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The signature of positron annihilation, namely the 511 keV $gamma$-ray line, was first detected coming from the direction of the Galactic center in the 1970s, but the source of Galactic positrons still remains a puzzle. The measured flux of the annihilation corresponds to an intense steady source of positron production, with an annihilation rate on the order of $sim10^{43}$~e$^{+}$/s. The 511 keV emission is the strongest persistent Galactic $gamma$-ray line signal and it shows a concentration towards the Galactic center region. An additional low-surface brightness component is aligned with the Galactic disk; however, the morphology of the latter is not well constrained. The Compton Spectrometer and Imager (COSI) is a balloon-borne soft $gamma$-ray (0.2--5 MeV) telescope designed to perform wide-field imaging and high-resolution spectroscopy. One of its major goals is to further our understanding of Galactic positrons. COSI had a 46-day balloon flight in May--July 2016 from Wanaka, New Zealand, and here we report on the detection and spectral and spatial analyses of the 511 keV emission from those observations. To isolate the Galactic positron annihilation emission from instrumental background, we have developed a technique to separate celestial signals utilizing the COMPTEL Data Space. With this method, we find a 7.2$sigma$ detection of the 511 keV line. We find that the spatial distribution is not consistent with a single point source, and it appears to be broader than what has been previously reported.
The balloon-borne Compton Spectrometer and Imager (COSI) had a successful 46-day flight in 2016. The instrument is sensitive to photons in the energy range $0.2$-$5$ MeV. Compton telescopes have the advantage of a unique imaging response and provide
The first gamma-ray line originating from outside the solar system that was ever detected is the 511 keV emission from positron annihilation in the Galaxy. Despite 30 years of intense theoretical and observational investigation, the main sources of p
The first detection of a gamma ray line with an energy of about 500 keV from the center our Galaxy dates back to the early seventies. Thanks to the astrophysical application of high spectral resolution detectors, it was soon clear that this radiation
The imaging spectrometer SPI on board ESAs INTEGRAL observatory provides us with an unprecedented view of positron annihilation in our Galaxy. The first sky maps in the 511 keV annihilation line and in the positronium continuum from SPI showed a puzz
We use 15 years of $gamma$-ray data from INTEGRAL/SPI in a refined investigation of the morphology of the Galactic bulge positron annihilation signal. Our spatial analysis confirms that the signal traces the old stellar population in the bulge and re