Life Extinctions by Cosmic Ray Jets

Arnon Dar, Ari Laor, and Nir J. Shaviv
Phys. Rev. Lett. 80, 5813 – Published 29 June 1998
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Abstract

High energy cosmic ray jets from nearby mergers or accretion induced collapse of neutron stars that hit the atmosphere can produce lethal fluxes of atmospheric muons at ground level, underground and underwater, destroy the ozone layer, and radioactivate the environment. They could have caused some of the massive life extinctions on planet Earth in the past 570 Myr. Biological mutations due to such ionizing radiations could have caused the fast appearance of new species after these mass extinctions.

  • Received 16 May 1997

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.80.5813

©1998 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Arnon Dar, Ari Laor, and Nir J. Shaviv

  • Department of Physics and Space Research Institute, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 32000, Israel

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Issue

Vol. 80, Iss. 26 — 29 June 1998

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