Inverse Compton scattering

Inverse Compton scattering is the increase in a photon’s energy when it scatters from a relativistic electron, which loses energy in the process.

Compton scattering: The scattering of a photon by a charged particle, with a change in the photon’s energy and wavelength. Inverse Compton scattering reverses the usual energy flow: the electron gives energy to the photon.
Synchrotron self-Compton emission: Inverse Compton emission produced when relativistic electrons scatter photons generated by their own synchrotron radiation. It links a source’s radio-to-optical synchrotron output to its higher-energy emission.
Special relativity: The physical theory describing space, time, and motion when gravity is negligible. Relativistic transformations explain why a photon’s energy depends on direction in the electron’s rest frame.
Synchrotron radiation: Radiation emitted by relativistic charged particles as magnetic fields bend their trajectories. It uses the same energetic electrons but produces photons through magnetic deflection rather than scattering.
Gamma-ray astronomy: The study of astronomical phenomena through gamma rays, the highest-energy form of electromagnetic radiation. Inverse Compton scattering is a common way astrophysical sources produce gamma rays.
Thomson scattering: The low-energy limit of electromagnetic scattering by a free charged particle, where the photon’s energy changes negligibly in the particle’s rest frame. It describes the underlying scattering when photon energies in the electron rest frame are low.
Cosmic microwave background: The relic thermal radiation filling the universe, released when it became transparent about 380,000 years after the Big Bang. Relativistic electrons boost these pervasive low-energy photons into observable X-rays or gamma rays.
Electromagnetic radiation: Energy carried through space by oscillating electric and magnetic fields. The scattered photons are electromagnetic radiation whose frequency and energy change.
Bremsstrahlung: Radiation emitted when a charged particle accelerates in the electric field of another particle. It can also create high-energy photons, but the energy comes from particle deflection in a field.
X-ray astronomy: The study of astronomical objects and processes through X-ray emission. Scattered cosmic background and ambient photons often emerge in the X-ray band.

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