Strings Play Cosmic Radiation

[Tuckerfan]

THE mysterious gamma rays that emanate from the central bulge of our galaxy could arise from a seething tangle of “cosmic strings”.

The gamma rays have a distinctive energy of 511 kiloelectronvolts, suggesting they are formed by the mutual annihilation of electrons and their antimatter counterparts, positrons. But where do the positrons come from? “This is the big mystery,” says Tanmay Vachaspati, a string theorist at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.

Previous candidates for positron sources have included astrophysical entities, such as supernovae, black holes and neutron stars, or the annihilation of a low-mass dark matter particle and its antiparticle (New Scientist, 4 October 2003, p 8). But Vachaspati has another idea. “We’re suggesting the source is light, superconducting strings,” he says.

Wonder if they know any Pink Floyd?

[wheelie]

@Tuckerfan

Wonder if they know any Pink Floyd?

Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun?
Astronomy Domine?

[Baggins111]

Interstellar Overdrive?
Atom Heart Mother?