Microquasars: hard X-ray/gamma-ray emission

Abstract

I review some of the basic observational details of jets from X-ray binaries, or `microquasars'. It is shown that in both (Z and Atoll) NS and BHC systems radio emission, and therefore jet formation, is correlated with the presence of hard (30-500 keV) X-ray emission. At gamma-ray (> 500 keV) energies, the relation is not so clear. Possible physical connections between the presence of a jet, with a population of relativistic electrons, and the emission of hard X-rays, are briefly discussed.

To be published in Proc. International Symposium on High Energy Gamma-Ray Astronomy, Heidelberg, Eds. F. Aharonian & H. Voelk, 2001, AIP, in press