Relativistic hadrons in cosmic compact objects

the long version

The articles in this book deal with energetic hadron processes near astrophysical compact objects, including compact binary systems and active galactic nuclei. A variety of observational results suggest that relativistic hadrons can be produced in the vicinity of these objects. Amongthe topics treated in detail are the question whether a large fraction of the energy produced by active galactic nuclei is channeled into a population of relativistic protons and the problem of the origin of very high and ultra-high energy gamma rays from galactic compact sources.