Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 August 2015
The experimental situation in regard to the extra-galactic diffuse background of photons of energy above 30 keV is critically reviewed in the light of discussions at this Symposium.
There seems to be some doubt about the spectral break at 40 keV. There is an indication of a small bump around 2 MeV and of a shoulder around 20 MeV. The spectrum below 1 MeV (down to 30 keV) can perhaps be represented as 25 (E/1 keV)–2.1. This spectrum also gives, roughly, the OSO III upper limit at 100 MeV, though it lies well below the two bumps mentioned above. A good deal of the discussion centres on the problem of backgrounds in different types of experiments to measure the diffuse X- and γ-ray fluxes.