Abstract. The jets of microquasars with high-mass stellar companions are exposed to the dense matter field of the stellar wind. We present estimates of the gamma-ray emission expected from the jet-wind hadronic interaction and we discuss the detectability of the phenomenon at high energies. The proposed mechanism could explain some of the unidentified gamma-ray sources detected by EGRET instrument on the galactic plane.

Abstract. Recurrent flaring events at X-and soft gamma-ray energies have been recently reported for the galactic black hole candidate Cygnus X-1. The observed fluxes during these transient outbursts are far higher than what is observed in "normal" episodes. Here we suggest that the origin of this radiation is non-thermal and produced by inverse Compton interactions between relativistic electrons in the jet and external photon fields, with a dominant contribution from the companion star field. The recurrent and relatively rapid variability could be explained by the precession of the jet, which results in a variable Doppler amplification.

The HEGRA Cherenkov telescope array group recently reported a steady and extended unidentified TeV gamma-ray source lying at the outskirts of Cygnus OB2. This is the most massive stellar association known in the Galaxy, estimated to contain ~2600 OB type members alone. It has been previously argued that the large scale shocks and turbulence induced by the multiple interacting supersonic winds from the many young stars in such associations may play a role in accelerating Galactic cosmic rays. Indeed, Cyg OB2 also coincides with the nonvariable MeV-GeV range unidentified EGRET source, 3EG 2033+4118. We report on the near-simultaneous follow-up observations of the extended TeV source region with the CHANDRA X-ray Observatory and the Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope obtained in order to explore this possibility. Analysis of the CO, HI, and IRAS 100 mm emissions shows that the TeV source region coincides with an outlying sub-group of powerful OB stars which have evacuated or destroyed much of the ambient atomic, molecular and dust material and which may be related to the very high-energy emissions. An interesting SNR-like structure is also revealed near the TeV source region in the CO, HI and radio emission maps. Applying a numerical simulation which accurately tracks the radio to gamma-ray emission from primary hadrons as well as primary and secondary e ± , we find that the broadband spectrum of the TeV source region favors a predominantly nucleonic -rather than electronic -origin of the highenergy flux, though deeper X-ray and radio observations will help confirm this. A very reasonable, ~0.1%, conversion efficiency of Cyg OB2's extreme stellar wind mechanical luminosity to nucleonic acceleration to ~PeV (10 15 eV) energies is sufficient to explain the multifrequency emissions. Corresponding author Y.M.B.

Abstract. The recent discovery by Paredes et al. (2000) of a persistent microquasar that is positionally coincident with an unidentified gamma-ray source has open the possibility that other sources in the Third EGRET Catalog could be interpreted as microquasars as well. In this letter we show that some variable unidentified EGRET sources in the galactic plane could be produced by faint, otherwise undetected microquasars with precessing jets. When the jet points towards the observer, gamma-ray emission resulting from upscattered stellar photons could be detectable yielding a variable source with weak or undetectable counterpart at longer wavelengths. Strategies for detecting these "microblazars" with forthcoming satellites are briefly discussed.

Abstract. We present a study of the unidentified gamma-ray source 3EG J0542+2610. This source is spatially superposed on the supernova remnant G180.0-1.7, but its time variability makes a physical link unlikely. We have searched in the EGRET location error box for compact radio sources that could be the low energy counterpart of the gamma-ray source. Although 29 point-like radio sources were detected and measured, none of them is strong enough to be considered the counterpart of a background gamma-ray emitting AGN. We suggest that the only object within the 95% error box capable of producing the required gamma-ray flux is the X-ray transient A0535+26. We show that this Be/accreting pulsar can produce variable hadronic gamma-ray emission through the mechanism originally proposed by Cheng & Ruderman (1989), where a proton beam accelerated in a magnetospheric electrostatic gap impacts the transient accretion disk.