An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
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The American physicist Arthur Holly Compton (1892-1962), the Nobel Prize in Physics 1927, who made important contributions to the study of X- and cosmic rays.
→ Compton catastrophe, → Compton effect, → Compton equation, → Compton era, → Compton recoil, → Compton scattering, → Compton shift, → Compton suppression, → Compton wavelength, → Comptonization.

In a compact, steady radio-source where the density of relativistic electrons and the density of synchrotron radiation due to these electrons are very large, the radio photons should be transformed into X-ray and gamma-ray photons through inelastic Compton scatterings onto the relativistic electrons. Thus the radio photons should rapidly disappear and only gamma-ray photons should be observed. This phenomenon does not take place if the radio source is in relativistic expansion.

→ Compton; → catastrophe.

Increase in the wavelength of an → X-ray or → gamma ray  → photon when it collides a → free → electron. The photon transfers part of its energy to the electron, the electron recoils, and the photon itself is scattered at a reduced energy.

→ Compton; → effect.

Theoretical equation which gives the change in the photon wavelength due to the → Compton effect.

→ Compton; → equation.

A period in the early evolution of the Universe, before t = 10^-23 sec when the radius of curvature of the Universe was less than the → Compton wavelength of typical particles.

→ Compton; → era.

The change of direction undergone by the electron in the → Compton effect. The scattered photon and the collided electron move in different directions from that of the incident photon.

→ Compton; → recoil.

Scattering of a → photon due to the → Compton effect.

→ Compton; → scattering.

Of the → Compton effect, the amount of increase in the wavelength of an energetic photon upon its collision with an electron.

→ Compton; → shift.

In → gamma ray → spectroscopy, a technique to reduce the contribution of gamma rays generated by → Compton scattering.

→ Compton; → suppression.

The quantum wavelength of a particle with a highly relativistic velocity. The Compton wavelength is given by h/mc, where h is Planck's constant, m is the mass of the particle, and c the light speed. For an electron, the Compton wavelength is about 2.4 × 10^-10 cm, intermediate between the size of an atomic nucleus and an atom.

→ Compton; → wavelength.

The change in the → spectrum of → electromagnetic radiation due to → scattering from → electrons. When → photons and electrons coexist in the same volume of space, their → collisions can → transfer energy from photons to electrons (→ Compton effect) or from electrons to photons (→ inverse Compton effect).

Verbal noun of → Comptonize; → -tion.

The verb describing the → Camptonization process.

→ Compton; → -ize.

Emission undergone → Comptonization.

→ Comptonize; → emission.

An electron-photon interaction that can be thought of as a → Compton scattering event associated with the production or destruction of an extra photon.

→ double; → Compton; → scattering.

A → scattering process by which fast-moving, energetic particles transfer energy to photons, decreasing the wavelength of the radiation. This is a particularly important effect in astrophysics and cosmology since it explains the → Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect.

→ inverse; → Compton effect.