切伦科夫光作为宇航员在太空中观测到的闪光的一种机制
Cherenkov light as a mechanism for light flashes seen by astronauts in space
AI总结：
该研究通过Geant4模拟发现，行星际空间和南大西洋异常区外低地轨道中，人眼内的切伦科夫辐射可解释宇航员观测到的闪光，主要贡献粒子为铁核等，而南大西洋异常区及地球表面的情况需额外机制或与刺激不足有关。
AI中文摘要：
宇航员在阿波罗11号任务中首次报告了闪光现象，此后这些事件被认为与宇宙射线有关，但其潜在机制仍不确定。本研究利用Geant4模拟宇宙射线在简化人眼模型中的相互作用，调查可能的形成过程；我们将已发表的人类视觉感知模型应用于模拟的粒子诱导光子，并将产生的闪光率与实验观测结果进行比较。研究结果表明，在行星际空间和南大西洋异常区以外的低地球轨道中，人眼内产生的切伦科夫辐射会产生与观测到的宇航员闪光频率一致的视网膜响应；主要贡献的初级粒子是高Z原子核，主要为铁核，还有氧核和碳核的额外贡献。相比之下，南大西洋异常区的条件表明，可能需要额外的机制来解释观测到的闪光。我们还发现，地球表面不存在闪光，这与典型几何条件和通量下μ子诱导的切伦科夫辐射产生的视网膜刺激不足一致。
英文摘要：
Astronauts first reported light flashes during the Apollo 11 mission. These events have since been associated with cosmic rays, although their underlying mechanism remains uncertain. This study investigates possible formation processes using Geant4 simulations of cosmic ray interactions in a simplified model of the human eye. We apply published models of human visual perception to the simulated particle induced photons and compare the resulting light flash rates with experimental observations. Our results indicate that, in interplanetary space and in low Earth orbit outside the South Atlantic Anomaly, Cherenkov radiation generated in the eye produces retinal responses consistent with the observed frequency of astronaut light flashes. The dominant contributing primaries are found to be high Z nuclei, primarily iron, with additional contributions from oxygen and carbon nuclei. In contrast, conditions in the South Atlantic Anomaly suggest that additional mechanisms may be required to explain observed light flashes. We also find that the absence of light flashes at Earth's surface is consistent with insufficient retinal stimulation from muon induced Cherenkov radiation under typical geometrical and flux conditions.
