The extragalactic gamma-ray sky: A view on the most powerful phenomena in the universe

Abstract

The gamma-ray sky provides a look into the most energetic and violent processes of the universe. In the last years, gamma-ray satellites are scanning the sky for understanding the physics governing the gamma-ray emission. A wealth of information on the physics of the gamma-ray sky has been obtained by gamma-ray satellites orbiting around the Earth. So far, roughly three thousands sources have been detected in gamma-rays, and this number is going to increase as the gamma-ray missions continue to survey the sky. The high energy sky is dominated by extragalactic objects. A large fraction of the detected sources has no obvious counterpart in catalogs at other wavelengths, leaving their nature under debate. This contribution will focus on the extragalactic gamma-ray sky, its properties and processes at work with the aim of discussing the main issues highly debated in the astrophysical community.

Keywords

• gamma-rays
• extragalactic astronomy
• non-thermal mechanisms
• active galaxies
• quasars