206 research outputs found
Observation of TeV gamma rays from the Cygnus region with the ARGO-YBJ experiment
We report the observation of TeV gamma-rays from the Cygnus region using the
ARGO-YBJ data collected from 2007 November to 2011 August. Several TeV sources
are located in this region including the two bright extended MGRO J2019+37 and
MGRO J2031+41. According to the Milagro data set, at 20 TeV MGRO J2019+37 is
the most significant source apart from the Crab Nebula. No signal from MGRO
J2019+37 is detected by the ARGO-YBJ experiment, and the derived flux upper
limits at 90% confidence level for all the events above 600 GeV with medium
energy of 3 TeV are lower than the Milagro flux, implying that the source might
be variable and hard to be identified as a pulsar wind nebula. The only
statistically significant (6.4 standard deviations) gamma-ray signal is found
from MGRO J2031+41, with a flux consistent with the measurement by Milagro.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figure
The ARGO-YBJ Experiment Progresses and Future Extension
Gamma ray source detection above 30TeV is an encouraging approach for finding
galactic cosmic ray origins. All sky survey for gamma ray sources using wide
field of view detector is essential for population accumulation for various
types of sources above 100GeV. To target the goals, the ARGO-YBJ experiment has
been established. Significant progresses have been made in the experiment. A
large air shower detector array in an area of 1km2 is proposed to boost the
sensitivity. Hybrid detection with multi-techniques will allow a good
discrimination between different types of primary particles, including photons
and protons, thus enable an energy spectrum measurement for individual specie.
Fluorescence light detector array will extend the spectrum measurement above
100PeV where the second knee is located. An energy scale determined by balloon
experiments at 10TeV will be propagated to ultra high energy cosmic ray
experiments
Gamma ray flares from Mrk421 in 2008 observed with the ARGO-YBJ detector
In 2008 the blazar Markarian 421 entered a very active phase and was one of
the brightest sources in the sky at TeV energies, showing frequent flaring
episodes. Using the data of ARGO-YBJ, a full coverage air shower detector
located at Yangbajing (4300 m a.s.l., Tibet, China), we monitored the source at
gamma ray energies E > 0.3 TeV during the whole year. The observed flux was
variable, with the strongest flares in March and June, in correlation with
X-ray enhanced activity. While during specific episodes the TeV flux could be
several times larger than the Crab Nebula one, the average emission from day 41
to 180 was almost twice the Crab level, with an integral flux of (3.6 +-0.6)
10^-11 photons cm^-2 s^-1 for energies E > 1 TeV, and decreased afterwards.
This paper concentrates on the flares occurred in the first half of June.
This period has been deeply studied from optical to 100 MeV gamma rays, and
partially up to TeV energies, since the moonlight hampered the Cherenkov
telescope observations during the most intense part of the emission. Our data
complete these observations, with the detection of a signal with a statistical
significance of 3.8 standard deviations on June 11-13, corresponding to a gamma
ray flux about 6 times larger than the Crab one above 1 TeV. The reconstructed
differential spectrum, corrected for the intergalactic absorption, can be
represented by a power law with an index alpha = -2.1 extending up to several
TeV. The spectrum slope is fully consistent with previous observations
reporting a correlation between the flux and the spectral index, suggesting
that this property is maintained in different epochs and characterizes the
source emission processes.Comment: Accepted for publication on ApJ
Observation of CR Anisotropy with ARGO-YBJ
The measurement of the anisotropies of cosmic ray arrival direction provides
important informations on the propagation mechanisms and on the identification
of their sources. In this paper we report the observation of anisotropy regions
at different angular scales. In particular, the observation of a possible
anisotropy on scales between 10 and 30
suggests the presence of unknown features of the magnetic fields the charged
cosmic rays propagate through, as well as potential contributions of nearby
sources to the total flux of cosmic rays. Evidence of new weaker few-degree
excesses throughout the sky region R.A. is
reported for the first time.Comment: Talk given at 12th TAUP Conference 2011, 5-9 September 2011, Munich,
German
Long-term monitoring of the TeV emission from Mrk 421 with the ARGO-YBJ experiment
ARGO-YBJ is an air shower detector array with a fully covered layer of
resistive plate chambers. It is operated with a high duty cycle and a large
field of view. It continuously monitors the northern sky at energies above 0.3
TeV. In this paper, we report a long-term monitoring of Mrk 421 over the period
from 2007 November to 2010 February. This source was observed by the
satellite-borne experiments Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer and Swift in the X-ray
band. Mrk 421 was especially active in the first half of 2008. Many flares are
observed in both X-ray and gamma-ray bands simultaneously. The gamma-ray flux
observed by ARGO-YBJ has a clear correlation with the X-ray flux. No lag
between the X-ray and gamma-ray photons longer than 1 day is found. The
evolution of the spectral energy distribution is investigated by measuring
spectral indices at four different flux levels. Hardening of the spectra is
observed in both X-ray and gamma-ray bands. The gamma-ray flux increases
quadratically with the simultaneously measured X-ray flux. All these
observational results strongly favor the synchrotron self-Compton process as
the underlying radiative mechanism.Comment: 30 pages, 8 figure
Mean Interplanetary Magnetic Field Measurement Using the ARGO-YBJ Experiment
The sun blocks cosmic ray particles from outside the solar system, forming a
detectable shadow in the sky map of cosmic rays detected by the ARGO-YBJ
experiment in Tibet. Because the cosmic ray particles are positive charged, the
magnetic field between the sun and the earth deflects them from straight
trajectories and results in a shift of the shadow from the true location of the
sun. Here we show that the shift measures the intensity of the field which is
transported by the solar wind from the sun to the earth.Comment: 6 papges,3 figure
Proton-air cross section measurement with the ARGO-YBJ cosmic ray experiment
The proton-air cross section in the energy range 1-100 TeV has been measured
by the ARGO-YBJ cosmic ray experiment. The analysis is based on the flux
attenuation for different atmospheric depths (i.e. zenith angles) and exploits
the detector capabilities of selecting the shower development stage by means of
hit multiplicity, density and lateral profile measurements at ground. The
effects of shower fluctuations, the contribution of heavier primaries and the
uncertainties of the hadronic interaction models, have been taken into account.
The results have been used to estimate the total proton-proton cross section at
center of mass energies between 70 and 500 GeV, where no accelerator data are
currently available.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figure
Measurement of the cosmic ray antiproton/proton flux ratio at TeV energies with the ARGO-YBJ detector
Cosmic ray antiprotons provide an important probe to study the cosmic ray
propagation in the interstellar space and to investigate the existence of dark
matter. Acting the Earth-Moon system as a magnetic spectrometer, paths of
primary antiprotons are deflected in the opposite sense with respect to those
of the protons in their way to the Earth. This effect allows, in principle, the
search for antiparticles in the direction opposite to the observed deficit of
cosmic rays due to the Moon (the so-called `Moon shadow').
The ARGO-YBJ experiment, located at the Yangbajing Cosmic Ray Laboratory
(Tibet, P.R. China, 4300 m a.s.l., 606 g/cm), is particularly effective in
measuring the cosmic ray antimatter content via the observation of the cosmic
rays shadowing effect due to: (1) good angular resolution, pointing accuracy
and long-term stability; (2) low energy threshold; (3) real sensitivity to the
geomagnetic field.
Based on all the data recorded during the period from July 2006 through
November 2009 and on a full Monte Carlo simulation, we searched for the
existence of the shadow cast by antiprotons in the TeV energy region. No
evidence of the existence of antiprotons is found in this energy region. Upper
limits to the flux ratio are set to 5 % at a median energy of 1.4
TeV and 6 % at 5 TeV with a confidence level of 90%. In the TeV energy range
these limits are the lowest available.Comment: Contact authors: G. Di Sciascio ([email protected]) and R.
Iuppa ([email protected]), INFN Sezione di Roma Tor Vergata, Roma, Ital
Observation of the cosmic ray moon shadowing effect with the ARGO-YBJ experiment
Cosmic rays are hampered by the Moon and a deficit in its direction is expected (the so-called Moon shadow). The Moon shadow is an important tool to determine the performance of an air shower array. Indeed, the westward displacement of the shadow center, due to the bending effect of the geomagnetic field on the propagation of cosmic rays, allows the setting of the absolute rigidity scale of the primary particles inducing the showers recorded by the detector. In addition, the shape of the shadow permits to determine the detector point spread function, while the position of the deficit at high energies allows the evaluation of its absolute pointing accuracy. In this paper we present the observation of the cosmic ray Moon shadowing effect carried out by the ARGO-YBJ experiment in the multi-TeV energy region with high statistical significance (55 standard deviations). By means of an accurate Monte Carlo simulation of the cosmic rays propagation in the Earth-Moon system, we have studied separately the effect of the
geomagnetic field and of the detector point spread function on the observed shadow. The angular resolution as a function of the particle multiplicity and the pointing accuracy have been obtained. The primary energy of detected showers has been estimated by measuring the westward displacement as a function of the particle multiplicity, thus calibrating the relation between shower size and cosmic ray energy. The stability of the detector on a monthly basis has been checked by monitoring the position and the deficit of the Moon shadow. Finally, we have studied with high statistical accuracy the shadowing effect in the ''day/nightââ time looking for possible effect induced by the solar wind
Highlights from the ARGO-YBJ experiment
The ARGO-YBJ experiment at YangBaJing in Tibet (4300 m a.s.l.) has been taking data with its full layout since October 2007. Here we present a few signiïŹcant results obtained in gamma-ray astronomy and cosmic-ray physics. Emphasis is placed on the analysis of gamma-ray emission from point-like sources (Crab Nebula, MRK 421), on the preliminary limit on the antiproton/proton ïŹux ratio, on the large-scale cosmic-ray anisotropy and on the protonâair cross-section. The performance of the detector is also discussed, and the perspectives of the experiment are outlined
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