Objective The most energetic photons in the universe are produced by poorly known processes, typically in the vicinity of neutron stars or black holes. The past couple of years have seen an increase in the number of known sources of very high energy gamma-ray radiation from a handful to almost 50, thanks to the European collaborations HESS and MAGIC. Many of those sources are pulsar wind nebulae, supernova remnants or active galactic nuclei. HESS and MAGIC have also discovered gamma-ray emission from binary systems, finding that some emit most of their radiation at the highest energies. Expectations are running high with the December launch of the GLAST space telescope which will provide daily all-sky information in high energy gamma-rays with a sensitivity comparable to that achieved in years by its predecessor. I propose to explore the exciting observational opportunities in high energy gamma-ray astronomy with an emphasis on non-thermal emission from compact binary sources. Binary systems are intriguing new laboratories to understand how particle acceleration works in cosmic sources. The physics of gamma-ray emitting binary systems is related to that in pulsar wind nebulae or in active galactic nuclei. High energy gamma-ray emission is the result of non-thermal, out-of-equilibrium processes that challenge our intuitions built upon everyday phenomena. The particles are billions of times more energetic than X-rays and can reach energies greater than those in particle accelerators. Binary systems offer a novel, constrained environment to study how the cosmic rays that pervade our Galaxy are accelerated and how non-thermal emission is related to the formation of relativistic jets from black holes (accretion/ejection). The study requires a combination of skills in multiwavelength observations, interdisciplinary experience with gamma-ray observational techniques originating from particle physics, and theoretical know-how in accretion and high energy phenomena. Fields of science natural sciencesphysical sciencestheoretical physicsparticle physicsparticle acceleratornatural sciencesphysical sciencesastronomystellar astronomyneutron starsnatural sciencesphysical sciencesastronomyobservational astronomygamma-ray astronomynatural sciencesphysical sciencesastronomyastrophysicsblack holesnatural sciencesphysical sciencesastronomystellar astronomysupernova Keywords Gamma-rays accretion accretion disks jets microquasars pulsars Programme(s) FP7-IDEAS-ERC - Specific programme: "Ideas" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013) Topic(s) ERC-SG-PE7 - ERC Starting Grant - Systems and communication engineering Call for proposal ERC-2007-StG See other projects for this call Funding Scheme ERC-SG - ERC Starting Grant Host institution UNIVERSITE JOSEPH FOURIER GRENOBLE 1 EU contribution € 794 752,00 Address Avenue Centrale, Domaine Universitaire 621 38041 GRENOBLE France See on map Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Administrative Contact Leslie Hollett (Ms.) Principal investigator Guillaume Dubus (Dr.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data Beneficiaries (1) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all UNIVERSITE JOSEPH FOURIER GRENOBLE 1 France EU contribution € 794 752,00 Address Avenue Centrale, Domaine Universitaire 621 38041 GRENOBLE See on map Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Administrative Contact Leslie Hollett (Ms.) Principal investigator Guillaume Dubus (Dr.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data