A multiwavelength strategy for identifying celestial gamma-ray sources

Abstract

The vast majority of the high-energy gamma-ray sources discovered by EGRET are still unidentified. Percentages range from 50% at high galactic latitudes, where blazars are responsible for almost all identified sources, to more than 90% near the galactic plane, where isolated neutron stars appear to be the only certified class of sources of high energy gamma-rays. In spite of all the efforts devoted to the identification problem, the only success story, so far, appears to be the chase for Geminga, where X-rays led the way to eventual optical identification. Similar searches are now starting to produce encouraging results, although none has reached, as yet, a certified identification.

PDF, 8 pages, 2 figures. Invited talk at the "Gamma 2001" Symposium, April 4-6 Baltimore, Maryland. To be published by AIP