Phys. Rev. Lett.
95,
251103
(2005)
[5 pages]
Evidence for TeV Gamma-Ray Emission from a Region of the Galactic Plane
R. Atkins et al.
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R. Atkins1,*, W. Benbow2,†, D. Berley3, E. Blaufuss3, D. G. Coyne2, T. DeYoung3, B. L. Dingus4, D. E. Dorfan2, R. W. Ellsworth5, L. Fleysher6, R. Fleysher6, G. Gisler4, M. M. Gonzalez1, J. A. Goodman3, T. J. Haines4, E. Hays3, C. M. Hoffman4, L. A. Kelley2, C. P. Lansdell3, J. T. Linnemann7, J. E. McEnery1,‡, R. S. Miller8, A. I. Mincer6, M. F. Morales2,§, P. Nemethy6, D. Noyes3, J. M. Ryan8, F. W. Samuelson4, P. M. Saz Parkinson2, A. Shoup9, G. Sinnis4, A. J. Smith3, G. W. Sullivan3, D. A. Williams2, M. E. Wilson1, X. W. Xu4, and G. B. Yodh9
1Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin, 1150 University Avenue, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA 2Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics, University of California, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, California 95064, USA 3Department of Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA 4Group P-23, Los Alamos National Laboratory, P.O. Box 1663, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA 5Department of Physics and Astronomy, George Mason University, 4400 University Drive, Fairfax, Virginia 22030, USA 6Department of Physics, New York University, 4 Washington Place, New York, New York 10003, USA 7Department of Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University, 3245 BioMedical Physical Sciences Building, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, USA 8Department of Physics, University of New Hampshire, Morse Hall, Durham, New Hampshire 03824, USA 9Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Irvine, California 92697, USA
Received 15 February 2005; revised 5 October 2005; published 16 December 2005
Gamma-ray emission from a narrow band at the galactic equator has previously been detected up to 30 GeV. We report evidence for a TeV gamma-ray signal from a region of the galactic plane by Milagro, a large-field-of-view water Cherenkov detector for extensive air showers. An excess with a significance of 4.5 standard deviations has been observed from the region of galactic longitude l∈(40°,100°) and latitude |b|<5°. Under the assumption of a simple power law spectrum, with no cutoff in the EGRET-Milagro energy range, the measured integral flux is ϕγ(>3.5 TeV)=(6.4±1.4±2.1)×10-11 cm-2 s-1 sr-1. This flux is consistent with an extrapolation of the EGRET spectrum between 1 and 30 GeV in this galactic region.
© 2005 The American Physical Society
URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.95.251103
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.95.251103
PACS:
98.35.−a, 95.85.Pw, 96.40.Pq, 98.70.Rz
*Present address: Department of Physics, University of UT, 115 South 1400 East, Salt Lake City, UT 84112. †Present address: Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Postfach 103980, D-69029 Heidelberg, Germany. ‡Present address: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771. §Present address: MA Institute of Technology, Building 37-664H, 77 MA Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139.
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