Related papers: The Gamma-Ray Background from Blazars: A New Look
We show that inverse Compton scattering of cosmic-microwave-background and starlight photons by cosmic-ray electrons in the interstellar and intergalactic space explains well the spectrum and intensity of the diffuse gamma-ray background…
The origin of the extragalactic gamma-ray background is a pressing cosmological mystery. The Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope has recently measured the intensity and spectrum of this background; both are substantially different from previous…
We make a new estimate of the extragalactic radio background down to kHz frequencies based on the observed luminosity functions and radio spectra of normal galaxies and radio galaxies. We have constructed models for the spectra of these two…
Microquasars, X-ray binary systems that generate relativistic jets, were discovered in our Galaxy in the last decade of the XXth century. Their name indicates that they are manifestations of the same physics as quasars but on a completely…
Using data from the WISE all-sky survey we discovered that the non-thermal infrared (IR) emission of blazars, the largest known population of extragalactic gamma-ray sources, has peculiar spectral properties. In this work, we confirm and…
Using a likelihood analysis (updated since McLaughlin & Cordes 2000) and EGRET detections, upper limits and diffuse background measurements, we find a best-fit luminosity law for the gamma-ray pulsar population. We find that roughly 30 of…
The Fermi Gamma-ray Observatory discovered about a thousand extragalactic sources emitting energy from 100 MeV to 100 GeV. The majority of these sources belong to the class of blazars characterized by a quasi-featureless optical spectrum…
We consider the ensemble of very-high-energy gamma-ray sources observed at distances and energies where a significant absorption of gamma rays is expected due to pair production on the extragalactic background light (EBL). Previous studies…
Statistical studies indicate that the 271 point sources of high-energy gamma rays belong to two groups: a Galactic population and an isotropic extragalactic population. Many unidentified extragalactic sources are certainly blazars, and it…
Despite the influx of unprecedented-quality data from the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope that have been collected over nine years of operation, the contribution of normal star-forming galaxies to the extragalactic gamma-ray background…
We have recently proposed a simplified scenario for blazars in which these sources are classified as flat-spectrum radio quasars or BL Lacs according to the prescriptions of unified schemes, and to a varying combination of Doppler boosted…
Blazars are the most violent steady/recurrent sources of high-energy gamma-ray emission in the known Universe. They are prominent emitters of electromagnetic radiation throughout the entire electromagnetic spectrum. The observable radiation…
Blazars, radio-loud active galactic nuclei with the relativistic jet closely aligned with the line of sight, dominate the extragalactic sky observed at gamma-ray energies, above 100 MeV. We discuss some of the emission properties of these…
The results of the first extragalactic gamma-ray survey by the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) are presented. The survey comprises 2720 hours of very high-energy gamma-ray observations of the extragalactic sky, recorded with…
If dark matter is composed of neutralinos, one of the most exciting prospects for its detection lies in observations of the gamma-ray radiation created in pair annihilations between neutralinos, a process that may contribute significantly…
We have begun to examine the EGRET database for short term variations in the fluxes of blazars and unidentified sources at high Galactic latitude. We find that several AGN show previously unreported variability. Such variations are…
In recent years, blazar surveys at radio and X-ray energies have greatly increased our understanding of this type of active galaxy. The combination of multi-wavelength data has shown that blazars follow a well defined sequence in terms of…
The energy spectra of TeV gamma-rays from blazars, after being corrected for intergalatic absorption in the Extragalactic Background Light (EBL), appear unusually hard, a fact that poses challenges to the conventional models of particle…
We describe a uniform all-sky survey of bright blazars, selected primarily by their flat radio spectra, that is designed to provide a large catalog of likely gamma-ray AGN. The defined sample has 1625 targets with radio and X-ray properties…
Cumulative optical and infrared emission from galaxies accumulated over cosmological time scales, the extragalactic background light (EBL), could be probed by complementary techniques of direct observations and source counting in the…