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.
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Publication:
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The Astrophysical Journal
Pub Date:
- October 1994 DOI:
- Bibcode:
- 1994ApJ...434..557F Keywords:
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- 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