Related papers: Gamma rays from molecular clouds
This paper deals with the cosmic-ray penetration into molecular clouds and with the related gamma--ray emission. High energy cosmic rays interact with the dense gas and produce neutral pions which in turn decay into two gamma rays. This…
Cosmic rays are a fundamental source of ionization for molecular and diffuse clouds, influencing their chemical, thermal, and dynamical evolution. The amount of cosmic rays inside a cloud also determines the $\gamma$-ray flux produced by…
Observations of molecular clouds in the gamma ray domain provide us with a tool to study the distribution of cosmic rays in the Galaxy. This is because cosmic rays can penetrate molecular clouds, undergo hadronic interactions in the dense…
Cosmic rays are a fundamental source of ionization for molecular and diffuse clouds, influencing their chemical, thermal, and dynamical evolution. The amount of cosmic rays inside a cloud also determines the $\gamma$-ray flux produced by…
We analyze the processes governing cosmic-ray (CR) penetration into molecular clouds and the resulting generation of gamma-ray emission. The density of CRs inside a cloud is depleted at lower energies due to the self-excited MHD turbulence.…
"Diffuse" gamma rays consist of several components: truly diffuse emission from the interstellar medium, the extragalactic background, whose origin is not firmly established yet, and the contribution from unresolved and faint Galactic point…
Cosmic rays fill up the entire volume of galaxies, providing an important source of heating and ionisation of the interstellar medium, and may play a significant role in the regulation of star formation and galactic evolution. Diffuse…
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…
EGRET data on the Gamma ray emission from the inner Galaxy have shown a rather flat spectrum, extending to about 50 GeV. It is usually assumed that these gamma-rays arise from the interactions of cosmic ray nuclei with ambient matter.…
Cosmic-ray interactions with interstellar gas and photons produce diffuse gamma-ray emission. In this talk we will review the current understanding of this diffuse emission and its relationship to the problem of the origin of cosmic rays.…
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…
Molecular clouds are expected to emit non-thermal radiation due to cosmic ray interactions in the dense magnetized gas. Such emission is amplified if a cloud is located close to an accelerator of cosmic rays and if energetic particles can…
It is argued that if cosmic rays penetrate into molecular clouds, the total energy they lose can exceed the energy from galactic supernovae shocks. It is shown that most likely galactic cosmic rays interacting with the surface layers of…
We will here discuss how the gamma-ray emission from molecular clouds can be used to probe the cosmic ray flux in distant regions of the Galaxy and to constrain the highly unknown cosmic ray diffusion coefficient. In particular we will…
Molecular clouds are expected to emit non-thermal radiation due to cosmic ray interactions in the dense magnetized gas. Such emission is amplified if a cloud is located close to an accelerator of cosmic rays and if cosmic rays can leave the…
Diffuse emission from the Milky Way dominates the gamma-ray sky. About 80% of the high-energy luminosity of the Milky Way comes from processes in the interstellar medium. The Galactic diffuse emission traces interactions of energetic…
The origin of Galactic cosmic rays (with energies up to 10^15 eV) remains unclear, though it is widely believed that they originate in the shock waves of expanding supernova remnants. Currently the best way to investigate their acceleration…
The majority of galactic gamma rays are produced by interaction of cosmic rays with matter or radiation fields. This results in a diffuse radiation concentrated in the galactic plane where the flux of cosmic rays and the density of material…
Galactic cosmic rays are commonly believed to be accelerated at supernova remnants via diffusive shock acceleration. Despite the popularity of this idea, a conclusive proof for its validity is still missing. Gamma-ray astronomy provides us…
Here we review our current knowledge on diffuse gamma-rays from galactic halos. Estimates of the relative contribution of the various emission processes at low and high latitudes are compared to the data over 6 decades in energy. The…