| 51. |
- Ackermann, M., et al.
(författare)
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Fermi Detection of γ-Ray Emission from the M2 Soft X-Ray Flare on 2010 June 12
- 2012
-
Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal. - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 745:2, s. 144-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) M2-class solar flare, SOL2010-06-12T00: 57, was modest in many respects yet exhibited remarkable acceleration of energetic particles. The flare produced an similar to 50 s impulsive burst of hard X-and gamma-ray emission up to at least 400 MeV observed by the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor and Large Area Telescope experiments. The remarkably similar hard X-ray and high-energy gamma-ray time profiles suggest that most of the particles were accelerated to energies greater than or similar to 300 MeV with a delay of similar to 10 s from mildly relativistic electrons, but some reached these energies in as little as similar to 3 s. The gamma-ray line fluence from this flare was about 10 times higher than that typically observed from this modest GOES class of X-ray flare. There is no evidence for time-extended >100 MeV emission as has been found for other flares with high-energy gamma-rays.
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| 52. |
- Ackermann, M., et al.
(författare)
-
FERMI GAMMA-RAY SPACE TELESCOPE OBSERVATIONS OF GAMMA-RAY OUTBURSTS FROM 3C 454.3 IN 2009 DECEMBER AND 2010 APRIL
- 2010
-
Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal. - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 721:2, s. 1383-1396
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The flat spectrum radio quasar 3C 454.3 underwent an extraordinary outburst in 2009 December when it became the brightest gamma-ray source in the sky for over 1 week. Its daily flux measured with the Fermi-Large Area Telescope at photon energiesE > 100 MeV reached F-100 = 22 +/- 1 x 10(6) photon cm(-2) s(-1), representing the highest daily flux of any blazar ever recorded in high-energy. -rays. It again became the brightest source in the sky in 2010 April, triggering a pointed-mode observation by Fermi. The correlated. -ray temporal and spectral properties during these exceptional events are presented and discussed. The main results show flux variability over time scales less than 3 hr and very mild spectral variability with an indication of gradual hardening preceding major flares. The light curves during periods of enhanced activity in 2008 July-August and 2010 December show strong resemblance, with a flux plateau of a few days preceding the major flare. No consistent loop pattern emerged in the. -ray spectral index versus the flux plane as would be expected in acceleration and cooling scenarios. The maximum energy of a photon from 3C 454.3 is approximate to 20 GeV and a minimum Doppler factor of approximate to 13 is derived. The gamma-ray spectrum of 3C 454.3 shows a significant spectral break between approximate to 2 and 3 GeV that is very weakly dependent on the flux state, even when the flux changes by an order of magnitude.
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| 53. |
- Ackermann, M., et al.
(författare)
-
FERMI LARGE AREA TELESCOPE STUDY OF COSMIC RAYS AND THE INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM IN NEARBY MOLECULAR CLOUDS
- 2012
-
Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal. - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 755:1
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We report an analysis of the interstellar gamma-ray emission from the Chamaeleon, R Coronae Australis (R CrA), and Cepheus and Polaris flare regions with the Fermi Large Area Telescope. They are among the nearest molecular cloud complexes, within similar to 300 pc from the solar system. The gamma-ray emission produced by interactions of cosmic rays (CRs) and interstellar gas in those molecular clouds is useful to study the CR densities and distributions of molecular gas close to the solar system. The obtained gamma-ray emissivities above 250 MeV are (5.9 +/- 0.1(stat-1.0sys)(+0.9)) x 10(-27) photons s(-1) sr(-1) H-atom(-1), (10.2 +/- 0.4(stat-1.7sys)(+1.2)) x 10(-27) photons s(-1) sr(-1) H-atom(-1), and (9.1 +/- 0.3(stat-0.6sys)(+1.5)) x 10(-27) photons s(-1) sr(-1) H-atom(-1) for the Chamaeleon, R CrA, and Cepheus and Polaris flare regions, respectively. Whereas the energy dependences of the emissivities agree well with that predicted from direct CR observations at the Earth, the measured emissivities from 250 MeV to 10 GeV indicate a variation of the CR density by similar to 20% in the neighborhood of the solar system, even if we consider systematic uncertainties. The molecular mass calibrating ratio, X-CO = N(H-2)/W-CO, is found to be (0.96 +/- 0.06(stat-0.12sys)(+0.15)) x 10(20) H-2-molecule cm(-2) (K km s(-1))(-1), (0.99 +/- 0.08(stat-0.10sys)(+0.18)) x 10(20) H-2-molecule cm(-2) (K km s(-1))(-1), and (0.63 +/- 0.02(stat-0.07sys)(+0.09)) x 10(20) H-2-molecule cm(-2) (K km s(-1))(-1) for the Chamaeleon, R CrA, and Cepheus and Polaris flare regions, respectively, suggesting a variation of X-CO in the vicinity of the solar system. From the obtained values of X-CO, the masses of molecular gas traced by W-CO in the Chamaeleon, R CrA, and Cepheus and Polaris flare regions are estimated to be similar to 5 x 10(3)M(circle dot), similar to 10(3)M(circle dot), and similar to 3.3 x 10(4)M(circle dot), respectively. A comparable amount of gas not traced well by standard Hi and CO surveys is found in the regions investigated.
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| 54. |
- Ackermann, M., et al.
(författare)
-
Fermi LAT observations of cosmic-ray electrons from 7 GeV to 1 TeV
- 2010
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Ingår i: PHYSICAL REVIEW D. - 1550-7998. ; 82:9, s. 092004-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present the results of our analysis of cosmic-ray electrons using about 8 x 10(6) electron candidates detected in the first 12 months on-orbit by the Fermi Large Area Telescope. This work extends our previously published cosmic-ray electron spectrum down to 7 GeV, giving a spectral range of approximately 2.5 decades up to 1 TeV. We describe in detail the analysis and its validation using beam-test and on-orbit data. In addition, we describe the spectrum measured via a subset of events selected for the best energy resolution as a cross-check on the measurement using the full event sample. Our electron spectrum can be described with a power law proportional to E-3.08+/-0.05 with no prominent spectral features within systematic uncertainties. Within the limits of our uncertainties, we can accommodate a slight spectral hardening at around 100 GeV and a slight softening above 500 GeV.
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| 55. |
- Ackermann, M., et al.
(författare)
-
FERMI-LAT OBSERVATIONS OF THE LIGO EVENT GW150914
- 2016
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Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal Letters. - : Institute of Physics Publishing (IOPP). - 2041-8205 .- 2041-8213. ; 823:1
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) has an instantaneous field of view (FoV) covering similar to 1/5 of the sky and it completes a survey of the entire sky in high-energy gamma-rays every 3 hr. It enables searches for transient phenomena over timescales from milliseconds to years. Among these phenomena could be electromagnetic counterparts to gravitational wave (GW) sources. In this paper, we present a detailed study of the LAT observations relevant to Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) event GW150914, which is the first direct detection of gravitational waves and has been interpreted as being due to the coalescence of two stellar-mass black holes. The localization region for GW150914 was outside the LAT FoV at the time of the GW signal. However, as part of routine survey observations, the LAT observed the entire LIGO localization region within similar to 70 minutes of the trigger and thus enabled a comprehensive search for a.-ray counterpart to GW150914. The study of the LAT data presented here did not find any potential counterparts to GW150914, but it did provide limits on the presence of a transient counterpart above 100 MeV on timescales of hours to days over the entire GW150914 localization region.
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| 56. |
- Ackermann, M., et al.
(författare)
-
Fermi LAT search for dark matter in gamma-ray lines and the inclusive photon spectrum
- 2012
-
Ingår i: Physical Review D. - 1550-7998 .- 1550-2368. ; 86:2
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Dark matter particle annihilation or decay can produce monochromatic gamma-ray lines and contribute to the diffuse gamma-ray background. Flux upper limits are presented for gamma-ray spectral lines from 7 to 200 GeV and for the diffuse gamma-ray background from 4.8 GeV to 264 GeV obtained from two years of Fermi Large Area Telescope data integrated over most of the sky. We give cross-section upper limits and decay lifetime lower limits for dark matter models that produce gamma-ray lines or contribute to the diffuse spectrum, including models proposed as explanations of the PAMELA and Fermi cosmic-ray data.
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| 57. |
- Ackermann, M., et al.
(författare)
-
Fermi-LAT search for pulsar wind nebulae around gamma-ray pulsars
- 2011
-
Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal. - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 726:1, s. 35-
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The high sensitivity of the Fermi-LAT (Large Area Telescope) offers the first opportunity to study faint and extended GeV sources such as pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe). After one year of observation the LAT detected and identified three PWNe: the Crab Nebula, Vela-X, and the PWN inside MSH 15-52. In the meantime, the list of LAT detected pulsars increased steadily. These pulsars are characterized by high energy loss rates ((E) over dot) from similar to 3 x 10(33) erg s(-1) to 5 x 10(38) erg s(-1) and are therefore likely to power a PWN. This paper summarizes the search for PWNe in the off-pulse windows of 54 LAT-detected pulsars using 16 months of survey observations. Ten sources show significant emission, seven of these likely being of magnetospheric origin. The detection of significant emission in the off-pulse interval offers new constraints on the gamma-ray emitting regions in pulsar magnetospheres. The three other sources with significant emission are the Crab Nebula, Vela-X, and a new PWN candidate associated with the LAT pulsar PSR J1023-5746, coincident with the TeV source HESS J1023-575. We further explore the association between the HESS and the Fermi source by modeling its spectral energy distribution. Flux upper limits derived for the 44 remaining sources are used to provide new constraints on famous PWNe that have been detected at keV and/or TeV energies.
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| 58. |
- Ackermann, M., et al.
(författare)
-
GeV GAMMA-RAY FLUX UPPER LIMITS FROM CLUSTERS OF GALAXIES
- 2010
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Ingår i: ASTROPHYS J LETT. - 2041-8205. ; 717:1, s. l71-L78
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The detection of diffuse radio emission associated with clusters of galaxies indicates populations of relativistic leptons infusing the intracluster medium (ICM). Those electrons and positrons are either injected into and accelerated directly in the ICM, or produced as secondary pairs by cosmic-ray ions scattering on ambient protons. Radiation mechanisms involving the energetic leptons together with the decay of neutral pions produced by hadronic interactions have the potential to produce abundant GeV photons. Here, we report on the search for GeV emission from clusters of galaxies using data collected by the Large Area Telescope on the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope from 2008 August to 2010 February. Thirty-three galaxy clusters have been selected according to their proximity and high mass, X-ray flux and temperature, and indications of non-thermal activity for this study. We report upper limits on the photon flux in the range 0.2-100 GeV toward a sample of observed clusters (typical values (1-5) x 10(-9) photon cm(-2) s(-1)) considering both point-like and spatially resolved models for the high-energy emission and discuss how these results constrain the characteristics of energetic leptons and hadrons, and magnetic fields in the ICM. The volume-averaged relativistic-hadron-to-thermal energy density ratio is found to be <5%-10% in several clusters.
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| 59. |
- Ackermann, M., et al.
(författare)
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In-flight measurement of the absolute energy scale of the Fermi Large Area Telescope
- 2012
-
Ingår i: Astroparticle physics. - : Elsevier BV. - 0927-6505 .- 1873-2852. ; 35:6, s. 346-353
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Large Area Telescope (LAT) on-board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope is a pair-conversion telescope designed to survey the gamma-ray sky from 20 MeV to several hundreds of GeV. In this energy band there are no astronomical sources with sufficiently well known and sharp spectral features to allow an absolute calibration of the LAT energy scale. However, the geomagnetic cutoff in the cosmic ray electron-plus-positron (CRE) spectrum in low Earth orbit does provide such a spectral feature. The energy and spectral shape of this cutoff can be calculated with the aid of a numerical code tracing charged particles in the Earth's magnetic field. By comparing the cutoff value with that measured by the LAT in different geomagnetic positions, we have obtained several calibration points between ∌6 and ∌13 GeV with an estimated uncertainty of ∌2%. An energy calibration with such high accuracy reduces the systematic uncertainty in LAT measurements of, for example, the spectral cutoff in the emission from gamma ray pulsars.
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| 60. |
- Ackermann, M., et al.
(författare)
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Search for extended gamma-ray emission from the Virgo Galaxy Cluster with Fermi-LAT
- 2015
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Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal. - : Institute of Physics (IOP). - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 812:2
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Galaxy clusters are one of the prime sites to search for dark matter (DM) annihilation signals. Depending on the substructure of the DM halo of a galaxy cluster and the cross sections for DM annihilation channels, these signals might be detectable by the latest generation of gamma-ray telescopes. Here we use three years of Fermi-Large Area Telescope data, which are the most suitable for searching for very extended emission in the vicinity of the nearby Virgo galaxy cluster. Our analysis reveals statistically significant extended emission which can be well characterized by a uniformly emitting disk profile with a radius of 3 degrees that moreover is offset from the cluster center. We demonstrate that the significance of this extended emission strongly depends on the adopted interstellar emission model (IEM) and is most likely an artifact of our incomplete description of the IEM in this region. We also search for and find new point source candidates in the region. We then derive conservative upper limits on the velocity-averaged DM pair annihilation cross section from Virgo. We take into account the potential gamma-ray flux enhancement due to DM sub-halos and its complex morphology as a merging cluster. For DM annihilating into b (b) over bar, assuming a conservative sub-halo model setup, we find limits that are between 1 and 1.5 orders of magnitude above the expectation from the thermal cross section for m(DM) <= 100 GeV. In a more optimistic scenario, we exclude similar to 3 x 10(-26)cm(3)s(-1) for m(DM)less than or similar to 40 GeV for the same channel. Finally, we derive upper limits on the gamma-ray-flux produced by hadronic cosmic-ray interactions in the inter cluster medium. We find that the volume-averaged cosmic-ray-to-thermal pressure ratio is less than similar to 6%.
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