Published 1990 | Version v1
Book Metadata-only

The estimation of background production by cosmic rays in high energy gamma-ray telescopes

Creators

  • 1. Texas Univ., Austin, TX (United States)
  • 2. Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
  • 3. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Moffett Field, CA (United States). Ames Research Center
  • 4. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Greenbelt, MD (United States). Goddard Space Flight Center
  • 5. Max Planck Inst. (Germany, F.R.)
  • 6. Grumman Aerospace Corp., Bethpage, NY (United States)

Description

The field of high energy (>100 MeV) γ-ray astronomy has been well established by the telescopes SAS-2 launched in 1972 and COS-B in 1975. A catalog of 23 discrete objects has been identified in the Galaxy, only two of which have been identified with known sources emitting at longer wavelengths. A diffuse emission, probably related to the overall structure of the Galaxy, has also been observed. In addition, SAS-2 observed an extragalactic diffuse flux of γ rays. This paper reports that for energies >100 MeV, the flux even from the strongest known source (the Vela pulsar) barely exceeds 10-5 cm-2 s-1; and the strength of the extragalactic flux is estimated to be 1.3 x 10-5 cm-2 s-1 sr-1. In the face of such small source strengths it is essential in the design of high-energy γ-ray telescopes to maximize the signal-to-noise ratio

Additional details

Publishing Information

Publisher
IEEE Service Center.
Imprint Place
Piscataway, NJ (USA)
Imprint Title
IEEE nuclear science symposium conference record emdash 1990
Imprint Pagination
1636 p.
Journal Page Range
p. 497-498.

Conference

Title
1990 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) nuclear science symposium.
Dates
22-27 Oct 1990.
Place
Arlington, VA (USA).

INIS

Country of Publication
United States
Country of Input or Organization
United States
INIS RN
22087438
Subject category
S79: ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY;
Resource subtype / Literary indicator
Conference
Descriptors DEI
BACKGROUND RADIATION; COSMIC PHOTONS; COSMIC RAY DETECTION; COSMIC RAY FLUX; GALAXIES; GAMMA ASTRONOMY; PLANNING; PULSARS; SIGNAL-TO-NOISE RATIO; SPECIFICATIONS; TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT; TELESCOPES; WAVELENGTHS
Descriptors DEC
ASTRONOMY; BOSONS; COSMIC RADIATION; COSMIC RADIO SOURCES; DETECTION; ELEMENTARY PARTICLES; IONIZING RADIATIONS; MASSLESS PARTICLES; PHOTONS; RADIATION DETECTION; RADIATION FLUX; RADIATIONS

Optional Information

Funding organization
National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington, DC (USA).
Secondary number(s)
CONF-9010220--.