The Universe in Gamma Rays

1. Front Matter

   Pages I-XIV

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Volker Schönfelder

   Pages 1-8

3. Gamma-Ray Production and Absorption Processes

   • Roland Diehl

   Pages 9-25

4. Instruments

   • Giselher Lichti, Robert Georgii

   Pages 27-75

5. Summary of the Gamma-Ray Sky

   • Volker Schönfelder

   Pages 77-90

6. The Sun as a Gamma-Ray Source

   • Erich Rieger, Gerhard Rank

   Pages 91-126

7. Gamma-Ray Pulsars

   • Gottfried Kanbach

   Pages 127-158

8. X-Ray Binaries as Gamma-Ray Sources

   • Werner Collmar

   Pages 159-184

9. Continuum Gamma Ray Emission from Supernova Remnants

   • Anatoli Iyudin, Gottfried Kanbach

   Pages 185-205

10. Diffuse Galactic Continuum Gamma-Rays

    • Andrew W. Strong, Igor V. Moskalenko

    Pages 207-231

11. Nucleosynthesis

    • Roland Diehl

    Pages 233-274

12. Nuclear Interaction Gamma-Ray Lines

    • Volker Schönfelder, Andrew W. Strong

    Pages 275-283

13. Gamma-Ray Emission of Active Galaxies

    • Werner Collmar

    Pages 285-318

14. Unidentified Gamma-Ray Sources

    • Olaf Reimer

    Pages 319-338

15. The Extragalactic Gamma-Ray Background

    • Georg Weidenspointner, Martin Varendorff

    Pages 339-366

16. Gamma-Ray Bursts

    • Martin Varendorff

    Pages 367-396

17. Erratum to: Nuclear Interaction Gamma-Ray Lines

    • Martin Varendorff

    Pages 409-409

18. Back Matter

    Pages 397-407

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Gamma-ray astronomy began in the mid-1960s with balloon satellite, and, at very high photon energies, also with ground-based instruments. However, the most significant progress was made in the last decade of the 20th century, when the tree satellite missions SIGMA, Compton, and Beppo-Sax gave a completely new picture of our Universe and made gamma-ray astronomy an integral part of astronomical research. This book, written by well-known experts, gives the first comprehensive presentation of this field of research, addressing both graduate students and researchers. Gamma-ray astronomy helps us to understand the most energetic processes and the most violent events in the Universe. After describing cosmic gamma-ray production and absorption, the instrumentation used in gamma-ray astronomy is explained. The main part of the book deals with astronomical results, including the somewhat surprising result that the gamma-ray sky is continuously changing.

• Black Holes
• Cherenkov Light
• Gamma ray
• Gamma-Ray Astronomy
• Gamma-Ray Burst Sources
• Neutron
• Neutron Stars
• Pulsars
• X-Ray Astronomy
• astronomy
• instruments

From the reviews of the first edition:

"The editor, Dr. Schoenfelder, has done an excellent job in compiling the finest articles encompassing every aspect of gamma-ray astronomy. [...] The articles offer easy reading and readers with basic astronomy background would find no problem at all in understanding these articles. The book is best suited for graduate students, and also an excellent handbook for references for any serious researchers." (Indian Journal of Physics, 77B/4, 2003)

"The book consists of articles written by gamma-ray astronomers at the Max Planck Institut für Extraterrestrische Physik in Garching. The result is a nice compilation of topics in the forefront of the field and a uniformity of style. … As an introductory text for new workers in the field - and there will be quite a few, in view of forthcoming space missions - the book will be useful … ." (Arnold Wolfendale, The observatory, Vol. 122 (1168), 2002)

• Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik, Garching, Germany

  Volker Schönfelder

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