How Cosmic-ray Protons Make Gamma rays
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- Visualizations by:
- Scott Wiessinger
- View full credits
In the simplest and most common interaction, a cosmic-ray proton strikes another proton. The protons survive the collision, but their interaction creates an unstable particle — a pion — with only 14 percent the mass of a proton. In 10 millionths of a billionth of a second, the pion decays into a pair of gamma-ray photons. More complex scenarios occur when cosmic-ray protons strike nuclei containing greater numbers of particles.
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
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Animator
- Scott Wiessinger (KBR Wyle Services, LLC) [Lead]
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Writer
- Francis Reddy (University of Maryland College Park)
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Producer
- Scott Wiessinger (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)
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