Related papers: INTEGRAL & RXTE View of Gamma-ray Binaries
Gamma rays constitute a privileged point of view for the study of the extreme Universe. Unlike charged cosmic rays, which are thought to have a common origin, gamma rays are not deflected by galactic and intergalactic magnetic fields. This…
Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) are now known to be strong gamma-ray emitters. After briefly describing the different classes of AGN and the basic tenets of unified schemes, I discuss the role of blazars (that is BL Lacs and flat-spectrum…
Supergiant high mass X-ray binaries (SGXBs) are believed to be rare objects, as stars in the supergiant phase have a very short lifetime and to date only about a dozen of them have been discovered. They are known to be persistent and bright…
X-ray binaries are excellent laboratories to study collapsed objects. On the one hand, transient X-ray binaries contain the best examples of stellar-mass black holes while persistent X-ray binaries mostly harbour accreting neutron stars.…
Classical novae produce radioactive nuclei which are emitters of gamma-rays in the MeV range. Some examples are the lines at 478 and 1275 keV (from 7Be and 22Na) and the positron-electron annihilation emission, with the 511 keV line and a…
A new type of high-energy binary systems has been revealed by the INTEGRAL satellite. These sources are in the course of being unveiled by means of multi-wavelength optical, near- and mid-infrared observations. Among these sources, two…
Recent results of GeV and TeV observations of gamma-rays from the Universe are briefly reviewed. Topics include observational technique, diffuse gamma-rays, pulsars, unidentified sources, plerions, supernova remnants and AGNs.
In the past few years, a new class of High Mass X-Ray Binaries (HMXRB) has been claimed to exist, the Supergiant Fast X-ray Transients (SFXT). These are X-ray binary systems with a compact companion orbiting a supergiant star which show…
INTEGRAL regularly scans the Galactic plane to search for new objects and in particular for absorbed sources with the bulk of their emission above 10-20 keV. The first new INTEGRAL source was discovered on 2003 January 29, 0.5 degree from…
The collision of the hypersonic winds in early-type binaries produces shock heated gas, which radiates thermal X-ray emission, and relativistic electrons, which emit nonthermal radio emission. We review our current understanding of the…
Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) are widely thought to originate from collimated jets of material moving at relativistic velocities. Emission from such a jet should be visible even when viewed from outside the angle of collimation. Using Monte Carlo…
X-rays are a powerful probe of the physical conditions in the nuclei of active galaxies. We review the X-ray properties of radio-quiet AGN, LINERs and ultraluminous IR galaxies based on observations carried out with the X-ray satellite…
As of 2014 August, the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) had observed ~30 X-ray binaries either as part of the planned program, as targets of opportunity, or for instrument calibration. The main science goals for the…
It has been suggested that most Be/X-ray binaries are low X-ray luminosity nearby objects, containing white dwarfs (Chevalier & Ilovaisky 1998). We show that existing evidence indicates that all known Be/X-ray binaries are relatively bright…
INTEGRAL is an ESA mission in fundamental astrophysics that was launched in October 2002. It has been in orbit for over 18 years, during which it has been observing the high-energy sky with a set of instruments specifically designed to…
Gamma-ray binaries are thought to be composed of a young pulsar in orbit around a massive O or Be star, with their gamma-ray emission powered by pulsar spindown. The number of such systems in our Galaxy is not known. We aim to estimate the…
An overview is given of high-energy gamma-ray and neutrino astronomy, emphasizing the links between the two fields. With several new large detectors just becoming operational, the TeV gamma-ray and neutrino sky will soon be surveyed with…
Galactic accretion driven stellar X-ray sources can be divided into groups in different ways. An important division, which covers almost all known X-ray binaries, can be made according to the mass of the donor star: high-mass X-ray binaries…
Observations with BeppoSAX, RXTE and Chandra suggest that many of the bright X-ray sources in globular clusters have ultrashort binary periods. This is remarkable as such systems are not easily formed. With accurate optical astrometry of…
Extreme objects such as X-ray binaries, AGN, or $\gamma$-ray bursters harbor high energy plasmas whose properties are not well understood yet. Not only are they responsible of the hard X- and $\gamma$-ray emission we observe but also they…