Related papers: Self-Shielding of X-rays and Gamma-Rays in Compact…
Attenuation of high--energy gamma rays by pair--production with UV, optical and IR background photons provides a link between the history of galaxy formation and high--energy astrophysics. We present results from our latest semi-analytic…
Typical observational gamma-ray burst (GRB) spectra are discussed and, in this connection, what is the origin of the compactness problem and how it was solved at first. If the threshold for $e^{-}e^{+}$ pair production depends on an angle…
In the inner regions of an accretion disk around a black hole, relativistic protons can interact with ambient matter to produce electrons, positrons and $\gamma$-rays. The resultant steady state electron and positron particle distributions…
Most models of the origin of ultra high energy cosmic rays rely on the existence of luminous extragalactic sources. Cosmic rays escaping the galaxy where the source is located produce a sufficiently large electric current to justify the…
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are believed to originate from ultra-relativistic winds/fireballs to avoid the "compactness problem". However, the most energetic photons in GRBs may still suffer from $\gamma-\gamma$ absorption leading to…
We investigate the contribution of the beamed jet component to the high energy emission in young and compact extragalactic radio sources, focusing for the first time on the gamma-ray band. We derive predictions on the gamma-ray luminosities…
We consider the effects of rapid pair creation by an intense pulse of gamma-rays propagating ahead of a relativistic shock. Side-scattered photons colliding with the main gamma-ray beam amplify the density of scattering charges. The…
A solution is presented for the spectrum of high-energy gamma-ray burst photons confined to a quasi-thermal baryonic photosphere. The solution is valid in the steady-state limit assuming the region under consideration is optically thick to…
The next generation of gamma-ray telescopes may be able to observe gamma-ray blazars at high redshift, possibly out to the epoch of reionization. The spectrum of such sources should exhibit an absorption edge due to pair-production against…
Gamma-ray luminosities of some quasar-associated blazars imply jet powers reaching values comparable to the accretion power even if assuming very strong Doppler boosting and very high efficiency of gamma-ray production. With much lower…
The two-photon exclusive production of charged supersymmetric pairs at the LHC has a clean and unique signature - two very forward scattered protons and two opposite charged leptons produced centraly. For low-mass SUSY scenarios,…
High-energy photons emitted from gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are subject to pair-production interactions with lower energy photons, leading to an effective optical depth. In this Letter, we estimate the opacity resulting from photon fields…
We calculate the synchrotron self-Compton emission from internal shocks occurring in relativistic winds as a source of gamma-ray bursts, with allowance for self-absorption. For plausible model parameters most pulses within a Gamma-Ray Burst…
The sudden release of copious $\g$-ray photons into a compact region creates an opaque photon--lepton fireball due to the prolific production of electron--positron pairs. The photons that we observe in the bursts emerge only at the end of…
Gamma-rays from pulsars can be efficiently attenuated in their magnetospheres via the mechanism of single-photon pair production and also the exotic QED process of photon splitting, which become prolific in fields approaching the quantum…
We discuss here constraints on the particle acceleration models from the observed gamma-ray bursts spectra. The standard synchrotron shock model assumes that some fraction of available energy is given instantaneously to the electrons which…
Locating the gamma-ray emission sites in blazar jets is a long-standing and highly controversial issue. We investigate jointly several constraints on the distance scale r and Lorentz factor Gamma of the gamma-ray emitting regions in…
Electromagnetic showers from high-energy electron beams interacting with a target are a promising path to creating pair plasmas in the laboratory. Here, we solve analytically the kinetic equations describing this process. Two regimes are…
With today's multi-petawatt lasers, testing quantum electrodynamics (QED) in the strong field regime, where the electric field exceeds the Schwinger critical field in the rest frame of an electron, becomes within reach. Inverse Compton…
A new theory for gamma-ray burst radiation is presented. In this theory, magnetic fields and relativistic electrons are created through plasma processes arising as a relativistic shell passes through the interstellar medium. The gamma-rays…