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The Present State of Gamma-Ray Astronomy*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 August 2015

G. Clark
G. Clark*
Affiliation:
Dept. of Physics and Center for Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A.

Abstract

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The current state of gamma-ray astronomy is reviewed in terms of the most recent experimental results that define, in either measured fluxes or upper limits, the cosmic photon spectrum in the energy range from 0.5 MeV to 1016 eV. Methods of research developed during the last 10 yr are discussed and specific results are cited. Cosmic gamma rays have been observed in two regions of the spectrum – from 0.5 to 6 MeV and from about 50 MeV to several hundred MeV. Above 50 MeV a strong concentration of intensity is observed in a band of directions around the galactic equator. In both spectral regions a diffuse background gamma ray flux, apparently isotropic and of extragalactic origin, is observed. Evidence of ~ 50 MeV gamma-ray pulses from the Crab pulsar has been reported. No definite evidence of any other discrete gamma-ray source besides the galaxy itself has been observed at any energy.

Type
Part I: Gamma-Ray Astronomy
Information
Symposium - International Astronomical Union , Volume 41: New Technique in Space Astronomy , 1971 , pp. 3 - 13
Copyright
Copyright © Reidel 1971 

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