SEMreg031209 - Irfu

D i r e c t i o n d e s S c i e n c e s d e l a Ma t i è r e
IRFU
S e r vi c e d ' A s t r o p h ys i q u e
SEMINAIRE régulier du Service d’Astrophysique
Discovery of gamma-ray activity from a microquasar by
Fermi-LAT
Stéphane CORBEL
(Service d’Astrophysique)
Jeudi 03 décembre 2009
11h00
Cygnus X-3 is a high-mass X-ray binary with a Wolf-Rayet star companion and with a
short orbital period. It occasionnaly becomes one of the brightest radio source among
the Galactic binary systems, with major flares from its relativistic jets. In the 1970's and
early 1980's, it was postulated to be a source of high and very high energy gamma
rays, that generated considerable excitements in the field of gamma-ray astronomy.
With its unprecedented sensitivity, the Large Area Telescope (LAT) aboard the Fermi
Gamma-Ray Space Telescope continuously scans the entire sky every ~ 3 hours and is
ideally suited to probe the high energy emission of binary systems. Here, I will report the
results of one year of observations with the LAT of the very crowded Cygnus region,
with specific focus on the microquasar Cygnus X-3.
Un café sera servi 15 minutes avant le séminaire
Ce séminaire aura lieu au CEA Saclay – Orme des Merisiers –bâtiment 709, Salle 003.
Commissariat à l’énergie atomique
Centre de Saclay - CEA/DSM/IRFU/SAp - bât. 709 - 91191 GIF SUR YVETTE CEDEX
Tél : 33 - 1 69 08 78 27 - Fax : 33 - 1 69 08 65 77