Related papers: Self-Shielding of X-rays and Gamma-Rays in Compact…
Relativistically expanding sources of X-rays and gamma-rays cover an enormous range of (central) compactness and Lorentz factor. The underlying physics is discussed, with an emphasis on how the dominant dissipative mode and the emergent…
Many classes of gamma-ray sources, such as gamma-ray bursts, blazars, Seyfert galaxies, and galactic black hole sources are surrounded by large amounts of gas and dust. X-rays and gamma-rays that traverse this material will be attenuated by…
We consider dissipative effects occurring in the optically thick inner parts of the relativistic outflows producing gamma-ray bursts and X-ray flashes, emphasizing specially the Comptonization of the thermal radiation flux that is advected…
The propagation of high energy (HE, $E_\gamma>100$ MeV) and very high-energy gamma-rays (VHE, $E_\gamma>100$ GeV) in the extra-galactic photon field leads to pair-production and consequently energy- and distance-dependent attenuation of the…
In the hot environments of the anomalous X-ray pulsars and the soft gamma-ray repeaters, as indicated by their luminous, pulsed, quiescent X-ray emission, $\gamma$-rays generated from the inner gaps may have shorter attenuation lengths via…
Eleven bright gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) detected by BATSE have also been seen at much higher energies by EGRET, six at energies above 10 MeV. Such observations imply that these bursts are optically thin to photon-photon pair production at all…
In the recent years, the number of detected very high energy (VHE: E > 100 GeV) gamma-ray sources has increased rapidly. The sources have been observed at redshifts up to z = 0.536 without strong indications for the presence of absorption…
The highly luminous and variable prompt emission in Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) arises in an ultra-relativistic outflow. The exact underlying radiative mechanism shaping its non-thermal spectrum is still uncertain, making it hard to determine…
Quasi-thermal Comptonization in internal shocks formed between relativistic shells can account for the high energy emission of gamma-ray bursts. This is in fact the dominant cooling mechanism if the typical energy of the emitting particles…
A number of recent lines of evidence point towards the presence of hot, out-flowing plasma from the central regions of compact Galactic and extragalactic X-ray sources. Additionally, it has long been noted that many of these sources exhibit…
Scattering relativistic electrons with optical lasers can result in a significant frequency upshift for the photons, potentially producing $\gamma$-rays. This is what linear Compton scattering taught us. Ultra-intense lasers offer nowadays…
The emission mechanism of the gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) is still a matter of debates. The standard synchrotron energy spectrum of cooling electrons F_E ~ E^{-1/2} is much too soft to account for the majority of the observed spectral slopes.…
One of the major goals of research for laser-plasma accelerators is the realization of compact sources of femtosecond X-rays. In particular, using the modest electron energies obtained with existing laser systems, Compton scattering a…
It is proposed that the gamma ray burst photons near the peak of the spectrum at several hundred KeV are produced on very compact scales, where photon production is limited by blackbody effects and/or the requirement of energetic quanta…
In a previous paper the spectrum of positrons produced by matter initially at rest falling onto a massive compact object was calculated. In this paper this calculation is generalized to obtain both the spectrum of in-flight positron…
We study $e^{\pm}$ pair plasmas in pair equilibrium, which emit high energy radiation by thermal Comptonization of soft photons. We find that the maximum luminosity to size ratio of the source (i.e. the compactness) depends not only on the…
Sources of high-energy photons have important applications in almost all areas of research. However, the photon flux and intensity of existing sources is strongly limited for photon energies above a few hundred keV. Here we show that a…
Unlike high-mass gamma-ray binaries, low-mass microquasars lack external sources of radiation and matter that could produce high-energy emission through interactions with relativistic particles. In this work we consider the synchrotron…
Bright sources of high energy electromagnetic radiation are widely employed in fundamental research as well as in industry and medicine. This steadily growing interest motivated the construction of several facilities aiming at the…
Accreting black holes are believed to be sites of possible particle acceleration with favorable conditions also for effective gamma-ray production. However, because of photon-photon pair production, only low energy (MeV) gamma-rays can…