Pair Production and Radiation Effects in Clouds Illuminated by Gamma Ray Sources

Abstract

Many classes of gamma-ray sources, such as gamma-ray bursts, blazars, Seyfert galaxies, and galactic black hole sources are surrounded by large amounts of gas and dust. X-rays and gamma-rays that traverse this material will be attenuated by Compton scattering and photoelectric absorption. One signature of an intervening scattering cloud is radiation-hardening by electrons that have been scattered and heated by the incident radiation, as illustrated by a Monte Carlo calculation. Compton scattering provides backscattered photons that will attenuate subsequent gamma rays through γγpair-production processes. We calculate the pair efficiency for a cloud illuminated by gamma-ray burst radiation. An analytic calculation of the flux of X-rays and gamma rays Thomson scattered by an intervening cloud is presented. Illuminated clouds near GRBs will form relativistic plasmas containing large numbers of electron-positron pairs that can be detected within ~1-2 days of the explosion before expanding and dissipating. Localized regions of pair annihilation radiation in the Galaxy could reveal gamma-ray sources embedded in dense clouds, or sites of past GRB explosions.