Related papers: High-Mass Microblazars Associated with Variable Ga…
We propose a gamma-ray burst scenario involving relativistic jets dominated by Poynting flux with alternating toroidal magnetic fields. Such a structure may arise naturally if the jet is formed and powered by the accretion flow in the core…
We investigate the relationship between the quasi-thermal baryon-related photosphere in relativistic outflows, and the internal shocks arising outside them, which out to a limiting radius may be able to create enough pairs to extend the…
We present the results of hydrodynamical simulations of gamma-ray burst jets propagating through their stellar progenitor material and subsequently through the surrounding circumstellar medium. We consider both jets that are injected with…
The origin of the high-energy gamma-ray emission from the Milky Way center is still unclear and debated because of the impact of systematics afflicting the measurements from current experiments. Several theories and phenomenological models…
X-ray emission traces the gaseous environments of radio sources. The medium must be present for jet confinement, but what are its influence on jet fuelling, dynamics, propagation, and disruption? The observational situation is both…
The stellar origin of gamma-ray bursts can be explained by the rapid release of energy in a highly collimated, extremely relativistic jet. This in turn appears to require a rapidly spinning highly magnetised stellar core that collapses into…
While jets appear as a fundamental result of accretion processes onto compact objects in X-ray binaries, there is as yet no standard model for their underlying physics. The origin of the observed disk-jet coupling also remains largely…
The interaction of exoplanets with their host stars causes a vast diversity in bulk and atmospheric compositions, and physical and chemical conditions. Stellar radiation, especially at the shorter wavelengths, drives the chemistry in the…
Microquasars provide new insights into: 1) the physics of relativistic jets from black holes, 2) the connection between accretion and ejection, and 3) the physical mechanisms in the formation of stellar-mass black holes. Furthermore, the…
The association of at least some long gamma-ray bursts with type Ic supernova explosions has been established beyond reasonable doubt. Theoretically, the challenge is to explain the presence of a light hyper-relativistic flow propagating…
Some recent observational results impose significant constraints on all the models that have been proposed to explain the Galactic black-hole X-ray sources in the hard state. In particular, it has been found that during the hard state of…
Supergiant Fast X-ray Transients (SFXTs) represent the most extreme case of X-ray variability in High Mass X-ray Binaries hosting blue supergiant companions. Mainly discovered thanks to the INTEGRAL monitoring of the Galactic plane, these…
A high-brilliance ($\sim10^{24}$~photon.s$^{-1}$.mm$^{-2}$.mrd$^{-2}$/0.1\%) gamma-ray source experiment is currently being planned at Fermilab ($E_\gamma\simeq 1.1$~MeV)~[1]. The source implements a high-repetition-rate inverse Compton…
We present a detailed study of the effects of gravitational microlensing on compact and distant $\gamma$-ray blazars. These objects have $\gamma$-ray emitting regions which are small enough as to be affected by microlensing effects produced…
A widely discussed explanation for the origin of the X-ray emission observed from knots in extended quasar jets with the Chandra X-ray Obseratory is Compton-scattered CMBR by electrons with Lorentz factors $\gamma^\prime \sim 10^2$. This…
Inverse Compton scattering appears to play a more important role in the diffuse Galactic continuum emission than previously thought, from MeV to GeV energies. We compare models having a large inverse Compton component with EGRET data, and…
Notwithstanding the big efforts devoted to the investigation of the mechanisms responsible for the high-energy (E>100 MeV) gamma-ray emission in active galactic nuclei (AGN), the definite answer is still missing. The X-ray energy band…
Microquasars are Black Hole X-ray binaries (BHXB) which can eject material in the form of a bipolar jet, similarly to quasars, but at much smaller scales. Their high-energy emission comes from an accretion disk (~ 1 keV) and from a hot…
Gamma-Ray Bursts are likely associated with a catastrophic energy release in stellar mass objects. Electromagnetic observations provide important, but indirect information on the progenitor. On the other hand, gravitational waves emitted…
The observational diversity of ``gamma-ray bursts'' (GRBs) has been increasing, and the natural inclination is a proliferation of models. We explore the possibility that at least part of this diversity is a consequence of a single basic…