Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-12T08:37:55.915Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Present State of Gamma-Ray Astronomy*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 August 2015

G. Clark
G. Clark*
Affiliation:
Dept. of Physics and Center for Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A.

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The current state of gamma-ray astronomy is reviewed in terms of the most recent experimental results that define, in either measured fluxes or upper limits, the cosmic photon spectrum in the energy range from 0.5 MeV to 1016 eV. Methods of research developed during the last 10 yr are discussed and specific results are cited. Cosmic gamma rays have been observed in two regions of the spectrum – from 0.5 to 6 MeV and from about 50 MeV to several hundred MeV. Above 50 MeV a strong concentration of intensity is observed in a band of directions around the galactic equator. In both spectral regions a diffuse background gamma ray flux, apparently isotropic and of extragalactic origin, is observed. Evidence of ~ 50 MeV gamma-ray pulses from the Crab pulsar has been reported. No definite evidence of any other discrete gamma-ray source besides the galaxy itself has been observed at any energy.

Type
Part I: Gamma-Ray Astronomy
Information
Symposium - International Astronomical Union , Volume 41: New Technique in Space Astronomy , 1971 , pp. 3 - 13
Copyright
Copyright © Reidel 1971 

References

Arnold, J. R., Metzger, A. E., Anderson, E. C. and VanDilla, M. A.: 1962, J. Geophys. Res. 67, 4878.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bleeker, J. A. M. and Deerenberg, A. J. M.: 1970, Astrophys. J. 159, 215.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brecher, K. and Morrison, P.: 1969, Phys. Rev. Letters 23, 802.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Catz, Ph., Maze, R., Garvin, J., Przasnycki, M., Wdowczyk, J., and Zawadski, A.: 1969, Phys. Rev. Letters 23, 988.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cavallo, G. and Gould, R. J.: 1970 (preprint).Google Scholar
Charman, W. N., Fruin, J. H., and Jelley, J. V.: 1969, Proc. Eleventh Intern. Conf. Cosmic Rays, Budapest.Google Scholar
Clark, G., Kraushaar, W., and Garmire, G.: 1968, Astrophys. J. Letters 153 L203.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clayton, D. D. and Silk, J.: 1969, Astrophys. J. Letters 158, L43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Critchfield, C. P., Ney, E. P., and Oleska, Sophie: 1952, Phys. Rev. 85, 461.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fazio, G. G.: 1970, Nature 225, 905.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fazio, G. G., Helmken, H. F., Rieke, G. H., and Weeks, T. C.: 1969, in Gratton, L. (ed.) Non-Solar X- and Gamma-Ray Astronomy, IAU Symp. 37, 250.Google Scholar
Fazio, G. G., Weeks, T. C., and Helmken, H. F.: 1970 (private communication).Google Scholar
Feenberg, E. and Primakoff, H.: 1948, Phys. Rev. 73, 449.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fichtel, C. and Kniffen, D.: 1968 (private communication).Google Scholar
Firkowski, R., Gawin, J., Zawadski, A., and Maze, R.: 1962, J. Phys. Soc. Japan 17 (Supl. AIII), 123.Google Scholar
Frye, G. M., Staib, J. A., Zych, A. P., Hopper, V. D., Rawlinson, W. R., and Thomas, J. A.: 1969, Nature 223, 1320.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gould, G.: 1965, Phys. Rev. Letters 15, 577.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hayakawa, S.: 1952, Prog. Theor. Phys. 8, 517.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hulsizer, R. and Rossi, B.: 1949, Phys. Rev. 76, 164.Google Scholar
Hutchinson, G. W.: 1962, Phil. Mag. 43, 847.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hutchinson, G. W., Pearce, A. J., Ramsden, D., and Wills, R. D.: 1969, in Gratton, L. (ed.) Non-Solar X- and Gamma-Ray Astronomy, IAU Symp. 37, 300.Google Scholar
Kniffen, D. and Fichtel, C.: 1970, Astrophys. Letters 161, L157.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leray, J. P., Parlier, B., Vasseur, J., Paul, J., Forichon, M., Agrinier, B., Buccheri, R., Scarsi, L., Boella, G., Maraschi, L., and Treves, A.: 1970 (paper given at COSPAR).Google Scholar
Perlow, G. J. and Kissinger, C. W.: 1951, Phys. Rev. 84, 572.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sood, R. K.: 1969, Nature 222, 650.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stecker, F. W.: 1969, Nature 224, 870.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Toyoda, Y., Suga, K., Murakami, K., Hasegawa, H., Shibata, S., Domingo, V., Escobar, I., Kamata, K., Bradt, H., Clark, G., and LaPointe, M.: 1965, Proc. Ninth Intern. Conf. Cosmic Rays, London 2, 708.Google Scholar
Valdez, J. V. and Waddington, C. J.: 1969a, Astrophys. J. Letters 156, L85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Valdez, J. V., Freier, P. S., and Waddington, C. J.: 1969b, Proceedings of the Eleventh Intern. Conf. Cosmic Rays, Budapest.Google Scholar
Vette, J. I., Gruber, G., Matteson, J. L., and Peterson, L.: 1970, Astrophys. J. Letters 160, L161.CrossRefGoogle Scholar