Cosmic gamma rays from the Large Magellanic Cloud - and from the Galaxy

An analysis has been made of gamma rays from the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) using data from the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. After correcting for foreground gamma rays from cosmic ray (CR) interactions in our own Galaxy it is found that the gamma ray intensity maps show a displacement of peak position away from the peak of the atomic gas contours and towards the peak of the starlight contours. An explanation is advanced in terms of there being an increasing contribution from inverse Compton interactions, this contribution being bigger the higher the energy. Our earlier contention that the average cosmic ray intensity within the LMC is only about 15% of that in the Galaxy is confirmed. (author)