The Nature of Unidentified Galactic High-Energy Gamma-Ray Sources

The Energetic Gamma-Ray Experiment Telescope (EGRET) instru ment on the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory left as a legacy its Third Catalog of High Energy Gamma-Ray Sources, whose detections include a large number of blazars, some pulsars, the Large Magellanic Cloud and a solar flare. Most of the newly discovered objects - a majority of the catalog -are unidentified sources, with a clearly predominant Galactic population. Are all these radio-quiet pulsars, like Geminga, or is there a novel type of celestial object, awaiting identification? In spite of the limited angular resolution provided by EGRET and COMPTEL, there is still much to learn about unidentified ,-ray sources: correlation studies, multiwavelength observations and theoretical work can provide valuable clues, specially if these efforts are carried out in a coordinated manner. The aim of this workshop, held from October 9 to 11, 2000, at the Instituto N acional de Astrofisica, Optica y Electronica, at Tonantzintla, Mexico, was to gather experts on the subject, including observational as tronomers specialized in other regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, in an effort to address the question of the Nature of Galactic high-energy gamma-ray sources, both from the theoretical and observational perspec tive, and elaborate schemes for future identification studies which can make use of existing and forthcoming facilities.

Proceedings of the Workshop held at Tonantzintla, Puebla, Mexico, 9-11 October 2000

Springer Book Archives

I Unidentified Gamma-Ray Sources.- 1 Unidentified Gamma-Ray Sources: an Introduction.- 2 Gamma-Ray Properties of Unidentified EGRET Sources.- 3 Multiwavelength Searches and Spectral Aspects of 3EG Sources.- II Correlations Studies Of Unidentified Gamma-Ray Sources.- 4 Gamma-Ray Sources off the Galactic Plane.- 5 Low-Latitude Gamma-Ray Sources.- 6 Population Studies of Unidentified ?-Ray Sources.- 7 Population Studies of the EGRET Sources.- 8 Low-Latitude Gamma-Ray Sources and Supernova Remnants.- III High-energy Pulsars.- 9 Geminga Pulsars.- 10 X-Ray and Radio Observations of Bright GeV Sources.- 11 Gamma-Ray Pulsars: the 'Outer Gap' Perspective.- 12 Polar Cap Pulsar Models.- IV Supernova Remnants and Massive Stars.- 13 Massive Stars and Gamma-Ray Sources.- 14 Diffuse Sources of High-Energy Gamma Rays in the Milky Way.- 15 Shock Acceleration and Photon Production in Supernova Remnants.- 16 X-Ray Studies of Supernova Remnants.- V Galactic Microquasars Binaries Black Holes.- 17 Microquasars in the Galaxy.- 18 VLT Observations of Galactic Microquasars.- 19 The Case of LS 5039.- 20 Non-Pulsating Black Holes as High Energy Gamma-Ray Sources.- VI Identification and Perspectives.- 21 TeV Observations of Supernova Remnants and Unidentified Sources.- 22 A First EGRET-UNID-Related Agenda for Cherenkov Telescopes.- 23 ?-Ray Astronomy in the Era of GLAST.- 24 The AGILE Gamma-Ray Astronomy Satellite.- 25 Multiwavelength Round-Table Presentations.- VII Summary.- 26 Unidentified Gamma-Ray Sources- Summary and Conclusion.- Topic Index.- Author Index.