The Origin of Galactic Positrons

Every second 1043 positrons annihilate with electrons in our Galaxy. These positrons have been known since the 1970s, yet their origin is still a mystery. We can solve this mystery by observing the positrons before they annihilate, as they pass through a very short-lived phase as an atom. Detecting this atom has now become feasible thanks to several recent innovations in the application of photonic technology to astronomy. This grant will fund the specific adaptation of these technologies necessary to detect the electron-positron atoms, leading to a future ARC application to fund an astronomical instrument based on these technologies. This instrument will finally allow us to solve the problem of the origin of Galactic positrons.