No Arabic abstract
Very-high-energy (VHE; E >100 GeV) and high-energy (HE; 100 MeV < E < 100 GeV) data from gamma-ray observations performed with the H.E.S.S. telescope array and the Fermi-LAT instrument, respectively, are analysed in order to investigate the non-thermal processes in the starburst galaxy NGC 253. The VHE gamma-ray data can be described by a power law in energy with differential photon index Gamma=2.14 pm 0.18_stat pm 0.30_sys and differential flux normalisation at 1 TeV of F_0 = (9.6 pm 1.5_stat (+5.7,-2.9)_sys) x 10^{-14} TeV^{-1} cm^{-2} s^{-1}. A power-law fit to the differential HE gamma-ray spectrum reveals a photon index of Gamma=2.24 pm 0.14_stat pm 0.03_sys and an integral flux between 200 MeV and 200 GeV of F(0.2-200 GeV) = (4.9 pm 1.0_stat pm 0.3_sys) x 10^{-9} cm^{-2} s^{-1}. No evidence for a spectral break or turnover is found over the dynamic range of both the LAT instrument and the H.E.S.S. experiment: a combined fit of a power law to the HE and VHE gamma-ray data results in a differential photon index Gamma=2.34 pm 0.03 with a p-value of 30%. The gamma-ray observations indicate that at least about 20% of the energy of the cosmic rays capable of producing hadronic interactions is channeled into pion production. The smooth alignment between the spectra in the HE and VHE gamma-ray domain suggests that the same transport processes dominate in the entire energy range. Advection is most likely responsible for charged particle removal from the starburst nucleus from GeV to multiple TeV energies. In a hadronic scenario for the gamma-ray production, the single overall power-law spectrum observed would therefore correspond to the mean energy spectrum produced by the ensemble of cosmic-ray sources in the starburst region.
The CANGAROO-II telescope observed sub-TeV gamma-ray emission from the nearby starburst galaxy NGC 253. The emission region was extended with a radial size of 0.3-0.6 degree. On the contrary, H.E.S.S could not confirm this emission and gave upper limits at the level of the CANGAROO-II flux. In order to resolve this discrepancy, we analyzed new observational results for NGC 253 by CANGAROO-III and also assessed the results by CANGAROO-II. Observation was made with three telescopes of the CANGAROO-III in October 2004. We analyzed three-fold coincidence data by the robust Fisher Discriminant method to discriminate gamma ray events from hadron events. The result by the CANGAROO-III was negative. The upper limit of gamma ray flux was 5.8% Crab at 0.58 TeV for point-source assumption. In addition, the significance of the excess flux of gamma-rays by the CANGAROO-II was lowered to less than 4 sigma after assessing treatment of malfunction of photomultiplier tubes.
We report the detection of high-energy gamma-ray emission from two starburst galaxies using data obtained with the Large Area Telescope on board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. Steady point-like emission above 200 MeV has been detected at significance levels of 6.8 sigma and 4.8 sigma respectively, from sources positionally coincident with locations of the starburst galaxies M82 and NGC 253. The total fluxes of the sources are consistent with gamma-ray emission originating from the interaction of cosmic rays with local interstellar gas and radiation fields and constitute evidence for a link between massive star formation and gamma-ray emission in star-forming galaxies.
We present a study of the young population in the starburst galaxy NGC 253. In particular, we focused our attention on searching young star groups, obtaining their main properties and studying their hierarchical organization. For this task, we used multiband images and their corresponding photometric data obtained with the Advanced Camera for Surveys of the Hubble Space Telescope (ACS/HST). We have first derived the absorption affecting the different regions of the galaxy. Then, we applied an automatic and objective searching method over the corrected data in order to detect young star groups. We complemented this result with the construction of the stellar density map for the blue young population. A statistical procedure to decontaminate the photometric diagrams from field stars was applied over the detected groups and we estimated their fundamental parameters. As a result, we built a catalog of 875 new identified young groups with their main characteristics, including coordinates, sizes, estimated number of members, stellar densities, luminosity function (LF) slopes and galactocentric distances. We observed these groups delineate different structures of the galaxy, and they are the last step in the hierarchical way in which the young population is organized. From their size distribution, we found they have typical radius of $sim 40 - 50$ pc. These values are consistent with those ones found in others nearby galaxies. We estimated a mean value of the LF slope of 0.21 and an average density of 0.0006 stars/pc$^3$ for the identified young groups taking into account stars earlier than B6.
(Abridged) Context. NGC 253 is one of only two starburst galaxies found to emit $gamma$-rays from hundreds of MeV to multi-TeV energies. Accurate measurements of the very-high-energy (VHE) (E $>$ 100 GeV) and high-energy (HE) (E $>$ 60 MeV) spectra are crucial to study the underlying particle accelerators and cosmic-ray interaction and transport. Aims. The measurement of the VHE $gamma$-ray emission of NGC 253 published in 2012 by H.E.S.S. was limited by large systematic uncertainties. Here, a measurement of the $gamma$-ray spectrum of NGC 253 is investigated in both HE and VHE $gamma$-rays. Methods. The data of H.E.S.S. observations are reanalysed using an updated calibration and analysis chain. The $Fermi$-LAT analysis employs more than 8 years of data processed using pass 8. The cosmic-ray particle population is evaluated from the combined HE--VHE $gamma$-ray spectrum using NAIMA. Results. The VHE $gamma$-ray energy spectrum is best fit by a power-law with a flux normalisation of $(1.34,pm,0.14^{mathrm{stat}},pm,0.27^{mathrm{sys}}) times 10^{-13} mathrm{cm^{-2} s^{-1} TeV^{-1}}$ at 1 TeV -- about 40 % above, but compatible with the value obtained in Abramowski et al. (2012). The spectral index $Gamma = 2.39 pm 0.14^{mathrm{stat}} pm 0.25^{mathrm{sys}}$ is slightly softer than but consistent with the previous measurement. At energies above $sim$3 GeV the HE spectrum is consistent with a power-law ranging into the VHE part of the spectrum measured by H.E.S.S. Conclusions. Two scenarios for the starburst nucleus are tested, in which the gas in the starburst nucleus acts as a target for hadronic cosmic rays. In these two models, the level to which NGC,253 acts as a calorimeter is estimated to a range of $f_{rm cal} = 0.1$ to $1$ while accounting for the measurement uncertainties.
We report the discovery of high-energy (E>100 MeV) gamma-ray emission from NGC 1275, a giant elliptical galaxy lying at the center of the Perseus cluster of galaxies, based on observations made with the Large Area Telescope (LAT) of the Fermi Gamma ray Space Telescope. The positional center of the gamma-ray source is only ~3 away from the NGC 1275 nucleus, well within the 95% LAT error circle of ~5.The spatial distribution of gamma-ray photons is consistent with a point source. The average flux and power-law photon index measured with the LAT from 2008 August 4 to 2008 December 5 are F_gamma = (2.10+-0.23)x 10^{-7} ph (>100 MeV) cm^{-2} s^{-1} and Gamma = 2.17+-0.05, respectively. The measurements are statistically consistent with constant flux during the four-month LAT observing period.Previous EGRET observations gave an upper limit of F_gamma < 3.72x 10 ^{-8} ph (>100 MeV) cm^{-2} s^{-1} to the gamma-ray flux from NGC 1275. This indicates that the source is variable on timescales of years to decades, and therefore restricts the fraction of emission that can be produced in extended regions of the galaxy cluster. Contemporaneous and historical radio observations are also reported. The broadband spectrum of NGC 1275 is modeled with a simple one-zone synchrotron/synchrotron self-Compton model and a model with a decelerating jet flow.