331 research outputs found
Study of the Very High Energy Emission of M87 through its Broadband Spectral Energy Distribution
The radio galaxy M87 is the central dominant galaxy of the Virgo Cluster. Very high-energy (VHE, âł0.1 TeV) emission from M87 has been detected by imaging air Cherenkov telescopes. Recently, marginal evidence for VHE long-term emission has also been observed by the High Altitude Water Cherenkov Observatory, a gamma-ray and cosmic-ray detector array located in Puebla, Mexico. The mechanism that produces VHE emission in M87 remains unclear. This emission originates in its prominent jet, which has been spatially resolved from radio to X-rays. In this paper, we construct a spectral energy distribution from radio to gamma rays that is representative of the nonflaring activity of the source, and in order to explain the observed emission, we fit it with a lepto-hadronic emission model. We found that this model is able to explain nonflaring VHE emission of M87 as well as an orphan flare reported in 2005
Searching for dark matter sub-structure with HAWC
Numerical simulations show that the dark matter halos surrounding galaxies are expected to contain many over-densities or sub-halos. The most massive of these sub-halos can be optically observed in the form of dwarf galaxies. However, most lower mass sub-halos are predicted to exist as dark dwarf galaxies: sub-halos like dwarf galaxies with no luminous counterpart. It may be possible to detect these unseen sub-halos from gamma-ray signals originating from dark matter annihilation. The High Altitude Water Cherenkov Observatory (HAWC) is a very high energy (500 GeV to \u3e100 TeV) gamma ray detector with a wide field-of-view and near continuous duty cycle, making HAWC ideal for unbiased sky surveys. We perform a search for gamma ray signals from dark dwarfs in the Milky Way halo with HAWC. We perform a targeted search of HAWC gamma-ray sources which have no known association with lower-energy counterparts, based on an unbiased survey of the entire sky. With no sources found to strongly prefer dark matter models, we calculate the ability of HAWC to observe dark dwarfs. We also compute the HAWC sensitivity to potential future detections for a given model of dark matter substructure. Assuming thermal dark matter, we find the corresponding J-factor of a dark dwarf required to reach the HAWC detection criterion is 5.79Ă 1020 GeV2 cmâ5 sr for one particular set of dark matter assumptions. HAWC is found to be able to competitively constrain dark matter annihilation from discovered halos with J-factors on the scale of 1019 GeV2 cmâ5 sr or greater, with better constraints obtained on dark matter models with \u3e10 TeV masses and sources that transit overhead
HAWC Study of the Very-high-energy Îł-Ray Spectrum of HAWC J1844â034
Recently, the region surrounding eHWC J1842â035 has been studied extensively by Îł-ray observatories due to its extended emission reaching up to a few hundred TeV and potential as a hadronic accelerator. In this work, we use 1910 days of cumulative data from the High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) observatory to carry out a dedicated systematic source search of the eHWC J1842â035 region. During the search, we found three sources in the region, namely, HAWC J1844â034, HAWC J1843â032, and HAWC J1846â025. We have identified HAWC J1844â034 as the extended source that emits photons with energies up to 175 TeV. We compute the spectrum for HAWC J1844â034, and by comparing with the observational results from other experiments, we have identified HESS J1843â033, LHAASO J1843â0338, and TASG J1844â038 as very-high-energy Îł-ray sources with a matching origin. Also, we present and use the multiwavelength data to fit the hadronic and leptonic particle spectra. We have identified four pulsar candidates in the nearby region in which PSR J1844â0346 is found to be the most likely candidate due to its proximity to HAWC J1844â034 and the computed energy budget. We have also found SNR G28.6â0.1 as a potential counterpart source of HAWC J1844â034 for which both leptonic and hadronic scenarios are feasible
Search for Point Sources of Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays Above 40 EeV Using a Maximum Likelihood Ratio Test
We present the results of a search for cosmic ray point sources at energies
above 40 EeV in the combined data sets recorded by the AGASA and HiRes stereo
experiments. The analysis is based on a maximum likelihood ratio test using the
probability density function for each event rather than requiring an a priori
choice of a fixed angular bin size. No statistically significant clustering of
events consistent with a point source is found.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures. Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical
Journa
Search for Yukawa Production of a Light Neutral Higgs Boson at LEP
Within a Two-Higgs-Doublet Model (2HDM) a search for a light Higgs boson in
the mass range of 4-12 GeV has been performed in the Yukawa process e+e- -> b
bbar A/h -> b bbar tau+tau-, using the data collected by the OPAL detector at
LEP between 1992 and 1995 in e+e- collisions at about 91 GeV centre-of-mass
energy. A likelihood selection is applied to separate background and signal.
The number of observed events is in good agreement with the expected
background. Within a CP-conserving 2HDM type II model the cross-section for
Yukawa production depends on xiAd = |tan beta| and xihd = |sin alpha/cos beta|
for the production of the CP-odd A and the CP-even h, respectively, where tan
beta is the ratio of the vacuum expectation values of the Higgs doublets and
alpha is the mixing angle between the neutral CP-even Higgs bosons. From our
data 95% C.L. upper limits are derived for xiAd within the range of 8.5 to 13.6
and for xihd between 8.2 to 13.7, depending on the mass of the Higgs boson,
assuming a branching fraction into tau+tau- of 100%. An interpretation of the
limits within a 2HDM type II model with Standard Model particle content is
given. These results impose constraints on several models that have been
proposed to explain the recent BNL measurement of the muon anomalous magnetic
moment.Comment: 24 pages, 9 figures, Submitted to Euro. Phys. J.
Measurement of triple gauge boson couplings from WW production at LEP energies up to 189 GeV
A measurement of triple gauge boson couplings is presented, based on W-pair
data recorded by the OPAL detector at LEP during 1998 at a centre-of-mass
energy of 189 GeV with an integrated luminosity of 183 pb^-1. After combining
with our previous measurements at centre-of-mass energies of 161-183 GeV we
obtain k_g=0.97 +0.20 -0.16, g_1^z=0.991 +0.060 -0.057 and lambda_g=-0.110
+0.058 -0.055, where the errors include both statistical and systematic
uncertainties and each coupling is determined by setting the other two
couplings to their SM values. These results are consistent with the Standard
Model expectations.Comment: 28 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Eur. Phys. J.
Observation and Spectral Measurements of the Crab Nebula with Milagro
The Crab Nebula was detected with the Milagro experiment at a statistical significance of 17 standard deviations over the lifetime of the experiment. The experiment was sensitive to approximately 100 GeV - 100 TeV gamma ray air showers by observing the particle footprint reaching the ground. The fraction of detectors recording signals from photons at the ground is a suitable proxy for the energy of the primary particle and has been used to measure the photon energy spectrum of the Crab Nebula between ~1 and ~100 TeV. The TeV emission is believed to be caused by inverse-Compton up-scattering scattering of ambient photons by an energetic electron population. The location of a Te V steepening or cutoff in the energy spectrum reveals important details about the underlying electron population. We describe the experiment and the technique for distinguishing gamma-ray events from the much more-abundant hadronic events. We describe the calculation of the significance of the excess from the Crab and how the energy spectrum is fit
Search for the Standard Model Higgs Boson with the OPAL Detector at LEP
This paper summarises the search for the Standard Model Higgs boson in e+e-
collisions at centre-of-mass energies up to 209 GeV performed by the OPAL
Collaboration at LEP. The consistency of the data with the background
hypothesis and various Higgs boson mass hypotheses is examined. No indication
of a signal is found in the data and a lower bound of 112.7GeV/C^2 is obtained
on the mass of the Standard Model Higgs boson at the 95% CL.Comment: 51 pages, 21 figure
Search for Neutral Higgs Bosons in e+e- Collisions at sqrt(s) ~189GeV
A search for neutral Higgs bosons has been performed with the OPAL detector
at LEP, using approximately 170 pb-1 of e+e- collision data collected at
sqrt(s)~189GeV. Searches have been performed for the Standard Model (SM)
process e+e- to H0Z0 and the MSSM processes e+e- to H0Z0, A0h0. The searches
are sensitive to the b b-bar and tau antitau decay modes of the Higgs bosons,
and also to the MSSM decay mode h0 to A0A0. OPAL search results at lower
centre-of-mass energies have been incorporated in the limits we set, which are
valid at the 95% confidence level. For the SM Higgs boson, we obtain a lower
mass bound of 91.0 GeV. In the MSSM, our limits are mh>74.8GeV and mA>76.5GeV,
assuming tan(beta)>1, that the mixing of the scalar top quarks is either zero
or maximal, and that the soft SUSY-breaking masses are 1 TeV. For the case of
zero scalar top mixing, we exclude values of tan(beta) between 0.72 and 2.19.Comment: 38 pages, 15 figures, submitted Euro. Phys. J.
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