Cosmic rays from regions of star formation. I

Within the error circle of the COS-B gamma-ray source at l = 2880, b = 00 (Wills et al., 1980) lies the Carina Nebula, one of the most active regions of star formation known, housing several OB associations and Wolf-Rayet stars, and perhaps also a supernova remnant. As a region containing intense mass-losing stars it belongs to the same species as the Rho Oph cloud (but much more active), suggested to be associated with the gamma-ray source at l = 3530, b = +160 (Paul et al. this conference). As a group of OB association linked with a SNR, it belongs to the same species as 'SNOB's' (Montmerle, 1979), possibly identified with about half of the COS-B sources. The authors suggest that the source at l = 2880, b = 00 should be identified with the Carina complex. In this case the source would be at approximately 2.7 kpc and its gamma-ray luminosity would be approximately 2.1035 erg s-1. (Auth.)