Related papers: Very-High Energy Gamma Astrophysics
A fundamental question that can be answered in the next decade is: WHAT IS THE ORIGIN OF THE HIGHEST ENERGY COSMIC PARTICLES? The discovery of the sources of the highest energy cosmic rays will reveal the workings of the most energetic…
In the past few years, gamma-ray astronomy has entered a golden age. At TeV energies, only a handful of sources were known a decade ago, but the current generation of ground-based imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes has increased this…
Very-high-energy (VHE, E>100 GeV) gamma-rays provide a unique view of the non-thermal universe, tracing the most violent and energetic phenomena at work inside our Galaxy and beyond. The latest results of the H.E.S.S. Galactic Plane Survey…
The Atmospheric Cherenkov Imaging Technique has opened up the gamma-ray spectrum from 100 GeV to 50 TeV to astrophysical exploration. The development of the technique (with emphasis on the early days) is described as are the basic…
After nearly a decade of operation, the three major arrays of atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes have revolutionized our view of the Very High Energy Universe, unveiling more than 100 sources of various types. MAGIC, consisting of two 17 m…
This white paper discusses the current landscape and prospects for experiments sensitive to particle dark matter processes producing photons and cosmic rays. Much of the gamma-ray sky remains unexplored on a level of sensitivity that would…
With its excellent sensitivity, large field of view, broad energy coverage, and good per-photon angular resolution, the Large Area Telescope aboard the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope satellite provides us with an unprecedented view of the…
Gamma-ray emitting binaries (GREBs) are complex systems. Its study became in the last years a major endeavour for the high-energy astrophysics community, both from an observational and a theoretical perspective. Whereas the accumulation of…
High-energy gamma rays are a valuable tool for studying particle acceleration and radiation in the magnetospheres of energetic pulsars. The seven or more pulsars seen by instruments on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (CGRO) show that: the…
Very high energy (VHE, E >100 GeV) gamma-rays are absorbed via interaction with low-energy photons from the extragalactic background light (EBL) if the involved photon energies are above the threshold for electron-positron pair creation.…
Combined recent data from cosmic-ray detectors and gamma-ray detectors have produced some surprising insights regarding the sources of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs), magnetic fields inside and outside the Milky Way, and the…
The most powerful persistent accelerators in the Universe are jetted active galaxies. Blazars, galaxies whose jets are directed towards Earth, dominate the extragalactic gamma-ray sky. Still, most of the highest-energy particle accelerators…
After almost 4 years of operation, the two instruments onboard the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope have shown that the number of gamma-ray bursts with high energy photon emission above 100 MeV cannot exceed roughly 9% of the total number of…
Recent gamma-ray observations have detected photons up to energies of a few PeV. These highly energetic gamma rays are emitted by the most powerful sources in the Galaxy. Propagating over astrophysical distances, gamma rays might interact…
VERITAS is one of the world's most sensitive detectors of astrophysical VHE (Very High Energy; E > 100 GeV) gamma rays. This array of four 12-m imaging atmospheric-Cherenkov telescopes has operated for ~10 years, and nearly 5000 hours of…
The most energetic neutron stars, powered by their rotation, are capable of producing pulsed radiation from the radio up to gamma rays with nearly TeV energies. These pulsars are part of the universe of energetic and powerful particle…
The ground-based technique for imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes became a rapidly developing and powerful branch of science. Thanks to this technique, over 250 very high-energy gamma-ray sources of galactic and extragalactic origin…
Currently the detection of Very High Energy gamma-rays for astrophysics rely on the measurement of the Extensive Air Showers (EAS) either using Cherenkov detectors or EAS arrays with larger field of views but also larger energy thresholds.…
The High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) is one of the currently operating Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes. H.E.S.S. operates in the broad energy range from a few tens of GeV to more than 50 TeV reaching its best sensitivity…
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are bright flashes of electromagnetic radiation originating from the core collapse of massive stars or the merger of compact objects. It has long been theorized that GRBs can emit very high-energy (VHE) gamma rays…