Astrophysical positronium and Dicke superradiance

TL;DR

This paper reviews the concept of Dicke superradiance and explores its potential significance in astrophysical contexts, especially concerning hydrogen and positronium near the galactic center, highlighting a relatively unexplored area.

Contribution

It provides a detailed theoretical review of Dicke superradiance and speculates on its possible astrophysical implications for hydrogen and positronium.

Findings

Dicke superradiance can produce intense bursts of emission.

Astrophysical positronium may exhibit superradiance effects.

Potential relevance to phenomena near the galactic center.

Abstract

Dicke superradiance is a fascinating phenomenon in which a large number of atoms cooperate to produce a brief and very intense burst of spontaneous emission. This phenomenon has been well studied in the laboratory, but its astrophysical aspects have only recently attracted the attention of a small number of researchers. Since the phenomenon of Dicke superradiance is relatively little known to the wider astrophysical community, we provide a fairly detailed review of its elementary theory in the appendix and speculate on the significance of superradiance for astrophysical hydrogen and positronium, given the abundant formation of the latter near the galactic center.