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Unidentified EGRET sources and the extragalactic gamma-ray background.
- Source :
- Astrophysics & Space Science; May2007, Vol. 309 Issue 1-4, p81-87, 7p, 3 Graphs
- Publication Year :
- 2007
-
Abstract
- The large majority of EGRET point sources remain to this day without an identified low-energy counterpart. Whatever the nature of the EGRET unidentified sources, faint unresolved objects of the same class must have a contribution to the diffuse gamma-ray background: if most unidentified objects are extragalactic, faint unresolved sources of the same class contribute to the background, as a distinct extragalactic population; on the other hand, if most unidentified sources are Galactic, their counterparts in external galaxies will contribute to the unresolved emission from these systems. Understanding this component of the gamma-ray background, along with other guaranteed contributions from known sources, is essential in any attempt to use gamma-ray observations to constrain exotic high-energy physics. Here, we follow an empirical approach to estimate whether a potential contribution of unidentified sources to the extragalactic gamma-ray background is likely to be important, and we find that it is. Additionally, we comment on how the anticipated GLAST measurement of the diffuse gamma-ray background will change, depending on the nature of the majority of these sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 0004640X
- Volume :
- 309
- Issue :
- 1-4
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Astrophysics & Space Science
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 25604369
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s10509-007-9456-1