Search for Galactic PeV gamma rays with the IceCube Neutrino Observatory

Search for Galactic PeV gamma rays with the IceCube Neutrino Observatory

Gamma-ray induced air showers are notable for their lack of muons, compared to hadronic showers. Hence, air shower arrays with large underground muon detectors can select a sample greatly enriched in photon showers by rejecting showers containing muons. IceCube is sensitive to muons with energies ab...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Aartsen, M., Abbasi, R., Abdou, Y., Ackermann, M., Adams, J., Aguilar, J., Ahlers, M., Altmann, D., Andeen, K., Auffenberg, J., Bai, X., Baker, M., Barwick, S., Baum, V., Bay, R., Beattie, K., Beatty, J., Bechet, S., Becker Tjus, J., Becker, K., Bell, M., Benabderrahmane, M., Benzvi, S., Berdermann, J., Berghaus, P., Berley, D., Bernardini, E., Bertrand, D., Besson, D., Bindig, D., Bissok, M., Blaufuss, E., Blumenthal, J., Boersma, D., Bohaichuk, S., Bohm, C., Bose, D., Böser, S., Botner, O., Brayeur, L., Brown, A., Bruijn, R., Brunner, J., Buitink, S., Carson, Michael, Casey, J., Casier, M., Chirkin, D., Christy, B., Clark, K., Clevermann, F., Cohen, S., Cowen, D., Cruz Silva, A., Danninger, M., Daughhetee, J., Davis, J., De Clercq, C., De Ridder, S., Descamps, F., Desiati, P., De Vries-Uiterweerd, G., Deyoung, T., Díaz-Vélez, J., Dreyer, J., Dumm, J., Dunkman, M., Eagan, R., Eisch, J., Ellsworth, R., Engdegård, O., Euler, S., Evenson, P., Fadiran, O., Fazely, A., Fedynitch, A., Feintzeig, J., Feusels, T., Filimonov, K., Finley, C., Fischer-Wasels, T., Flis, S., Franckowiak, A., Franke, R., Frantzen, K., Fuchs, T., Gaisser, T., Gallagher, J., Gerhardt, L., Gladstone, L., Glüsenkamp, T., Goldschmidt, A., Golup, G., Goodman, J., Góra, D., Grant, D.
Format: Journal Article
Published: 2013
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/43051
Description
Summary:Gamma-ray induced air showers are notable for their lack of muons, compared to hadronic showers. Hence, air shower arrays with large underground muon detectors can select a sample greatly enriched in photon showers by rejecting showers containing muons. IceCube is sensitive to muons with energies above ~500  GeV at the surface, which provides an efficient veto system for hadronic air showers with energies above 1 PeV. One year of data from the 40-string IceCube configuration was used to perform a search for point sources and a Galactic diffuse signal. No sources were found, resulting in a 90% C.L. upper limit on the ratio of gamma rays to cosmic rays of 1.2×10−3 for the flux coming from the Galactic plane region (−80°~<l~<−30°; −10°~<b~<5°) in the energy range 1.2–6.0 PeV. In the same energy range, point source fluxes with E−2 spectra have been excluded at a level of (E/TeV)2dΦ/dE~10−12–10−11  cm−2 s−1 TeV−1 depending on source declination. The complete IceCube detector will have a better sensitivity (due to the larger detector size), improved reconstruction, and vetoing techniques. Preliminary data from the nearly final IceCube detector configuration have been used to estimate the 5-yr sensitivity of the full detector. It is found to be more than an order of magnitude better, allowing the search for PeV extensions of known TeV gamma-ray emitters.

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