EGRET Observations of the Diffuse High-Energy Gamma Radiation Within 10^\circ of the Galactic Plane

Session 58 - Gamma Rays & Cosmic Rays.
Oral session, Tuesday, January 16
Salon del Rey South, Hilton

[58.02] EGRET Observations of the Diffuse High-Energy Gamma Radiation Within 10^\circ of the Galactic Plane

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

Observations with the EGRET telescope on the Compton Observatory reveal the extensive, high-energy gamma ray emission which results from cosmic ray interactions with the photons and matter in the plane of the Galaxy. The study of this diffuse emission from the Galaxy, which is the most prominent feature of the high-energy gamma-ray sky, is expected to yield information about the production and distribution of cosmic rays in the Galaxy. In this paper we present spectra of the diffuse emission from the Galactic plane over the range 30--30,000 MeV, averaged over bins 10^\circ in longitude by 4^\circ in latitude. These spectra are compared with those predicted by the model of the diffuse gamma ray emission by Hunter et al.\ (1996, APJ) to verify the model and to assess the variation of the cosmic ray electron and proton densities across the Galaxy.

Program listing for Tuesday