The Multi Messenger Approach To High Energy Gamma Ray Sources

This book provides a theoretical and observational overview of the state of the art of gamma-ray astrophysics, and their impact and connection with the physics of cosmic rays and neutrinos. With the aim of shedding new and fresh light on the problem of the nature of the gamma-ray sources, particularly those yet unidentified, this book summarizes contributions to a workshop that continues today.

This book provides a theoretical and observational overview of the state of the art of gamma-ray astrophysics, and their impact and connection with the physics of cosmic rays and neutrinos. With the aim of shedding new and fresh light on the problem of the nature of the gamma-ray sources, particularly those yet unidentified, this book summarizes contributions to a workshop that continues today.

Bright gamma-ray flares observed from sources far beyond our Milky Way Galaxy are best explained if enormous amounts of energy are liberated by black holes. The highest- energy particles in nature--the ultra-high-energy cosmic rays--cannot be confined by the Milky Way's magnetic field, and must originate from sources outside our Galaxy. Understanding these energetic radiations requires an extensive theoretical framework involving the radiation physics and strong-field gravity of black holes. In High Energy Radiation from Black Holes, Charles Dermer and Govind Menon present a systematic exposition of black-hole astrophysics and general relativity in order to understand how gamma rays, cosmic rays, and neutrinos are produced by black holes. Beginning with Einstein's special and general theories of relativity, the authors give a detailed mathematical description of fundamental astrophysical radiation processes, including Compton scattering of electrons and photons, synchrotron radiation of particles in magnetic fields, photohadronic interactions of cosmic rays with photons, gamma-ray attenuation, Fermi acceleration, and the Blandford-Znajek mechanism for energy extraction from rotating black holes. The book provides a basis for graduate students and researchers in the field to interpret the latest results from high-energy observatories, and helps resolve whether energy released by rotating black holes powers the highest-energy radiations in nature. The wide range of detail will make High Energy Radiation from Black Holes a standard reference for black-hole research.

With the success of Cherenkov Astronomy and more recently with the launch of NASA’s Fermi mission, very-high-energy astrophysics has undergone a revolution in the last years. This book provides three comprehensive and up-to-date reviews of the recent advances in gamma-ray astrophysics and of multi-messenger astronomy. Felix Aharonian and Charles Dermer address our current knowledge on the sources of GeV and TeV photons, gleaned from the precise measurements made by the new instrumentation. Lars Bergström presents the challenges and prospects of astro-particle physics with a particular emphasis on the detection of dark matter candidates. The topics covered by the 40th Saas-Fee Course present the capabilities of current instrumentation and the physics at play in sources of very-high-energy radiation to students and researchers alike. This book will encourage and prepare readers for using space and ground-based gamma-ray observatories, as well as neutrino and other multi-messenger detectors.

This book collects the Proceedings of the Workshop "Incontri di Fisica delle Alte Energie (IFAE) 2006, Pavia, 19-21 Aprile 2006". The workshop is the fifth edition of a series of workshops on fundamental research in particle physics, as carried on at the most important international laboratories, and possible fallouts in medical and technological applications. Researches in this field aim at identifying the most elementary constituents of matter.

It is common believe that the centers of all galaxies exhibit supermassive black holes with masses ranging from millions up to billions of the mass of our Sun. By accreting surrounding matter, the luminosity of these galactic nuclei can outshine the emission of their host galaxies. If this is the case, they are called active galactic nuclei. Some of these objects eject powerful outflows composed of plasma, called jets. These jets can produce non-thermal radiation which observable across the entire electromagnetic spectrum from radio up to the gamma-ray frequencies. At highest frequencies (TeV range) most of the detected active galaxies have jets directed along or close to the line of sight. However, also galaxies with larger angles to the line of sight showing fascinating features were discovered, in seeming contradiction to traditional models for these so-called radio galaxies. Thus, the latter are of particular importance for understanding active galactic nuclei in general. This Special Issue contains reviews and research articles about the current knowledge of radio galaxies at TeV energies, including observational results and theoretical models. It is intended to guide the interested reader deeper into this fascinating discipline of modern day astronomy.

This is the sixth edition in a series of Workshops on High Energy Gamma-Ray Experiments, following the ones held in Perugia (2002), Bari (2004), Cividale del Friuli (2005), Elba Island (2006) and Villa Mondragone (2007). The year the focus is on the region known by the acronym VHE (Very High Energy), bridging the gap between GeV and TeV. The physics that lies in this region is of the utmost importance to improve our knowledge of many different astrophysical sources like pulsars, AGNs, GRBs, and our understanding of the main components of the Extragalactic Background Light (EBL). An update is given on the current and planned research for spaceborne and ground-based experiments dedicated to the observation of the gamma-ray sky.