The Gamma Ray Sky with Compton GRO and SIGMA

This volume consists of invited lectures and seminars presented at the NATO Advanced Study Institute "The Gamma Ray Sky with COMPTON GRO and SIGMA" , which was held at the Centre de Physique Theorique of Les Houches (France) in January / February 1994. The school has been planned by a Scientific Organizing Committee. It was organized with the aim of providing students and young researchers with an up-to-date account of the high-energy phenomena in the vicinity of compact objets and the diffuse gamma-ray backgrounds after the early results from the gamma-ray telescope SIGMA and the four instruments onboard COMPTON GRO (Gamma Ray Observatory) : BATSE (Burst and Transient Source Experiment),COMPTEL(Compto'l Telescope),EGRET (Energetic Gamma Ray Experiment Telescope) and OS SE(Oriented Scintillation Spectrometer Experiment) . It was attended by more than sixty researchers from many countries. The lectures and seminars represent a complete coverage of our present knowledge and understanding of: Gamma-ray backgrounds, Gamma-ray Burts,Active Galactic Nuclei,Galactic Compact Objects, Gamma-ray Spectroscopy, Instrumentation and observation techniques, etc ... Most of these lectures are reproduced in this volume. Unfortunately, a few lecturers have chosen not to submit their manuscript.

Inhalt
I. Introductory Lecturers.- . The COMPTON Gamma Ray Observatory: Highlights from the First Three Years of the Mission.- . Overview of the SIGMA Results.- . TEV Gamma Ray Astronomy, Techniques.- II. Extragalactic Gamma-Ray Sources.- . High-Energy Radiation from Active Galactic Nuclei: Implications for AGN Unification Scenarios.- . Modelling the High Energy Spectra of AGN.- . Multi-wavelength Observations of Active Galactic Nuclei.- . OSSE Observations of Galactic Nuclei.- . EGRET Observations of Active Galactic Nuclei.- . TEV Gamma-Ray Astronomy, Extragalactic Sources.- III. Gamma - Ray Backgrounds.- . Diffuse Gamma Rays from WIMP Decay and Annihilation.- . The Diffuse ? Ray from Cosmic Ray Interactions in the Galaxy.- . Diffuse Galactic Continuum Emission.- . EGRET Observations of the Diffuse Galactic and Extragalactic Gamma-Ray Backgrounds.- IV. Galactic Gamma-Ray Sources.- . The Equation of State of Dense Matter.- . Binary Pulsar Shock Emission as Galactic Gamma-Ray Sources.- . TEV Gamma-Ray Astronomy, Galactic Sources.- . EGRET Observations of Galactic Gamma-Ray Sources.- . BATSE Observations of Galactic Black Hole Canditates.- . Observations of Discrete Galactic Sources with OSSE.- V. The Galactic Center.- . SIGMA Observations of the Galactic Center in the Hard X-Ray and Soft ? Ray Regime.- . Balloon Observations of the Galactic Center 511keV line and their Relationship to Satellite Results.- VI. Gamma Ray Spectroscopy.- . Gamma-Ray Producing Radioactivities from Supernova Explosions.- . Astrophysical Gamma-Ray Lines from Accelerated Particle Interactions.- . Gamma-Ray Line Observations with the COMPTEL Imaging Telescope.- . Gamma-Ray Line Observational Results from OSSE.- VII. Gamma-Ray Bursts.- . Gamma-Ray Bursts: Theoretical Considerations.- . Statistics ofthe Gamma-Ray Burst Population.- . Observations of Gamma-Ray Bursts.- . Inquisitive Correlations in the BATSE Gamma-Ray Burst Data.- . Gamma Ray Bursts, Inverse Compton Scaterring and the precessing jets in galactic halo.- VIII Conclusion.- Summary.- Author Index.