Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T16:58:12.416Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Cosmic Background Radiation: Some Recent Developments

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 March 2016

M. J. Rees
M. J. Rees*
Affiliation:
Institute of Theoretical Astronomy, Madingley Road, Cambridge

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Diffuse background radiation has been detected over 16 decades of frequency - from a few MHz up to ~3 × 1016 MHz (100 MeV) - and there are upper limits over an even wider range. Generally an important contribution comes from the galactic disc, but in some wavebands it has proved possible to isolate a truly cosmic isotropic component originating beyond our own Galaxy. A simple Olbers-type argument shows that the bulk of any extragalactic radiation field originates at cosmological distances. This is true whether the radiation is emitted by discrete sources, or comes from extragalactic (or pregalactic) space. Thus studies of the isotropie background radiation, or even upper limits to its intensity, yield data that are vital for cosmology, as well as telling us something about the properties of diffuse intergalactic matter, and about intrinsically faint extragalactic objects which cannot be observed individually.

In this talk I shall not attempt a systematic review of this extensive subject, but will merely discuss a few recent developments. I shall give special attention to the microwave and X-ray regions of the spectrum, as these are the two bands in which the cosmic background is so strong that it swamps the emission from the Galaxy.

Type
III. Joint Discussions
Information
Highlights of Astronomy , Volume 2: Highlights of Astronomy. As presented at the XIVth General Assembly of the IAU, 1970 , 1971 , pp. 757 - 767
Copyright
Copyright © Reidel 1971

References

Boynton, P. E., Stokes, R. A., and Wilkinson, D. T.: 1968, Phys. Rev. Letters 21, 462.Google Scholar
Conklin, E. K. and Bracewell, R. N.: 1968, Nature 216, 777.Google Scholar
Clauser, J. F. and Thaddeus, P.: 1970 in Topics in Relativistic Astrophysics (ed. by Maran, S. P. and Cameron, A.G.W.) New York, (in press).Google Scholar
Clayton, D. D. and Silk, J.: 1969, Astrophys. J. 158, L.43.Google Scholar
Dautcourt, G. and Wallis, G.: 1968, Fortsch. Phys. 16, 545.Google Scholar
Dicke, R. H., Peebles, P.J.E., Roll, P. G., and Wilkinson, D. T.: 1965, Astrophys. J. 142, 414.Google Scholar
Field, G. B.: 1969a, Riv. Nuovo Cimento 1, 87.Google Scholar
Field, G. B.: 1969b, Monthly Notice Roy. Astron. Soc. 144, 411.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gamow, G.: 1949, Rev. Mod. Phys. 21, 367.Google Scholar
Gold, T. and Pacini, F.: 1968, Astrophys. J. 152, L.115.Google Scholar
Harwit, M. O., Houck, J. R., and Wagoner, R. V.: 1970, Nature 228, 451.Google Scholar
Hazard, C. and Salpeter, E. E.: 1969, Astrophys. J. 157, L.87.Google Scholar
Houck, J. R. and Harwit, M. O.: 1969a, Astrophys. J. 157, L.45.Google Scholar
Houck, J. R. and Harwit, M. O.: 1969b, Science 164, 1271.Google Scholar
Hoyle, F. and Wickramasinghe, N. C.: 1967, Nature 214, 969.Google Scholar
Kleinmann, D. E. and Low, F. J.: 1970, Astrophys. J. 159, 165.Google Scholar
Layzer, D.: 1968, Astrophys. Letters 1, 99.Google Scholar
Lillie, C. F.: 1968, Univ. of Wisconsin, Ph.D. thesis.Google Scholar
Muehlner, D. and Weiss, R.: 1970, Phys. Rev. Letters 24, 724.Google Scholar
Narlikar, J. V. and Wickramasinghe, N. C.: 1967, Nature 216, 43.Google Scholar
Oda, M.: 1970 in Non-Solar X and X-ray Astronomy (ed. by Gratton, L.), Reidei, D., Publ. Co., Dordrecht, Holland, p. 260.Google Scholar
Pariiski, Y. N.: 1968, Sov. Astron. A.J. 12, 219.Google Scholar
Partridge, R. B.: 1969, Am. Scientist 57, 37.Google Scholar
Partridge, R. B. and Peebles, P.J.E.: 1967, Astrophys. J. 148, 377.Google Scholar
Peebles, P.J.E.: 1968, Astrophys J. 153,1.Google Scholar
Peebles, P.J.E.: 1970, Astrophys. Space Sci. (in press).Google Scholar
Peebles, P.J.E. and Partridge, R. B.: 1967, Astrophys. J. 148, 713.Google Scholar
Penzias, A. A., Schraml, J., and Wilson, R. W.: 1969, Astrophys. J. 157, L.49.Google Scholar
Penzias, A. A. and Wilson, R. W.: 1965, Astrophys. J. 142, 419.Google Scholar
Roach, F. E. and Smith, L. L.: 1968, Geophys. J. Roy. Astron. Soc. 15, 227.Google Scholar
Schwartz, D. A.: 1970, UCSD Ph.D. thesis, and Astrophys. J. 162, 439.Google Scholar
Sciama, D. W.: 1966, Nature 211, 277.Google Scholar
Setti, G. and Rees, M. J.: 1970, in Non-Solar X and X-ray Astronomy (ed. by Gratton, L.), D. Reidel, Publ. Co., Dordrecht, Holland, p. 352.Google Scholar
Setti, G. and Woltjer, L.: 1970, Nature 227, 586.Google Scholar
Shivanandan, K., Houck, J. R., and Harwit, M. O.: 1968, Phys. Rev. Letters 21, 146.Google Scholar
Smith, M. G. and Partridge, R. B.: 1970, Astrophys. J. 159, 737.Google Scholar
Stokes, R. A., Partridge, R. B., and Wilkinson, D. T.: 1967, Phys. Rev. Letters 19, 1191.Google Scholar
Wagoner, R. V.: 1969, Nature 224, 481.Google Scholar
Weymann, R. J.: 1966a, Astrophys. J. 145, 560.Google Scholar
Weymann, R. J.: 1966b, Steward Observatory.Google Scholar
Wolfe, A. M.: 1970, Astrophys J. 159, L.61.Google Scholar
Wolfe, A. M. and Burbidge, G. R.: 1969, Astrophys. J. 156, 345.Google Scholar
Wolfe, A. M. and Burbidge, G. R.: 1970, Nature 228, 1170.Google Scholar
Zeldovich, Y. B. and Synyaev, R. A.: 1969, Astrophys. Space Sci. 4, 301.Google Scholar