Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T18:50:55.757Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Cosmic X-Ray Background

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 July 2016

Elihu Boldt
Elihu Boldt*
Affiliation:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 666, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771 USA

Abstract

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.

As the sky in the microwave band is dominated by a cosmic background, so too is the X-ray sky. In this presentation the observational situation regarding the extragalactic X-ray background is reviewed, emphasizing data obtained from HEAO-1 and the Einstein Observatory (HEAO-2). Spectral characteristics and spatial variations are described and discussed within the context of what is currently known about individual extragalactic sources. It is concluded that the bulk of the cosmic X-ray background is yet to be understood. Possibilities range from genuinely diffuse emission to an “as yet” unknown large population of unresolved discrete sources. The role of cosmological effects is examined and could be important.

Type
Chapter X: The Distribution of X-Ray Sources and the X-Ray Background
Information
Symposium - International Astronomical Union , Volume 124: Observational Cosmology , 1987 , pp. 611 - 615
Copyright
Copyright © Reidel 1987 

References

Boldt, E. 1981, Comments Ap., 9, 97.Google Scholar
Boldt, E., and Leiter, D. 1984, Ap. J., 276, 427.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boldt, E., and Leiter, D. 1986, in Structure and Evolution of Active Galactic Nuclei, ed. Giuricin, G. et al. (Dordrecht, Holland: D. Reidel Publishing Co.), p. 383.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cavaliere, A., and Morrison, P. 1980, Ap. J., 238, L63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Zotti, G. et al. 1982, Ap. J., 253, 47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giacconi, R. et al. 1979, Ap. J., 234, L1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gioia, I.M. et al. 1984, Ap. J., 283, 495.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Griffiths, R.E. et al. 1983, Ap. J., 269, 375.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gruber, D. 1984, in X-ray and UV Emission from Active Galactic Nuclei, eds: Brinkman, W. and Trumper, J. (Garching: Max Planck Inst. ISSN 0340-8922), p. 129.Google Scholar
Guilbert, P., and Fabian, A. 1986, MNRAS, 220, 439.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamilton, T., and Helfand, D. 1986, Ap. J., submitted.Google Scholar
Leiter, D., and Boldt, E. 1982, Ap. J., 260, 1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marshall, F. et al. 1980, Ap. J., 235, 4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Piccinotti, G. et al. 1982, Ap. J., 253, 485.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rees, M. 1984, Ann. Rev. Astron. Astrophys., 22, 471.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rothschild, R. et al. 1983, Ap. J., 269, 423.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmidt, M., and Green, R. 1986, Ap. J., 305, 68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Segal, I.E. 1987, Ap. J., in press.Google Scholar
Shafer, R. 1983, , University of Maryland, NASA TM 85029.Google Scholar
Wandel, A., and Mushotzky, R. 1986, Ap. J., 306, L61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar