Journal article
Measurement of cosmic-ray electrons at TeV energies by VERITAS
Physical review. D, Vol.98(6), p.062004
09/2018
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.98.062004
Abstract
Cosmic-ray electrons and positrons (CREs) at GeV-TeV energies are a unique probe of our local Galactic neighborhood. CREs lose energy rapidly via synchrotron radiation and inverse-Compton scattering processes while propagating within the Galaxy, and these losses limit their propagation distance. For electrons with TeV energies, the limit is on the order of a kiloparsec. Within that distance, there are only a few known astrophysical objects capable of accelerating electrons to such high energies. It is also possible that the CREs are the products of the annihilation or decay of heavy dark matter (DM) particles. VERITAS, an array of imaging air Cherenkov telescopes in southern Arizona, is primarily utilized for gamma-ray astronomy but also simultaneously collects CREs during all observations. We describe our methods of identifying CREs in VERITAS data and present an energy spectrum, extending from 300 GeV to 5 TeV, obtained from approximately 300 hours of observations. A single power-law fit is ruled out in VERITAS data. We find that the spectrum of CREs is consistent with a broken power law, with a break energy at 710±40stat±140syst GeV.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Measurement of cosmic-ray electrons at TeV energies by VERITAS
- Creators
- A Archer - Purdue University West LafayetteT. B Humensky - Columbia UniversityW Benbow - Harvard UniversityC. A Johnson - Santa Cruz Institute for Particle PhysicsR Bird - University of California, Los AngelesP Kaaret - University of IowaR BroseP Kar - University of UtahM Buchovecky - University of California, Los AngelesN Kelley-HoskinsJ. H Buckley - Washington University in St. LouisM Kertzman - DePauw UniversityV Bugaev - Washington University in St. LouisD Kieda - University of UtahM. P Connolly - Ollscoil na Gaillimhe – University of GalwayM KrauseW Cui - Purdue University West LafayetteF Krennrich - Iowa State UniversityM. K Daniel - Tsinghua UniversityS Kumar - University of DelawareQ Feng - McGill UniversityM. J Lang - Ollscoil na Gaillimhe – University of GalwayJ. P Finley - Purdue University West LafayetteT. T. Y Lin - McGill UniversityL Fortson - University of MinnesotaG MaierS McArthur - Purdue University West LafayetteA Furniss - California State University, East BayG Gillanders - Ollscoil na Gaillimhe – University of GalwayP Moriarty - Ollscoil na Gaillimhe – University of GalwayM HüttenR Mukherjee - Columbia UniversityS O’BrienD Hanna - McGill UniversityO Hervet - Santa Cruz Institute for Particle PhysicsR. A Ong - University of California, Los AngelesJ Holder - University of DelawareA. N Otte - Georgia Institute of TechnologyA Petrashyk - Columbia UniversityG Hughes - Harvard UniversityM PohlE PueschelJ Quinn - University College DublinK Ragan - McGill UniversityP. T Reynolds - Cork Institute of TechnologyG. T Richards - Georgia Institute of TechnologyE Roache - Harvard UniversityC Rulten - University of MinnesotaI SadehM Santander - University of AlabamaG. H Sembroski - Purdue University West LafayetteD Staszak - University of ChicagoI SushchS. P Wakely - University of ChicagoR. M Wells - Iowa State UniversityP Wilcox - University of IowaA WilhelmD. A Williams - Santa Cruz Institute for Particle PhysicsT. J Williamson - University of DelawareB Zitzer - McGill UniversityVERITAS Collaboration
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Physical review. D, Vol.98(6), p.062004
- DOI
- 10.1103/PhysRevD.98.062004
- ISSN
- 2470-0010
- eISSN
- 2470-0029
- Grant note
- DOI: 10.13039/100000001, name: National Science Foundation; DOI: 10.13039/501100000038, name: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada; DOI: 10.13039/501100000196, name: Canada Foundation for Innovation; DOI: 10.13039/501100003151, name: Fonds de Recherche du Québec - Nature et Technologies; name: U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science; name: NanoQuebec
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 09/2018
- Academic Unit
- Physics and Astronomy
- Record Identifier
- 9984199848602771
Metrics
5 Record Views