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Science 28 April 1989:
Vol. 244. no. 4903, pp. 448 - 451
DOI: 10.1126/science.244.4903.448
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Articles

Distribution and Detection of Positrons from an Orbiting Nuclear Reactor

E. W. HONES 1 and P. R. HIGBIE 1

1 Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545.

The Solar Maximum Mission (SMM) Gamma-Ray Spectrometer has on many occasions detected nuclear radiation produced by nuclear reactors carried on Soviet satellites. A unique feature of the observations is the measurement of bursts of 511—kiloelectron volt gamma rays that are thought to signal SMM encounters with positrons emanating from the Soviet satellites. A model of positron generation by an orbiting reactor has been developed that describes the resulting time-dependent distribution of positrons temporarily trapped in the geomagnetic field and estimates the response of the SMM spectrometer to passage through such distributions. The model successfully predicts onset times, durations, and intensities of the 511—kiloelectron volt gamma bursts, as we illustrate in a detailed analysis of one event, and thus confirms that these are due to positrons from the Soviet satellites. Reactor-generated positrons are potentially useful in magnetospheric research.

Submitted on March 2, 1989
Accepted on March 23, 1989


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Ganna-Ray Observations of Orbiting Nuclear Reactors.
J. R. PRIMACK (1989)
Science 244, 407-408
   PDF »
Man-Made Transients Observed by the Gamma-Ray Spectrometer on the Solar Maximum Mission Satellite.
E. RIEGER, G. KANBACH, C. REPPIN, W. T. VESTRAND, D. J. FORREST, and E. L. CHUPP (1989)
Science 244, 441-444
   Abstract »    PDF »
Geomagnetic Origin for Transient Particle Events from Nuclear Reactor-Powered Satellites.
G. H. SHARE, J. D. KURFESS, K. W. MARLOW, and D. C. MESSINA (1989)
Science 244, 444-448
   Abstract »    PDF »


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