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A search for cosmic gamma-ray bursts with a balloon-borne NaI(T1) scintillation crystal

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Abstract

A search has been made for gamma-ray bursts in 15 hours of data obtained from a balloonborne gamma-ray detector on 10 October and 21 October, 1970. The event rate for photon energy losses in the 0.1–0.4 MeV range from the 13-in. diameter by 6-in. thick NaI(T1) scintillation crystal was examined for statistically significant fluctuations as an indication of gamma-ray bursts. Searches of the data were made with time resolutions varying from 2 ms to 64 s. Four statistically significant bursts were detected and are considered as possible cosmic gamma-ray burst events. The characteristic duration of all four of the observed events is ∼100 ms. Similar events can be generated in the laboratory following an extremely large (∼103 GeV) thirty ns X-ray energy deposition in the NaI(T1) crystal. The implications of these short duration, low intensity events, if valid gamma-ray bursts, are discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Naval Research Laboratory, E. O. Hulbert Center for Space Research, Washington, D.C., USA

    W. N. Johnson & J. D. Kurfess

  2. Department of Physcis, University of Maryland, Md., USA

    R. D. Bleach

  3. Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, D.C., USA

    R. D. Bleach

Authors
  1. W. N. Johnson
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  2. J. D. Kurfess
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  3. R. D. Bleach
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Johnson, W.N., Kurfess, J.D. & Bleach, R.D. A search for cosmic gamma-ray bursts with a balloon-borne NaI(T1) scintillation crystal. Astrophys Space Sci 42, 35–42 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00645521

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00645521

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