EGRET Observations of the Galactic Diffuse Radiation Within $\bf 10^\circ$ of the Galactic Plane

Session 4 -- Gamma Ray Astrophysics
Display presentation, Wednesday, January 12, 9:30-6:45, Salons I/II Room (Crystal Gateway)

[4.03] EGRET Observations of the Galactic Diffuse Radiation Within $\bf 10^\circ$ of the Galactic Plane

S.D. Hunter, D.L. Bertsch, C.E. Fichtel, R.C. Hartman, D.J. Thompson (NASA/GSFC), B.L. Dingus, J.A. Esposito, P. Sreekumar (USRA/GSFC), G. Kanbach, H.A. Mayer-Hasselwander, C. von Montigny (MPE), Y.C. Lin, P.F. Michelson, P.L. Nolan (Stanford), D.A. Kniffen (Hampden-Sydney), J.R. Mattox (CSC/GSFC), E.J. Schneid (Grumman)

One of the primary goals of the EGRET instrument on the Compton Observatory is the study of the diffuse gamma ray emission of both galactic and extra-galactic origin. Phase 1 of the Compton mission included an all-sky survey with the goal of obtaining a useful minimum exposure in all directions. This paper presents spatial and spectral analyses of the diffuse Galactic plane gamma ray emission. Strong, verified sources have been removed from the survey for this analysis. Spectra have been obtained as a function of Galactic longitude by determining the number of counts and the exposure for ten energy intervals. These spectra are compared with the diffuse gamma ray emission model of Bertsch et al. (1993), which has been extended and enhanced as part of this work, to verify the model and to assess the relative density and radial dependence of cosmic ray electrons and protons in the Galaxy.

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