Related papers: X- and Gamma-Ray Line Emission Processes
A gamma-ray line production calculation in astrophysics depends on i) the composition and energy source spectrum of the energetic particles, ii) the propagation model, and iii) the nuclear cross sections. The main difficulty for model…
Radioactive decay of unstable atomic nuclei leads to liberation of nuclear binding energy in the forms of gamma-ray photons and secondary particles (electrons, positrons); their energy then energises surrounding matter. Unstable nuclei are…
Continuum gamma-ray emission produced by interactions of cosmic rays with interstellar matter and radiation fields is a probe of non-thermal particle populations in galaxies. After decades of continuous improvements in experimental…
In the standard internal shock model, the observed X and gamma-ray radiation is assumed to be produced by synchrotron emission. I will show that there are serious problems with this interpretation, calling for other radiation mechanisms,…
The measurement of gamma rays from cosmic sources at MeV energies is one of the key tools for nuclear astrophysics, in its study of nuclear reactions and their impacts on objects and phenomena throughout the universe. Gamma rays trace…
Recent observations of high ionization rates of molecular hydrogen in diffuse interstellar clouds point to a distinct low-energy cosmic-ray component. Supposing that this component is made of nuclei, two models for the origin of such…
The radioactive decay of unstable nuclei created in the rapid neutron capture process releases a large amount of $\gamma$-rays. When the ejecta are optically thick, these $\gamma$-rays may contribute to an associated kilonova. Once…
We present the soft X-ray spectrum of the LINER galaxy M81 derived from a long observation with the XMM RGS. The spectrum is dominated by continuum emission from the active nucleus, but also contains emission lines from Fe L, and H-like and…
Star-forming regions have been tentatively associated with gamma-ray sources since the early days of the COS B satellite. After the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory, the statistical evidence for such an association has became overwhelming.…
We consider $\gamma$-ray emission from heavy nuclei that are accelerated in the shocks of stellar winds and are excited in interactions with the ambient matter in the Orion complex. We show that the recent detection of $\gamma$-ray lines in…
We present a broad overview of the principal processes and astrophysical sites of gamma-ray line production and review the main pre-INTEGRAL satellite observations to set the stage to the next European era of gamma-ray line astronomy.
Gamma rays are the best probes to study high-energy particle interactions occurring in astrophysical environments. Space based instruments such as Fermi Large Area Telescope (Fermi LAT) and ground based experiments such as VERITAS, H.E.S.S.…
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…
Various types of active galactic nuclei (AGN) are briefly discussed, with an emphasis on the theory of recent X-ray and $\gamma$-ray observations of the subclass, Seyfert 1 galaxies. The large radiation power from AGN is thought to…
Positrons play a major role in the emission of solar gamma-rays at energies from a few hundred keV to >1 GeV. Although the processes leading to positron production in the solar atmosphere are well known, the origin of the underlying…
Gamma-ray astronomy provides a direct window into the most violent, dynamic processes in the Universe. MeV gamma-ray astronomy in particular allows us to directly observe the process of chemical enrichment of the interstellar medium (ISM)…
The study of the gamma-ray radiation produced by cosmic rays that escape their accelerators is of paramount importance for (at least) two reasons: first, the detection of those gamma-ray photons can serve to identify the sources of cosmic…
This review focuses on the X-ray emission processes of extra-galactic jets on scales resolvable by the sub arcsec resolution of the Chandra X-ray Observatory. It is divided into 4 parts. The introductory chapter reviews the classical…
From hot, tenuous gas dominated by Compton processes, to warm, photoionized emission-line regions, to cold, optically thick fluorescing matter, accreting gas flows in X-ray binaries span a huge portion of the parameter space accessible to…
We discuss the different physical processes that are important to understand the thermal X-ray emission and absorption spectra of the diffuse gas in clusters of galaxies and the warm-hot intergalactic medium. The ionisation balance, line…