Related papers: AGN models for the X and gamma-ray backgrounds
One way to understand the nonthermal history of the universe is by establishing the origins of the unresolved and truly diffuse extragalactic gamma rays. Dim blazars and radio/gamma galaxies certainly make an important contribution to the…
Ground based Cherenkov telescope systems measure astrophysical gamma-ray emission against a background of cosmic-ray induced air showers. The subtraction of this background is a major challenge for the extraction of spectra and morphology…
We discuss the abundance of Compton-thick AGN as estimated by the most recent population synthesis models of the cosmic X-ray background. Only a small fraction of these elusive objects have been detected so far, in line with the model…
The modelling of gamma-ray burst (GRB) spectra has considerable potential for increasing the understanding of these enigmatic sources. A diversity of ideas and analyses has been generated over the last two decades to explain line features…
Here is reviewed our current understanding of Galactic and extragalactic diffuse gamma-ray emission. The spectrum of the extragalactic gamma-ray background above 30 MeV can be well described by a power law with photon index s=2.1. In the…
A model to explain variable gamma-ray sources with high-mass microblazars is described. Inverse Compton interactions between the jet of a microquasar and the UV-photon field of the stellar companion can produce high-energy gamma-rays. The…
We estimate the number of AGN among the galaxies in the Hubble Deep Field (HDF). The recent discovery of a class of X-ray luminous narrow emission-line galaxies has provided a possible explanation for the origin of the X-ray background…
X-ray spectra of active galactic nuclei (AGN) consist of several different emission and absorption components, which are often fitted manually with models chosen on a case-by-case basis. However, it becomes very hard for a survey with a…
Hard X-ray surveys are an important tool for the study of active galactic nuclei (AGN): they provide almost an unbiased view of absorption in the extragalactic population, allow the study of spectral features such as reflection and high…
This paper reviews the field of gamma-ray astronomy and describes future experiments and prospects for advances in fundamental physics and high-energy astrophysics through gamma-ray measurements. We concentrate on recent progress in the…
We have constrained the extragalactic source count distributions over a broad range of X-ray fluxes and in various energy bands to test whether the predictions from X-ray background synthesis models agree with the observational constraints…
Current X-ray surveys have proved to be essential tools in order to identify and study AGNs across cosmic time. However, there is evidence that the most heavily obscured AGNs are largely missing even in the deepest surveys. The search for…
We selected a sample of sources with high X-ray over optical flux ratio from the ROSAT PSPC archives. Out of the 16 sources in our sample, one is a (possibly extreme) BL Lac and two are AGNs. Six more sources are tentatively classified as…
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…
The universe is filled with a diffuse and isotropic extragalactic background of gamma-ray radiation, containing roughly equal energy flux per decade in photon energy between 3 MeV-100 GeV. The origin of this background is one of the…
The case of gamma-ray absorption due to photon-photon pair production of jet photons in the external photon environment like accretion disk and broad-line region radiation field of gamma-ray loud active galactic nuclei (AGN) that exhibit…
We present results of optical identification of the ASCA Large Sky Survey. X-ray sources which have hard X-ray spectra were identified with type-2 AGN at redshifts smaller than 0.5. It is supported that the absorbed X-ray spectrum of type-2…
We investigate the nature of the faint X-ray source population through X-ray spectroscopy and variability analyses of 136 AGN detected in the 2 Ms Chandra Deep Field-North survey with > 200 background-subtracted 0.5-8.0 keV counts…
A considerable fraction of incident high-energy photons from astrophysical transients such as Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) is Compton scattered by the Earth's atmosphere. These photons, sometimes referred to as the "reflection component",…
The X-ray emission of radio-loud (RL) AGNs is a powerful tool for probing the structure of the accretion flow in these objects. We review recent spectral and variability studies of RL AGNs, which show that these systems have systematically…