GRB 980425, in agreement with the GRB-Supernova Time Sequence (GSTS) paradigm (Ruffini et al. 2001c). A further outcome of this astrophysically exceptional sequence of events is the formation of a young neutron star generated by the SN1998bw event. A coordinated observational activity is recommended to further enlighten the underlying scenario of this most unique astrophysical system.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, in the Proceedings of the 34th COSPAR scientific assembly, Elsevier. Fixed some typos in this new versio

On the role of galactic magnetic halo in the ultra high energy cosmic rays propagation

The study of propagation of Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECR) is a key step in order to unveil the secret of their origin. Up to now it was considered only the influence of the galactic and the extragalactic magnetic fields. In this article we focus our analysis on the influence of the magnetic field of the galaxies standing between possible UHECR sources and us. Our main approach is to start from the well known galaxy distribution up to 120 Mpc. We use the most complete galaxy catalog: the LEDA catalog. Inside a sphere of 120 Mpc around us, we extract 60130 galaxies with known position. In our simulations we assign a Halo Dipole magnetic Field (HDF) to each galaxy. The code developed is able to retro-propagate a charged particle from the arrival points of UHECR data across our galaxies sample. We present simulations in case of Virgo cluster and show that there is a non negligible deviation in the case of protons of $7 \times 10^{19}$ eV, even if the $B$ value is conservative. Then special attention is devoted to the AGASA triplet where we find that NGC3998 and NGC3992 could be possible candidates as sources.Comment: Version accepted from ApJ, 5 figure

On the structures in the afterglow peak emission of gamma ray bursts

Using GRB 991216 as a prototype, it is shown that the intensity substructures observed in what is generally called the "prompt emission" in gamma ray bursts (GRBs) do originate in the collision between the accelerated baryonic matter (ABM) pulse with inhomogeneities in the interstellar medium (ISM). The initial phase of such process occurs at a Lorentz factor $\gamma\sim 310$. The crossing of ISM inhomogeneities of sizes $\Delta R\sim 10^{15}$ cm occurs in a detector arrival time interval of $\sim 0.4$ s implying an apparent superluminal behavior of $\sim 10^5c$. The long lasting debate between the validity of the external shock model vs. the internal shock model for GRBs is solved in favor of the first

Emergence of a filamentary structure in the fireball from GRB spectra

It is shown that the concept of a fireball with a definite filamentary structure naturally emerges from the analysis of the spectra of Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs). These results, made possible by the recently obtained analytic expressions of the equitemporal surfaces in the GRB afterglow, depend crucially on the single parameter R describing the effective area of the fireball emitting the X- and gamma ray radiation. The X- and gamma ray components of the afterglow radiation are shown to have a thermal spectrum in the co-moving frame of the fireball and originate from a stable shock front described self-consistently by the Rankine-Hugoniot equations. Precise predictions are presented on a correlations between spectral changes and intensity variations in the prompt radiation verifiable, e.g., by the Swift and future missions. The highly variable optical and radio emission depends instead on the parameters of the surrounding medium. The GRB 991216 is used as a prototype for this model.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, to appear on International Journal of Modern Physics

GRB970228 as a prototype for short GRBs with afterglow

GRB970228 is analyzed as a prototype to understand the relative role of short GRBs and their associated afterglows, recently observed by Swift and HETE-II. Detailed theoretical computation of the GRB970228 light curves in selected energy bands are presented and compared with observational BeppoSAX data.Comment: 2 pages, 1 figure, to appear in the proceedings of "Swift and GRBs", Venice, 2006, Il Nuovo Cimento, in pres

Theoretical interpretation of luminosity and spectral properties of GRB 031203

The X and gamma-ray observations of the source GRB 031203 by INTEGRAL are interpreted within our theoretical model. In addition to a complete space-time parametrization of the GRB, we specifically assume that the afterglow emission originates from a thermal spectrum in the co-moving frame of the expanding baryonic matter shell. By determining the two free parameters of the model and estimating the density and filamentary structure of the ISM, we reproduce the observed luminosity in the 20-200 keV energy band. As in previous sources, the prompt radiation is shown to coincide with the peak of the afterglow and the luminosity substructure are shown to originate in the filamentary structure of the ISM. We predict a clear hard-to-soft behavior in the instantaneous spectra. The time-integrated spectrum over 20 seconds observed by INTEGRAL is well fitted. Despite this source has been considered "unusual", it appears to us a normal low energetic GRB.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, to appear on ApJ Letter

The Blackholic energy and the canonical Gamma-Ray Burst

We outline the main results of our GRB model, based on the three interpretation paradigms we proposed in July 2001, comparing and contrasting them with the ones in the current literature. Thanks to the observations by Swift and by VLT, this analysis points to a "canonical GRB" originating from markedly different astrophysical scenarios. The communality is that they are all emitted in the formation of a black hole with small or null angular momentum. The following sequence appears to be canonical: the vacuum polarization process creating an optically thick self accelerating electron-positron plasma; the engulfment of baryonic mass during the plasma expansion; the adiabatic expansion of the optically thick "fireshell" up to the transparency; the interaction of the remaining accelerated baryons with the interstellar medium (ISM). This leads to the canonical GRB composed of a proper GRB (P-GRB), emitted at the moment of transparency, followed by an extended afterglow. The parameters are the plasma total energy, the fireshell baryon loading and the ISM filamentary distribution around the source. In the limit of no baryon loading the total energy is radiated in the P-GRB. In this limit, the canonical GRBs explain as well the short GRBs.Comment: 163 pages, 89 figures, to appear on the "Proceedings of the XIIth Brazilian School of Cosmology and Gravitation", M. Novello, S.E. Perez-Bergliaffa (editors), AIP, in pres