In gamma-ray binaries such as LS 5039 a large number of electron-positron pairs are created by the annihilation of primary very high energy (VHE) gamma-rays with photons from the massive star. The radiation from these particles contributes to the total high energy gamma-ray flux and can initiate a cascade, decreasing the effective gamma-ray opacity in the system. The aim of this paper is to model the cascade emission and investigate if it can account for the VHE gamma-ray flux detected by HESS from LS 5039 at superior conjunction, where the primary gamma-rays are expected to be fully absorbed. A one-dimensional cascade develops along the line-of-sight if the deflections of pairs induced by the surrounding magnetic field can be neglected. A semi-analytical approach can then be adopted, including the effects of the anisotropic seed radiation field from the companion star. Cascade equations are numerically solved, yielding the density of pairs and photons. In LS 5039, the cascade contribution to the total flux is large and anti-correlated with the orbital modulation of the primary VHE gamma-rays. The cascade emission dominates close to superior conjunction but is too strong to be compatible with HESS measurements. Positron annihilation does not produce detectable 511 keV emission. This study provides an upper limit to cascade emission in gamma-ray binaries at orbital phases where absorption is strong. The pairs are likely to be deflected or isotropized by the ambient magnetic field, which will reduce the resulting emission seen by the observer. Cascade emission remains a viable explanation for the detected gamma-rays at superior conjunction in LS 5039.
Gamma-ray binaries are X-ray binaries with gamma-ray emissions. Their multi-wavelength emissions range from radio, optical, X-ray and to very high energy (TeV). X-ray emissions are crucial to understand the nature of gamma-ray binaries. INTEGRAL and RXTE have covered and monitored most of the gamma-ray binaries in hard and soft X-rays. Here we report the results of several gamma-ray binaries and possible gamma-ray binaries from INTEGRAL and RXTE.
We discuss the influence of extragalactic magnetic fields on the intensity of gamma-ray emission produced in electromagnetic cascades from ultra-high energy cosmic rays propagating in extragalactic space. Both cosmic rays and cascade particles propagate mostly out of galaxies, galactic clusters, and large scale structures as their relative volume is small. Therefore their magnetic fields weakly affect emission produced in cascades. Yet estimates of this influence can be useful searching for dark matter particles, when components of extragalactic gamma-ray background should be known, including …
I present a review of the main phenomenological properties at high energies related to massive gamma-ray binaries and I discuss some aspects of pulsar models for these objects.
Gamma-ray binaries are suitable sources to study high-energy processes in jets and outflows in general. In the last years, there has been a lot of activity in the field of gamma-ray binaries to identify the different factors that shape their non-thermal spectra, which ranges from radio to very high energies, as well as their lightcurves. In this work, I discuss the main aspects of the non-thermal emission in this class of objects, which presently includes high-mass microquasars, high-mass binaries hosting a non-accreting pulsar and, probably, massive star binaries; few potential candidates to …
Recent blazar detections by HESS, MAGIC, and VERITAS suggest that very-high-energy (VHE, E > 100 GeV) gamma-rays may be produced in most, if not all, types of blazars, including those that possess intense circumnuclear radiation fields. In this paper, we investigate the interaction of nuclear VHE gamma-rays with the circumnuclear radiation fields through gamma-gamma absorption and pair production, and the subsequent Compton-supported pair cascades. We have developed a Monte-Carlo code to follow the spatial development of the cascade in full 3-dimensional geometry, and calculate the radiative o…
LS 5039 is a Galactic binary system emitting high and very-high energy gamma rays. The gamma-ray flux is modulated on the orbital period and the TeV lightcurve shaped by photon-photon annihilation. The observed very-high energy modulation can be reproduced with a simple leptonic model but fails to explain the flux detected by HESS at superior conjunction, where gamma rays are fully absorbed. The contribution from an electron-positron pair cascade could be strong and prevail over the primary flux at superior conjunction. The created pairs can be isotropized by the magnetic field, resulting in a…
We review the multiwavelength properties of the few known gamma-ray binaries, focusing on extended emission recently resolved with Chandra. We discuss the implications of these findings for the nature of compact objects and for physical processes operating in these systems.
More than a dozen binary systems are now established as sources of variable, high energy (HE, 0.1-100 GeV) gamma rays. Five are also established sources of very high energy (VHE, >100 GeV) gamma rays. The mechanisms behind gamma-ray emission in binaries are very diverse. My current understanding is that they divide up into four types of systems: gamma-ray binaries, powered by pulsar rotation; microquasars, powered by accretion onto a black hole or neutron star; novae, powered by thermonuclear runaway on a white dwarf; colliding wind binaries, powered by stellar winds from massive stars. Some o…
The discovery of very-high-energy (VHE, E > 100 GeV) gamma-ray emission from intermediate- and low-frequency peaked blazars suggests that gamma-gamma absorption and pair cascading might occur in those objects. In previous papers, we investigated the Compton emission from VHE gamma-ray induced pair cascades, deflected by moderate magnetic fields, in a largely model-independent way, and demonstrated that this emission can explain the Fermi fluxes and spectra of the radio galaxies Cen A and NGC 1275. In this paper, we describe a generalization of our Monte-Carlo cascade code to include the angle-…
The growing number of extragalactic high-energy (HE, E > 100 MeV) and very-high-energy (VHE, E > 100 GeV) gamma-ray sources that do not belong to the blazar class suggests that VHE gamma-ray production may be a common property of most radio-loud Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). In a previous paper, we have investigated the signatures of Compton-supported pair cascades initiated by VHE gamma-ray absorption in monochromatic radiation fields, dominated by Ly-alpha line emission from the Broad Line Region. In this paper, we investigate the interaction of nuclear VHE gamma-rays with the thermal infrar…
Gamma-ray binaries allow us to study physical processes such as particle acceleration up to very-high energies and gamma-ray emission and absorption with changing geometrical configurations on a periodic basis. These sources produce outflows of radio-emitting particles whose structure can be imaged with Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI). We have studied the changing morphology of the gamma-ray binaries LS I +61 303 and LS 5039, and we have discovered the extended emission of PSR B1259-63 and HESS J0632+057. Based on these results, we have established the basic properties and behaviour o…
Gamma-ray binaries are a subclass of high-mass binary systems whose energy spectrum peaks at high energies (E$\gtrsim$100 MeV) and extends to very high energies (E$\gtrsim$100 GeV) $γ$ rays. In this review we summarize properties of well-studied non-transient $γ$-ray binaries as well as briefly discuss poorly known systems and transient systems hosting a microquasar. We discuss also theoretical models that have been used to describe spectral and timing characteristics of considered systems
GeV gamma-ray emission from two gamma-ray binary candidates, HESS J0632+057 and AGL J2241+4454, which were recently reported by H.E.S.S. and AGILE, respectively, have been searched for using the Fermi-LAT archival dataset. Spatial and temporal distribution of gamma-ray events are studied, but there was no evidence for GeV gamma-ray signal from either sources.
Recent ground based and space telescopes that detect high energy photons from a few up to hundreds of gigaelectron volts (GeV) have opened a new window on the universe. However, because of the relatively poor angular resolution of these telescopes, a large fraction of the thousands of sources of gamma-rays observed remains unknown. Compact astrophysical objects are among those high energy sources, and in the Milky Way there is a particular class called "Gamma-Ray Binaries".
Advances in X-ray and gamma-ray astronomy have opened a new window on our universe and revealed a wide variety of binaries composed of a compact object and a Be star. In Be X-ray binaries, a neutron star accretes the Be disk and truncates it through tidal interactions. Such systems have important X-ray outbursts, some related to the disk structure. In other systems, strong gamma ray emission is observed. In gamma-ray binaries, the neutron star is not accreting but driving a highly relativistic wind. The wind collision region presents similarities to colliding wind binaries composed of massive …
We discuss Fermi observations of gamma-ray loud binaries. We show that within hadronic model of activity of LSI +61 303, detection of cut-off in the GeV spectrum constrains maximal energy of the primary protons. In this way, the GeV gamma-ray data impose constraint on the expected neutrino signal (spectrum and lightcurve) from the source. We also briefly discuss perspectives of GeV band detection of PSR B1259-63 during the 2010 periastron passage.
Gamma-ray binaries are colliding wind binaries (CWB) composed of a massive star a non-accreting pulsar with a highly relativistic wind. Particle acceleration at the shocks results in emission going from extended radio emission to the gamma-ray band. The interaction region is expected to show common features with stellar CWB. Performing numerical simulations with the hydrodynamical code RAMSES, we focus on their structure and stability and find that the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability (KHI) can lead to important mixing between the winds and destroy the large scale spiral structure. To investigate …
After initial claims and a long hiatus, it is now established that several binary stars emit high (0.1-100 GeV) and very high energy (>100 GeV) gamma rays. A new class has emerged called 'gamma-ray binaries', since most of their radiated power is emitted beyond 1 MeV. Accreting X-ray binaries, novae and a colliding wind binary (eta Car) have also been detected - 'related systems' that confirm the ubiquity of particle acceleration in astrophysical sources. Do these systems have anything in common ? What drives their high-energy emission ? How do the processes involved compare to those in other …
We analyze the model of gamma-ray binaries, consisting of a massive star and a pulsar with ultrarelativistic wind. We consider radiation from energetic particles, accelerated at the pulsar wind termination shock, and feedback of this radiation on the wind through production of secondary electron-positron pairs. We show that the pair feedback limits the Lorentz factor of the pulsar wind and creates a population of very energetic pairs, whose radiation may be responsible for the observed gamma-ray signal.
Recent detections of very-high-energy (VHE, E > 100 GeV) gamma-ray blazars which do not belong to the high frequency peaked BL Lac (HBL) class, suggest that gamma-gamma absorption and pair cascading might occur in those objects. In the presence of even weak magnetic fields, these Compton-supported pair cascades will be deflected and contribute to the Fermi gamma-ray flux of radio galaxies. We demonstrate that, in this scenario, the magnetic field can not be determined from a fit of the cascade emission to the gamma-ray spectrum alone, and the degeneracy can only be lifted if the synchrotron em…
High-mass binary systems involve extreme environments that produce non-thermal emission from radio to gamma rays. Only three types of these systems are known to emit persistent gamma-ray emission: colliding-wind binaries, high-mass X-ray binaries and gamma-ray binaries. This thesis is focused on the radio emission of high-mass binary systems through interferometric observations, and we have explored several of these sources with low- and high-frequency radio observations, and very high-resolution VLBI ones. We have studied two gamma-ray binaries, LS 5039 and LS I +61 303, at low frequencies. W…
Gamma-ray binaries are thought to be composed of a young pulsar in orbit around a massive O or Be star, with their gamma-ray emission powered by pulsar spindown. The number of such systems in our Galaxy is not known. We aim to estimate the total number of gamma-ray binaries in our Galaxy and to evaluate the prospects for new detections in the GeV and TeV energy range, taking into account that their gamma-ray emission is modulated on the orbital period. We model the population of gamma-ray binaries and evaluate the fraction of detected systems in surveys with the Fermi-LAT (GeV), HESS, HAWC and…
Gamma-ray binaries are orbital modulated gamma-ray sources in the Galaxy detected both at GeV and TeV energies. The high-energy radiation may come from the interaction of energetic electrons injected by a young pulsar and photons from the massive companion star. We present a model for the production of high-energy radiation where emission, absorption and pair cascading are considered. New observations of LS I +61 303 by the Fermi Space Telescope revealed an exponential cut-off in the spectrum at a few GeV, inconsistent with gamma-gamma absorption. Electrons radiating at GeV and TeV have probab…
Gamma-ray loud X-ray binaries are binary systems that show non-thermal broadband emission from radio to gamma rays. If the system comprises a massive star and a young non-accreting pulsar, their winds will collide producing broadband non-thermal emission, most likely originated in the shocked pulsar wind. Thermal X-ray emission is expected from the shocked stellar wind, but until now it has neither been detected nor studied in the context of gamma-ray binaries. We present a semi-analytic model of the thermal X-ray emission from the shocked stellar wind in pulsar gamma-ray binaries, and find th…
Gamma-ray binaries allow us to study physical processes such as particle acceleration up to very-high energies and gamma-ray emission and absorption with changing geometrical configurations on a periodic basis. They produce outflows of radio-emitting particles whose structure can be imaged with Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI). We present recent and new VLBI observations of PSR B1259-63, LS 5039, LS I +61 303, and HESS J0632+057. For the first three cases the results show the repeatability of their radio structures with the orbit of the binary system.
The high-energy radiation from short period binaries containing a massive star with a compact relativistic companion was detected from radio to TeV gamma rays. We show here that PeV regime protons can be efficiently accelerated in the regions of collision of relativistic outflows of a compact object with stellar winds in these systems. The accelerated proton spectra in the presented Monte Carlo model have an upturn in the PeV regime and can provide very hard spectra of sub-PeV photons and neutrinos by photo-meson processes in the stellar radiation field. Recent report of a possible sub-PeV gam…
(abridged) Gamma-ray binaries are massive stars with compact object companions that are observed to emit most of their energy in the gamma-ray range. One of these binaries is known to contain a radio pulsar, PSR B1259-63. Synchrotron and inverse Compton emission from particles accelerated beyond the light cylinder in striped pulsar winds has been proposed to explain the X-ray to high energy (HE, $>$ 100 MeV) gamma-ray emission from isolated pulsars. This pulsar model extends naturally to binary environments, where seed photons for inverse Compton scattering are provided by the companion star. …
The blazar 3C 279 emits a flux of gamma-rays that is variable on timescales as short as the light-crossing time across the event horizon of its central black hole. It is commonly reported that the spectral energy distribution (SED) does not show signs of pair attenuation due to interactions of the gamma rays with ambient ultraviolet photons, concluding that the gamma rays must originate from substructures in the jet outside of the broad-line region (BLR). We address the spectral signature imprinted by atomic emission lines on the gamma-ray spectrum produced by an inverse-Compton pair cascade i…
Gamma-ray binaries have been uncovered as a new class of Galactic objects in the very high energy sky (> 100 GeV). The three systems known today have hard X-ray spectra (photon index ~ 1.5), extended radio emission and a high luminosity in gamma-rays. Recent monitoring campaigns of LSI +61 303 in X-rays have confirmed variability in these systems and revealed a spectral hardening with increasing flux. In a generic one-zone leptonic model, the cooling of relativistic electrons accounts for the main spectral and temporal features observed at high energy. Persistent hard X-ray emission is expecte…
It is at present well known that conditions at some massive binary systems allow acceleration of particles and production of the GeV-TeV gamma-rays. However, which particles are responsible for this emission and what radiation processes are engaged is at present not completely clear. We discuss what parameters can determine the acceleration process of particles and high energy radiation produced by them within massive binary systems.
X-ray and gamma-ray binaries are systems consisting of a compact object and normally a non-degenerate companion star. Most of these sources have been shown to emit radiation in a broad frequency range, from radio up to X-rays and sometimes gamma rays. We report on recent results in very high-energy gamma rays above 100 GeV obtained by the MAGIC Collaboration for the Galactic X-ray binaries MAXI J1820+070 and 1A 0535+262, and the gamma-ray binary HESS J0632+057. Multiwavelength data at lower energies are also provided for a better contextualisation of the sources.
Several binary systems have been detected at High Energy (HE, E > 100 MeV) and/or Very High Energy (VHE, E > 100 GeV) gamma rays. Some of them are X-ray binaries in which accretion feeds relativistic radio jets and powers the non-thermal emission (i.e., microquasars), whereas in others the power comes from the wind of a young pulsar instead of accretion. Although the power mechanism in these systems is different (accretion vs pulsar wind), all of them are radio, X-ray and gamma-ray emitters, and have a high-mass bright companion (O or B) star that is a source of seed photons for IC scattering …
We test the synchrotron emission scenario for the very bright gamma-ray flare of blazar 3C 279 observed in 2015 June using time-dependent numerical simulations. A bulk Lorentz factor as high as 100 can bring the synchrotron maximum energy above the GeV energy range. We find two possible solutions for the X-ray to gamma-ray spectrum. One is a prompt electron injection model with a hard power-law index as magnetic reconnection models suggest. A too strong magnetic field yields a too bright synchrotron X-ray flux due to secondary electron--positron pairs. Even in the prompt electron injection mod…
The presence of weak intergalactic magnetic fields can be studied by their effect on electro-magnetic cascades induced by multi-TeV gamma-rays in the cosmic radiation background. Small deflections of secondary electrons and positrons as the cascade develops extend the apparent size of the emission region of distant TeV gamma-ray sources. These gamma-ray halos can be resolvable in imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes and serve as a measure of the intergalactic magnetic field strength and coherence length. We present a method of calculating the gamma-ray halo for isotropically emitting sourc…
Gamma-ray emitting binaries (GREBs) are complex systems. Its study became in the last years a major endeavour for the high-energy astrophysics community, both from an observational and a theoretical perspective. Whereas the accumulation of observation time for most Galactic gamma-ray sources is typically leading to highly accurate descriptions of their steady phenomenology, GREBs keep providing "exceptions to the rule" either through long-term monitoring of known systems or in the discovery of new sources of this class. Moreover, many GREBs have been identified as powerful radio, optical and X…
In our search for gamma-ray emission from Be X-ray binaries from analysis of the data obtained with the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on board the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope, we find likely detection of GRO J1008-57. The binary has an orbital period of 249.48 days, and it is only significantly detected in its orbital phase 0.8--0.9 (>4 sigma). Further light curve analysis indicates that the detection is probably largely due to an emitting event in one orbital cycle around year 2012--2013, following a giant X-ray outburst of the source. This property of having occasional gamma-ray emitting ev…
In the past ten years of regular operations, a new generation of Cherenkov telescopes have established binary systems as a new class of Very High Energy gamma-ray (VHE) emitters. Particle acceleration in these systems may occur either in an accretion-powered jet (microquasar) or in the shock between a pulsar wind and a stellar wind (wind-wind). This paper describes the phenomenology of the three VHE binaries PSR~B1259-63, LS 5039 and LS I +61 303. Two other objects may belong to this new class: HESS J0632+057 is a point-like variable VHE source whose multiwavelength behaviour resembles that of…
We present a very brief overview of some recent gamma-ray observations of selected blazars to reveal an indication for a considerable or even dominant contribution of secondary gamma-rays from electromagnetic cascades to the observable spectra in the 1-500 GeV energy range.
Beams of ultra-relativistic electrons in blazar jets develop pair cascades interacting with ambient soft photons. Employing coupled kinetic equations with escape terms, we model the unsaturated pair cascade spectrum. We assume that the gamma rays predominantly scatter off recombination-line photons from clouds photoionised by the irradiation from the accretion disk and the jet. The cascade spectrum is rather insensitive to the injection of hard electron spectra associated with the short-time variability of blazars. Adopting physical parameters representative of Markarian 501 and 3C 279, respec…
Microquasars have been expected to emit high energy gamma-rays due to their general similarities to the gamma-ray emitting blazars (evidences of relativistic jets, non-thermal radio to X-ray emission). In fact, the first source of this type, Cyg X-3, has been recently unambiguously discovered by the satellite telescopes. We study the features of the gamma-ray radiation produced in these sources by relativistic electrons, accelerated in the inner part of the jet. The electrons initiate an Inverse Compton e^\pm pair cascade in the radiation field of the accretion disk. Due to the anisotropy of t…
A few binary systems display High Energy (100 MeV - 100 GeV) and/or Very High Energy (> 100 GeV) gamma-ray emission. These systems also display non-thermal radio emission that can be resolved with long-baseline radio interferometers, revealing the presence of outflows. It is expected that at very low frequencies the synchrotron radio emission covers larger angular scales than has been reported up to now. Here we present preliminary results of the first deep radio observations of the gamma-ray binary LS I +61 303 with LOFAR, which is sensitive to extended structures on arcsecond to arcminute sc…
Gamma-ray binaries (GBs) have been object of intense studies in the last decade. From an observational perspective, GBs are phenomenologically similar to most X-ray binary systems in terms of their broad-band emission across the entire electromagnetic spectrum, being segregated from this source population by showing a maximum of their spectral energy distribution in the gamma-ray band, either at high-energies (HE: 100 MeV - 100 GeV) or very-high energies (VHE: above 100 GeV). From a theoretical perspective, the broad-band emission from GBs is a unique case in which particle acceleration and em…
Several binary systems consisting of a massive star and a compact object have been detected above 100 GeV in the Galaxy. In most of these sources, gamma-rays show a modulation associated to the orbital motion, which means that the emitter should not be too far from the bright primary star. This implies that gamma-ray absorption will be non negligible, and large amounts of secondary electron-positron pairs will be created in the stellar surroundings. In this work, we show that the radio emission from these pairs should be accounted for when interpreting the radio spectrum, variability, and morp…
As very high energy (VHE) photons propagate through the extragalactic background light (EBL), they interact with the soft photons and initiate electromagnetic cascades of lower energy photons and electrons. The collective intensity of a cosmological population emitting at VHEs will be attenuated at the highest energies through interactions with the EBL and enhanced at lower energies by the resulting cascade. We calculate the cascade radiation created by VHE photons produced by blazars and investigate the effects of cascades on the collective intensity of blazars and the resulting effects on th…
We simulate the spectral behaviour of the non-transient gamma-ray binaries using archival observations as a reference. With this we test the CTA capability to measure the sources' spectral parameters and detect variability on various time scales. We review the known properties of gamma-ray binaries and the theoretical models that have been used to describe their spectral and timing characteristics. We show that CTA is capable of studying these sources on time scales comparable to their characteristic variability time scales. For most of the binaries, the unprecedented sensitivity of CTA will a…
As very-high--energy photons propagate through the extragalactic background light (EBL), they interact with the soft photons and initiate electromagnetic cascades of lower energy photons and electrons. The collective intensity of a cosmological population emitting at very-high energies (VHE) will be attenuated at the highest energies through interactions with the EBL and enhanced at lower energies by the resulting cascade. We calculate the cascade radiation created by VHE photons produced by blazars and investigate the effects of cascades on the collective intensity of blazars and the resultin…
It is well known that the effect of gamma-ray absorption on extragalactic background light (EBL) is weakly expressed in the spectra of some blazars. It is shown that a secondary component generated by electromagnetic cascades might considerably decrease the statistical significance of this anomaly. Observational results indicate the existence of the cascade component in the spectra of extragalactic gamma-ray sources, thus supporting the proposed model.
A fraction of gamma-ray bursts exhibit distinct spectral features in their prompt emission below few 10s of keV that exceed simple extrapolations of the low-energy power-law portion of the Band spectral model. This is also true for the prompt optical emission observed in several bursts. Through Monte Carlo simulations, we model such low-energy spectral excess components as hadronic cascade emission initiated by photomeson interactions of ultra-high-energy protons accelerated within GRB outflows. Synchrotron radiation from the cascading, secondary electron-positron pairs can naturally reproduce…
Modeling electromagnetic cascades during gamma-ray transport is important in many applications within astrophysics. This document introduces $γ$-Cascade, a publicly available Mathematica package which allows users to calculate observed gamma-ray fluxes from point sources as well as from a distribution of sources. $γ$-Cascade semi-analytically computes the effects of electromagnetic interactions during gamma-ray transport.
The gamma-ray binaries LS 5039 and LS I +61 303 have been detected by Cerenkov telescopes at TeV energies, exhibiting periodic behavior correlated with the orbital period. These gamma-ray binary systems have also been recently detected by the Fermi Gamma-ray Telescope at GeV energies, and combination of GeV and TeV observations are providing both, expected and surprising results. We summarize these results, also considering the multi-frequency scenario, from the perspective of pulsar systems. We discuss similarities and differences of models in which pulsar wind/star wind shocks, or pulsar win…
Context. We have presented a numerical model for the non-thermal emission of gamma-ray binaries in a pulsar-wind driven scenario. Aims. We apply this model to one of the best-observed gamma-ray binaries, the LS 5039 system. Methods. The model involves a joint simulation of the pulsar- and stellar-wind interaction and the transport of electronic pairs from the pulsar wind accelerated at the emerging shock structure. We compute the synchrotron and inverse Compton emission in a post-processing step, while consistently accounting for relativistic beaming and $γγ$-absorption in the stellar radiatio…
Context. The imaging and timing properties of γ-ray emission from electromagnetic cascades initiated by very-high-energy (VHE) γ-rays in the intergalactic medium depend on the strength B and correlation length λB of intergalactic magnetic fields (IGMF). Aims. We study the possibility of measuring both B and λB via observations of the cascade emission with γ-ray telescopes. Methods. For each measurement method, we find two characteristics of the cascade signal, which are sensitive to the IGMF B and λB values in different combinations. For the case of IGMF measurement using the observation of ex…
The existence of intergalactic magnetic fields (IGMFs) is an open problem in cosmology and has never been unambiguously confirmed. High-energy gamma rays emitted by blazars are unique probes of cosmic magnetism, as their interactions with pervasive radiation fields generate a short-lived charged component sensitive to intervening magnetic fields. Spatial and temporal properties of the secondary gamma rays generated in the electromagnetic cascade can provide information about the strength, power spectrum, and topology of IGMFs. To probe these fields, detailed simulations of gamma-ray propagatio…
High energy gamma-ray emission from two nearby bright starburst galaxies, M82 and NGC 253, have recently been detected by Fermi, H.E.S.S., and VERITAS. Since starburst galaxies have a high star formation rate and plenty of dust in the central starburst region, infrared emissions are strong there. Gamma-ray photons are absorbed by the interstellar radiation field photons via electron and positron pair creation. The generated electron and positron pairs up scatter the interstellar photons to very high energy gamma-ray photons via cascade emission through inverse Compton scattering. In this paper…
