The Fermi-LAT experiment recently reported high precision measurements of the spectrum of cosmic-ray electrons-plus-positrons (CRE) between 20
GeV and 1
TeV. The spectrum shows no prominent spectral ...features, and is significantly harder than that inferred from several previous experiments. Here we discuss several interpretations of the Fermi results based either on a single large scale Galactic CRE component or by invoking additional electron–positron primary sources, e.g. nearby pulsars or particle dark matter annihilation. We show that while the reported Fermi-LAT data alone can be interpreted in terms of a single component scenario, when combined with other complementary experimental results, specifically the CRE spectrum measured by H.E.S.S. and especially the positron fraction reported by PAMELA between 1 and 100
GeV, that class of models fails to provide a consistent interpretation. Rather, we find that several combinations of parameters, involving both the pulsar and dark matter scenarios, allow a consistent description of those results. We also briefly discuss the possibility of discriminating between the pulsar and dark matter interpretations by looking for a possible anisotropy in the CRE flux.
The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) represents the next generation of ground-based instruments for very-high-energy (VHE) gamma-ray astronomy, aimed at improving on the sensitivity of ...current-generation experiments by an order of magnitude and providing coverage over four decades of energy. The current CTA design consists of two arrays of tens of imaging atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes, comprising Small, Medium and Large-Sized Telescopes, with one array located in each of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. To study the effect of the site choice on the overall CTA performance and support the site evaluation process, detailed Monte Carlo simulations have been performed. These results show the impact of different site-related attributes such as altitude, night-sky background and local geomagnetic field on CTA performance for the observation of VHE gamma rays.
Based on the experience gained during the four and a half years of the mission, the Fermi-LAT Collaboration has undertaken a comprehensive revision of the event-level analysis going under the name of ...Pass 8. Although it is not yet finalized, we can test the improvements in the new event reconstruction with the special case of the prompt phase of bright gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), where the signal-to-noise ratio is large enough that loose selection cuts are sufficient to identify gamma rays associated with the source. Using the new event reconstruction, we have re-analyzed 10 GRBs previously detected by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) for which an X-ray/optical follow-up was possible and found four new gamma rays with energies greater than 10 GeV in addition to the seven previously known. Among these four is a 27.4 GeV gamma ray from GRB 080916C, which has a redshift of 4.35, thus making it the gamma ray with the highest intrinsic energy (~147 GeV) detected from a GRB. We present here the salient aspects of the new event reconstruction and discuss the scientific implications of these new high-energy gamma rays, such as constraining extragalactic background light models, Lorentz invariance violation tests, the prompt emission mechanism, and the bulk Lorentz factor of the emitting region.
The Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope observed the bright and long GRB090902B, lying at a redshift of z = 1.822. Together the Large Area Telescope (LAT) and the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) cover the ...spectral range from 8 keV to >300 GeV. Here we show that the prompt burst spectrum is consistent with emission from the jet photosphere combined with nonthermal emission described by a single power law with photon index -1.9. The photosphere gives rise to a strong quasi-blackbody spectrum which is somewhat broader than a single Planck function and has a characteristic temperature of ~290 keV. We model the photospheric emission with a multicolor blackbody, and its shape indicates that the photospheric radius increases at higher latitudes. We derive the averaged photospheric radius R ph = (1.1 +/- 0.3) X 1012 Y 1/4 cm and the bulk Lorentz factor of the flow, which is found to vary by a factor of 2 and has a maximal value of Delta *G = 750 Y 1/4. Here, Y is the ratio between the total fireball energy and the energy emitted in the gamma rays. We find that during the first quarter of the prompt phase the photospheric emission dominates, which explains the delayed onset of the observed flux in the LAT compared to the GBM. We interpret the broadband emission as synchrotron emission at R ~ 4 X 1015 cm. Our analysis emphasizes the importance of having high temporal resolution when performing spectral analysis on gamma-ray bursts, since there is strong spectral evolution.
Abstract
Very-high-energy (VHE) interaction between cosmic-ray proton and nuclei in the atmosphere is still not perfectly understood and efforts to improve interaction models used in simulations are ...ongoing, with feedback from various collider and air shower experiments. Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs) are indirect VHE gamma-ray detectors on the ground and cosmic-ray proton is a major background to gamma-ray measurements in these systems. Rejection power of background protons determines most part of the gamma-ray sensitivity curve of IACTs. As for an IACT system in design phase, simulated proton events are used to estimate the residual background level. We investigated the influence of the uncertainty in the current hadronic interaction models on the estimated gamma-ray sensitivity of Cherenkov Telescope Array, using several interaction models available in CORSIKA.
An elastic lidar system for the H.E.S.S. Experiment Bregeon, J.; Compin, M.; Rivoire, S. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
05/2016, Volume:
819
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
The H.E.S.S. experiment in Namibia, Africa, is a high energy gamma ray telescope sensitive in the energy range from ~100Gev to a few tens of TeV, via the use of the atmospheric Cherenkov technique. ...To minimize the systematic errors on the derived fluxes of the measured sources, one has to calculate the impact of the atmospheric properties, in particular the extinction parameter of the Cherenkov light (~300–650nm) exploited to observe and reconstruct atmospheric particle showers initiated by gamma-ray photons. A lidar can provide this kind of information for some given wavelengths within this range. In this paper we report on the hardware components, operation and data acquisition of such a system installed at the H.E.S.S. site.
We report Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) observations and broadband spectral modeling of the radio-loud active galaxy 4C +55.17 (z = 0.896), formally classified as a flat-spectrum radio quasar. ...Using 19 months of all-sky survey Fermi-LAT data, we detect a Delta *g-ray continuum extending up to an observed energy of 145 GeV, and furthermore we find no evidence of Delta *g-ray variability in the source over its observed history. We illustrate the implications of these results in two different domains. First, we investigate the origin of the steady Delta *g-ray emission, where we re-examine the common classification of 4C +55.17 as a quasar-hosted blazar and consider instead its possible nature as a young radio source. We analyze and compare constraints on the source physical parameters in both blazar and young radio source scenarios by means of a detailed multiwavelength analysis and theoretical modeling of its broadband spectrum. Second, we show that the Delta *g-ray spectrum may be formally extrapolated into the very high energy (VHE, >=100 GeV) range at a flux level detectable by the current generation of ground-based Cherenkov telescopes. This enables us to place constraints on models of extragalactic background light within LAT energies and features the source as a promising candidate for VHE studies of the universe at an unprecedented redshift of z = 0.896.
The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA), an array of many tens of Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes deployed on an unprecedented scale, is the next-generation instrument in the field of very high ...energy gamma-ray astronomy. An average data stream of about 0.9 GB/s for about 1300 hours of observation per year is expected, therefore resulting in 4 PB of raw data per year and a total of 27 PB/year, including archive and data processing. The start of CTA operation is foreseen in 2018 and it will last about 30 years. The installation of the first telescopes in the two selected locations (Paranal, Chile and La Palma, Spain) will start in 2017. In order to select the best site candidate to host CTA telescopes (in the Northern and in the Southern hemispheres), massive Monte Carlo simulations have been performed since 2012. Once the two sites have been selected, we have started new Monte Carlo simulations to determine the optimal array layout with respect to the obtained sensitivity. Taking into account that CTA may be finally composed of 7 different telescope types coming in 3 different sizes, many different combinations of telescope position and multiplicity as a function of the telescope type have been proposed. This last Monte Carlo campaign represented a huge computational effort, since several hundreds of telescope positions have been simulated, while for future instrument response function simulations, only the operating telescopes will be considered. In particular, during the last 18 months, about 2 PB of Monte Carlo data have been produced and processed with different analysis chains, with a corresponding overall CPU consumption of about 125 M HS06 hours. In these proceedings, we describe the employed computing model, based on the use of grid resources, as well as the production system setup, which relies on the DIRAC interware. Finally, we present the envisaged evolutions of the CTA production system for the off-line data processing during CTA operations and the instrument response function simulations.
The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) - an array of many tens of Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes deployed on an unprecedented scale - is the next generation instrument in the field of very ...high energy gamma-ray astronomy. CTA will operate as an open observatory providing data products to the scientific community. An average data stream of about 10 GB s for about 1000 hours of observation per year, thus producing several PB year, is expected. Large CPU time is required for data-processing as well for massive Monte Carlo simulations needed for detector calibration purposes. The current CTA computing model is based on a distributed infrastructure for the archive and the data off-line processing. In order to manage the off-line data-processing in a distributed environment, CTA has evaluated the DIRAC (Distributed Infrastructure with Remote Agent Control) system, which is a general framework for the management of tasks over distributed heterogeneous computing environments. In particular, a production system prototype has been developed, based on the two main DIRAC components, i.e. the Workload Management and Data Management Systems. After three years of successful exploitation of this prototype, for simulations and analysis, we proved that DIRAC provides suitable functionalities needed for the CTA data processing. Based on these results, the CTA development plan aims to achieve an operational production system, based on the DIRAC Workload Management System, to be ready for the start of CTA operation phase in 2017-2018. One more important challenge consists of the development of a fully automatized execution of the CTA workflows. For this purpose, we have identified a third DIRAC component, the so-called Transformation System, which offers very interesting functionalities to achieve this automatisation. The Transformation System is a 'data-driven' system, allowing to automatically trigger data-processing and data management operations according to pre-defined scenarios. In this paper, we present a brief summary of the DIRAC evaluation done so far, as well as the future developments planned for the CTA production system. In particular, we will focus on the developments of CTA automatic workflows, based on the Transformation System. As a result, we also propose some design optimizations of the Transformation System, in order to fully support the most complex workflows, envisaged in the CTA processing.
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