2006/10/31 by C. D. Dermer, Charles D. Dermer
Physics and Astronomy · #Active galactic nucleus #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Blazar #Cosmology #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #Extragalactic astronomy #Extragalactic background light #Galaxy #Gamma ray #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #MAGIC (telescope) #Neutrino #Physics #Sky #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1007/s10509-007-9417-8
published as Astrophys.SpaceSci.309:127-137,2007 · 10 pages, 3 figs, accepted for publication in the Barcelona Conference on Multimessenger Astronomy; corrected eq. 27, revised Fig. 3, added 2 refs
arxiv created 2006/11/06 · openalex publication_date 2007/04/18 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Our knowledge of the high-energy universe is undergoing a period of rapid change as new astronomical detectors of high-energy radiation start to operate at their design sensitivities. Now is a boomtime for high-energy astrophysics, with new discoveries from Swift and HESS, results from MAGIC and VERITAS starting to be reported, the upcoming launches of the gamma-ray space telescopes GLAST and AGILE, and anticipated data releases from IceCube and Auger. A formalism for calculating statistical properties of cosmological gamma-ray sources is presented. Application is made to model calculations of the statistical distributions of gamma-ray and neutrino emission from (i) beamed sources, specifically, long-duration GRBs, blazars, and extagalactic microquasars, and (ii) unbeamed sources, including normal galaxies, starburst galaxies and clusters. Expressions for the integrated intensities of faint beamed and unbeamed high-energy radiation sources are also derived. A toy model for the background intensity of radiation from dark-matter annihilation taking place in the early universe is constructed. Estimates for the gamma-ray fluxes of local group galaxies, starburst, and infrared luminous galaxies are briefly reviewed. Because the brightest extragalactic gamma-ray sources are flaring sources, and these are the best targets for sources of PeV -- EeV neutrinos and ultra-high energy cosmic rays, rapidly slewing all-sky telescopes like MAGIC and an all-sky gamma-ray observatory beyond Milagro will be crucial for optimal science return in the multi-messenger age.