Now You See It: Radio Identification of Galactic X-ray and Gamma-ray Sources
Abstract
X-ray and gamma-ray emission is only generated by extreme temperatures or exotic non-thermal processes, so by definition the Galactic high-energy population represents an especially interesting and unusual sample of objects. However, the vast majority of these sources remain unidentified. Here we present some initial efforts to address this situation, in which we have cross-correlated the source catalogs from Galactic plane surveys carried out with ASCA, HESS, Molonglo and the VLA. We discuss the series of surprising identifications that have resulted from this simple approach, including the discovery of three very young supernova remnants, two pulsar-powered nebulae, and a probable new magnetar. As presented in an accompanying paper by Anderson et al., these initial results have motivated the "ChICAGO" survey, an extensive multi-wavelength effort aimed at building a complete picture of the birth-rate, distribution and evolution of Galactic X-ray sources.
- Publication:
-
AAS/High Energy Astrophysics Division #9
- Pub Date:
- September 2006
- Bibcode:
- 2006HEAD....9.0406G