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The Cosmic X-Ray Background

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 July 2016

Elihu Boldt
Elihu Boldt*
Affiliation:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 666, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771 USA

Abstract

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As the sky in the microwave band is dominated by a cosmic background, so too is the X-ray sky. In this presentation the observational situation regarding the extragalactic X-ray background is reviewed, emphasizing data obtained from HEAO-1 and the Einstein Observatory (HEAO-2). Spectral characteristics and spatial variations are described and discussed within the context of what is currently known about individual extragalactic sources. It is concluded that the bulk of the cosmic X-ray background is yet to be understood. Possibilities range from genuinely diffuse emission to an “as yet” unknown large population of unresolved discrete sources. The role of cosmological effects is examined and could be important.

Type
Chapter X: The Distribution of X-Ray Sources and the X-Ray Background
Information
Symposium - International Astronomical Union , Volume 124: Observational Cosmology , 1987 , pp. 611 - 615
Copyright
Copyright © Reidel 1987 

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