Publication Date:
2019-07-13
Description:
Recent observations by the Compton Observatory (CGRO) have increased our knowledge about the gamma-ray emission from Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) considerably. The three most important findings of CGRO with respect to AGNs are: first, no Seyfert 1 galaxy has been found to show emission above 500 keV. The by far strongest Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 4151 shows a spectrum which falls off exponentially with an e-folding energy of 39 keV between 65 and 500 keV. OSSE so far has detected or has indications of detections for seven additional Seyfert 1 galaxies, which, however, all show very weak hard X-ray emission compared to NGC 4151. No annihilation feature has been seen from any Seyfert galaxy to this date. Second, the radio galaxy Cen A shows a power-law energy spectrum from hard X-ray energies of about 150 keV to at least 3 MeV. It has not been seen at EGRET-energies. Third, a new class of AGN was discovered at energies above 100 MeV by EGRET. The power of these objects in gamma-rays can dominate the luminosity in other spectral ranges. These objects are associated with extragalactic sources that have blazar properties. The high-energy gamma-ray emission is probably produced in relativistically outflowing jets. At hard X-ray energies the objects are rather weak. Spectral breaks at MeV energies were found by COMPTEL for three of these objects (3C 273, 3C 279, and PKS 0528+134).
Keywords:
ASTRONOMY
Type:
The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series (ISSN 0067-0049); 92; 2; p. 593-598
Format:
text
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