Conférence de Virginia McSwain, Lehigh University
Résumé
There are a small but growing number of high mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs) that also exhibit gamma-ray emission at MeV-TeV energies. All of these 'gamma-ray binaries' exhibit variable emission across the electromagnetic spectrum, from radio to TeV energies, that is modulated with the binary orbital period. The optical stellar companions in these gamma-ray binaries fall into a range of spectral classes: Wolf-Rayet, O main sequence, B supergiant, and Be.
I will review the observed multiwavelength properties of two well-studied systems, LS I +61 303 and PSR B1259-63. Their high energy emission is probably powered by the collision of stellar wind or disk outflows with relativistic pulsar winds in a shock region. These sources present a unique opportunity to study particle acceleration in nearby, Galactic sources.
Présentée par le Groupe Astronomie et astrophysique du Département de physique de l'Université de Montréal. Cette conférence est destinée à des spécialistes dans le domaine de l'astrophysique et sera donnée en anglais.
