Shock acceleration and gamma radiation in the intracluster medium

Abstract

Particle acceleration is expected to take place at shocks that form during the process of large scale structure formation. Electrons accelerated at such shocks can upscatter a small fraction of the photons in the cosmic microwave background up to the gamma ray band. Here we make predictions about the detectability of the $\gamma$--ray emission from forming clusters of galaxies with future GeV and TeV gamma ray telescopes. We also estimate the contribution of these sources to the extragalactic diffuse gamma ray background.

6 pages, 4 eps figures. To appear in the proceedings of "Modelling the Intergalactic and Intracluster Media", Vulcano Island, October 1-4, 2003