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Search of the Energetic Gamma-Ray Experiment Telescope (EGRET) Data for High-Energy Gamma-Ray Microsecond Bursts

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Abstract

Hawking (1974) and Page & Hawking (1976) investigated theoretically the possibility of detecting high-energy gamma rays produced by the quantum-mechanical decay of a small black hole created in the early universe. They concluded that, at the very end of the life of the small black hole, it would radiate a burst of gamma rays peaked near 250 MeV with a total energy of about 1034 ergs in the order of a microsecond or less. The characteristics of a black hole are determined by laws of physics beyond the range of current particle accelerators; hence, the search for these short bursts of high-energy gamma rays provides at least the possibility of being the first test of this region of physics. The Compton Observatory Energetic Gamma-Ray Experiment Telescope (EGRET) has the capability of detecting directly the gamma rays from such bursts at a much fainter level than SAS 2, and a search of the EGRET data has led to an upper limit of 5 x 10-2 black hole decays per cu pc per yr, placing constraints on this and other theories predicting microsecond high-energy gamma-ray bursts.


Publication:

The Astrophysical Journal

Pub Date:
October 1994
DOI:

10.1086/174758

Bibcode:
1994ApJ...434..557F
Keywords:
  • Black Holes (Astronomy);
  • Decay;
  • Gamma Ray Astronomy;
  • Gamma Ray Bursts;
  • Quantum Mechanics;
  • Gamma Ray Observatory;
  • Gamma Ray Telescopes;
  • Sas-2;
  • Statistical Analysis;
  • Astronomy;
  • BLACK HOLE PHYSICS;
  • GAMMA RAYS: BURSTS