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B. J. Teegarden (NASA/GSFC), K. Watanabe (U. of Md./GSFC), J. Knoedlseder, P. Jean, V. Lonjou, G. Weidenspointner, G. Skinner, P. von Ballmoos, G. Vedrenne, J.-P. Roques (CESR), S. Schanne (CEA/Saclay), V. Schoenfelder (MPE)
The spectrometer on INTEGRAL (SPI) is a coded-aperture gamma-ray telescope with moderate angular resolution (3 deg) and superior energy resolution (2 keV at 511 keV). One of it's principal science goals is the detailed study of 511 keV electron-positron annihilation from our Galaxy. The origin of this radiation remains a mystery, however current morphological studies suggest an older stellar population. There has also been recent speculation on the possibility of the existence of light (< 100 MeV) dark matter particles whose annihilation or decay could produce the observed 511 keV emission. In this paper we summarize the current results from SPI, compare them with previous results and discuss their implication on possible models for the production of the annihilation radiation. INTEGRAL is a project of ESA. This work was supported by NASA and CNES.
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 36 5
© 2004. The American Astronomical Society.