Positron annihilation spectrum from the Galactic Center region observed by SPI/INTEGRAL

The electron-positron annihilation spectrum observed by SPI/INTEGRAL during deep Galactic Center region exposure is reported. The line energy (510.954±0.075 keV) is consistent with the unshifted annihilation line. The width of the annihilation line is 2.37±0.25 keV (FWHM), while the strength of the ortho-positronium continuum suggests that the dominant fraction of positrons (94±6%) form positronium before annihilation. Compared to the previous missions these deep INTEGRAL observations provide the most stringent constraints on the line energy and width. Under assumption of an annihilation in a single-phase medium these spectral parameters can be explained by a warm Te ∼ 7000 − 4 10 4 K gas with the degree of ionization larger than few 10. One of the wide-spread ISM phases warm (Te ∼ 8000 K) and weakly ionized (degree of ionization ∼ 0.1) medium does satisfy these criteria. Other single-phase solutions are also formally allowed by the data (e.g. cold, but substantially ionized ISM), but such solutions are believed to be astrophysically unimportant. The observed spectrum can also be explained by the annihilation in a multi-phase ISM. Fraction of positrons annihilating in a very hot (Te ≥ 10 6 K) phase is constrained to be less than ∼8%. Neither moderately hot (Te ≥ 10 5 K) ionized medium nor very cold (Te ≤ 10 3 K) neutral medium can make a dominant contribution to the observed annihilation spectrum. However a combination of a cold/neutral, warm/neutral and warm/ionized phases in comparable proportions could also be consistent with the data.