Cosmic Rays and Interstellar Medium with Gamma-Ray Observations at MeV Energies
Abstract
Latest precise cosmic-ray (CR) measurements and present gamma-ray observations have started challenging our understanding of CR transport and interaction in the Galaxy. Moreover, because the density of CRs is similar to the density of the magnetic field, gas, and starlight in the interstellar medium (ISM), CRs are expected to affect the ISM dynamics, including the physical and chemical processes that determine transport and star formation. In this context, observations of gamma-ray emission at MeV energies produced by the low-energy CRs are very important and urgent. A telescope covering the energy range between ~0.1 MeV and a few GeV with a sensitivity more than an order of magnitude better than previous instruments would allow for the first time to study in detail the low-energy CRs, providing information on their sources, their spectra throughout the Galaxy, their abundances, transport properties, and their role on the evolution of the Galaxy and star formation. Here we discuss the scientific prospects for studies of CRs, ISM (gas, interstellar photons, and magnetic fields) and associated gamma-ray emissions with such an instrument.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1903.05660,
title = {Cosmic Rays and Interstellar Medium with Gamma-Ray Observations at MeV Energies},
author = {Elena Orlando and Isabelle Grenier and Vincent Tatischeff and Andrei Bykov and Regina Caputo and Alessandro De Angelis and Jurgen Kiener and Alexandre Marcowith and Julie McEnery and Andrew Strong and Luigi Tibaldo and Zorawar Wadiasingh and Andreas Zoglauer},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1903.05660},
year = {2019}
}
Comments
White paper submitted to the Astro2020 Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics (5 pages; 3 figures)