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Pair Production and Annihilation in Strong Magnetic FieldsElectromagnetic phenomena occurring in the presence of strong magnetic fields are currently of great interest in high-energy astrophysics. In particular, the process of pair production by single photons in the presence of fields of order 10 to the 12th power Gauss is of importance in cascade models of pulsar gamma ray emission, and may also become significant in theories of other radiation phenomena whose sources may be neutron stars (e.g., gamma ray bursts). In addition to pair production, the inverse process of pair annihilation is greatly affected by the presence of superstrong magnetic fields. The most significant departures from annihilation processes in free space are a reduction in the total rate for annihilation into two photons, a broadening of the familiar 511-keV line for annihilation at rest, and the possibility for annihilation into a single photon (which dominates the two-photon annihilation for B ( 10 the 13th power Gauss). The physics of these pair conversion processes, which is reviewed briefly, can become quite complex in the teragauss regime, and can involve calculations which are technically difficult to incorporate into models of emission mechanisms in neutron star magnetospheres. However, theoretical work, especially the case of pair annihilation, also suggests potential techniques for more direct measurements of field strengths near the stellar surface.
Document ID
19830019660
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Daugherty, J. K.
(North Carolina Univ. Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Harding, A. K.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center)
Date Acquired
August 11, 2013
Publication Date
March 1, 1983
Publication Information
Publication: NASA(Goddard Space Flight Center Contrib. to the Workshop on Positron-Electron Pairs in Astrophys.
Subject Category
Astrophysics
Accession Number
83N27931
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.
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