Subscribe to the gold package and get unlimited access to Shamra Academy
Register a new userInvestigating the Fermi Large Area Telescope sensitivity of detecting the characteristics of the Galactic center excess
55
0
0.0
(
0
)
Authors
Mattia Di Mauro
Ask ChatGPT about the research
No Arabic abstract
The center of the Milky Way is offering one of the most striking mystery in Astroparticle Physics. An excess of gamma rays (GCE) has been measured by several groups in the data collected by the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) towards the Galactic center region. The spectrum and spatial morphology of the GCE have been claimed by some groups to be compatible with a signal from the Galactic halo of dark matter (DM). Instead, other analyses have demonstrated that the GCE properties, e.g., its energy spectrum, highly depend on the choice of the Galactic interstellar emission (IEM) model source catalogs and analysis techniques. In this paper we investigate the sensitivity of Fermi-LAT to detect the characteristics of the GCE. In particular we simulate the GCE as given by DM and we verify that, with a perfect knowledge of the background components, its energy spectrum, position, spatial morphology and symmetry is properly measured. We also inspect two more realist cases for which there are imperfections in the IEM model. In the first we have an un-modeled gamma-ray source, constituted by the low-latitude component of the Fermi bubbles. In the second we simulate the data with one IEM template and analyze the data with an other. We verify that a mismodeling of the IEM introduces a systematics of about 10-15% in the GCE energy spectrum between 1-10 GeV and about 5% in the value of the slope for a NFW DM density profile, which is used to fit the GCE spatial morphology. Finally, we show how the GCE would be detected in case of alternative processes such as gamma-ray emission from a bulge population of pulsars or from electrons and positrons or protons injected from the Galactic center. We demonstrate that for each of these cases there is a distinctive smoking gun signature that would help to identify the real mechanism behind the origin of the GCE.
rate research
Read More
The excess of $gamma$ rays in the data measured by Fermi-LAT from the Galactic center region is one of the most intriguing mysteries in Astroparticle Physics. This Galactic center excess (GCE), has been measured with respect to different interstellar emission models (IEMs), source catalogs, data selections and techniques. Although several proposed interpretations have appeared in the literature, there are not firm conclusions as to its origin. The main difficulty in solving this puzzle lies in modeling a region of such complexity and thus precisely measuring the characteristics of the GCE. In this paper, we use 11 years of Fermi-LAT data, state of the art IEMs, and the newest 4FGL source catalog to provide precise measurements of the energy spectrum, spatial morphology, position, and sphericity of the GCE. We find that the GCE has a spectrum which is peaked at a few GeV and is well fit with a log-parabola. The normalization of the spectrum changes by roughly $60%$ when using different IEMs, data selections and analysis techniques. The spatial distribution of the GCE is compatible with a dark matter (DM) template produced with a generalized NFW density profile with slope $gamma = 1.2-1.3$. No energy evolution is measured for the GCE morphology between $0.6-30$ GeV at a level larger than $10%$ of the $gamma$ average value, which is 1.25. The analysis of the GCE modeled with a DM template divided into quadrants shows that the spectrum and spatial morphology of the GCE is similar in different regions around the Galactic center. Finally, the GCE centroid is compatible with the Galactic center, with best-fit position between $l=[-0.3^{circ},0.0^{circ}],b=[-0.1^{circ},0.0^{circ}]$, and it is compatible with a spherical symmetric morphology. In particular, fitting the DM spatial profile with an ellipsoid gives a major-to-minor axis ratio between 0.8-1.2.
We report on gamma-ray observations in the off-pulse window of the Vela pulsar PSR B0833-45, using 11 months of survey data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT). This pulsar is located in the 8 degree diameter Vela supernova remnant, which contains several regions of non-thermal emission detected in the radio, X-ray and gamma-ray bands. The gamma-ray emission detected by the LAT lies within one of these regions, the 2*3 degrees area south of the pulsar known as Vela-X. The LAT flux is signicantly spatially extended with a best-fit radius of 0.88 +/- 0.12 degrees for an assumed radially symmetric uniform disk. The 200 MeV to 20 GeV LAT spectrum of this source is well described by a power-law with a spectral index of 2.41 +/- 0.09 +/- 0.15 and integral flux above 100 MeV of (4.73 +/- 0.63 +/- 1.32) * 10^{-7} cm^{-2} s^{-1}. The first errors represent the statistical error on the fit parameters, while the second ones are the systematic uncertainties. Detailed morphological and spectral analyses give strong constraints on the energetics and magnetic field of the pulsar wind nebula (PWN) system and favor a scenario with two distinct electron populations.
We report on the gamma-ray observations of giant molecular clouds Orion A and B with the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on-board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. The gamma-ray emission in the energy band between sim100 MeV and sim100 GeV is predicted to trace the gas mass distribution in the clouds through nuclear interactions between the Galactic cosmic rays (CRs) and interstellar gas. The gamma-ray production cross-section for the nuclear interaction is known to sim10% precision which makes the LAT a powerful tool to measure the gas mass column density distribution of molecular clouds for a known CR intensity. We present here such distributions for Orion A and B, and correlate them with those of the velocity integrated CO intensity (WCO) at a 1{deg} times1{deg} pixel level. The correlation is found to be linear over a WCO range of ~10 fold when divided in 3 regions, suggesting penetration of nuclear CRs to most of the cloud volumes. The Wco-to-mass conversion factor, Xco, is found to be sim2.3times10^20 cm-2(K km s-1)-1 for the high-longitude part of Orion A (l > 212{deg}), sim1.7 times higher than sim1.3 times 10^20 found for the rest of Orion A and B. We interpret the apparent high Xco in the high-longitude region of Orion A in the light of recent works proposing a non-linear relation between H2 and CO densities in the diffuse molecular gas. Wco decreases faster than the H2 column density in the region making the gas darker to Wco.
Although not designed primarily as a polarimeter, the textit{Fermi}-Large Area Telescope (LAT) has the potential to detect high degrees of linear polarization from some of the brightest gamma-ray sources. To achieve the needed accuracy in the reconstruction of the event geometry, low-energy ($leq200$ MeV) events converting in the silicon detector layers of the LAT tracker have to be used. We present preliminary results of the ongoing effort within the LAT collaboration to measure gamma-ray polarization. We discuss the statistical and systematic uncertainties affecting such a measurement. We show that a $5sigma$ minimum detectable polarization (MDP) of $approx30-50%$ could be within reach for the brightest gamma-ray sources as the Vela and Crab pulsars and the blazar 3C 454.3, after 10 years of observation. To estimate the systematic uncertainties, we stack bright AGN, and use this stack as a test source. LAT sensitivity to polarization is estimated comparing the data to a simulation of the expected unpolarized emission of the stack. We measure a 5$sigma$ sensitivity limit corresponding to a polarization degree of $approx37%$. This is in agreement with a purely statistical estimate, suggesting that the systematic errors are likely to be small compared to the statistical ones.
The nature of dark matter is a longstanding enigma of physics; it may consist of particles beyond the Standard Model that are still elusive to experiments. Among indirect search techniques, which look for stable products from the annihilation or decay of dark matter particles, or from axions coupling to high-energy photons, observations of the $gamma$-ray sky have come to prominence over the last few years, because of the excellent sensitivity of the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope mission. The LAT energy range from 20 MeV to above 300 GeV is particularly well suited for searching for products of the interactions of dark matter particles. In this report we describe methods used to search for evidence of dark matter with the LAT, and review the status of searches performed with up to six years of LAT data. We also discuss the factors that determine the sensitivities of these searches, including the magnitudes of the signals and the relevant backgrounds, considering both statistical and systematic uncertainties. We project the expected sensitivities of each search method for 10 and 15 years of LAT data taking. In particular, we find that the sensitivity of searches targeting dwarf galaxies, which provide the best limits currently, will improve faster than the square root of observing time. Current LAT limits for dwarf galaxies using six years of data reach the thermal relic level for masses up to 120 GeV for the $bbar{b}$ annihilation channel for reasonable dark matter density profiles. With projected discoveries of additional dwarfs, these limits could extend to about 250 GeV. With as much as 15 years of LAT data these searches would be sensitive to dark matter annihilations at the thermal relic cross section for masses to greater than 400 GeV (200 GeV) in the $bbar{b}$ ($tau^+ tau^-$) annihilation channels.
Log in to be able to interact and post comments
comments
Fetching comments
Sign in to be able to follow your search criteria
