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Measurement of cosmic-ray electrons at TeV energies by VERITAS

  • 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 thatCosmic-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 +/- 40(stat) +/- 140(syst) GeV.show moreshow less

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Author details:A. Archer, W. Benbow, R. Bird, Robert BroseORCiDGND, M. Buchovecky, J. H. Buckley, V. Bugaev, M. P. Connolly, W. Cui, M. K. Daniel, Q. Feng, J. P. Finley, L. Fortson, A. Furniss, G. Gillanders, M. Huetten, D. Hanna, O. Hervet, J. Holder, G. Hughes, T. B. Humensky, C. A. Johnson, P. Kaaret, P. Kar, N. Kelley-Hoskins, M. Kertzman, D. Kieda, M. Krause, F. Krennrich, S. Kumar, M. J. Lang, T. T. Y. Lin, G. Maier, S. McArthur, P. Moriarty, R. Mukherjee, R. A. Ong, A. N. Otte, A. Petrashyk, M. Pohl, Elisa PueschelORCiD, J. Quinn, K. Ragan, P. T. Reynolds, G. T. Richards, E. Roache, C. Rulten, I. Sadeh, M. Santander, G. H. Sembroski, D. Staszak, I. Sushch, S. P. Wakely, R. M. Wells, P. Wilcox, Alina WilhelmORCiDGND, D. A. Williams, T. J. Williamson, B. Zitzer
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.98.062004
ISSN:2470-0010
ISSN:2470-0029
Title of parent work (English):Physical review : D, Particles, fields, gravitation, and cosmology
Publisher:American Physical Society
Place of publishing:College Park
Publication type:Article
Language:English
Year of first publication:2018
Publication year:2018
Creating corporation:VERITAS Collaboration
Release date:2021/09/27
Volume:98
Issue:6
Number of pages:7
Funding institution:U.S. Department of Energy Office of ScienceUnited States Department of Energy (DOE); U.S. National Science FoundationNational Science Foundation (NSF); Smithsonian InstitutionSmithsonian Institution; NSERC in CanadaNatural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada; Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI)Canada Foundation for Innovation; NanoQuebec; Fonds de recherche du Quebec-Nature et technologies (FRQ-NT)
Organizational units:Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Institut für Physik und Astronomie
DDC classification:5 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik / 53 Physik / 530 Physik
Peer review:Referiert
Publishing method:Open Access / Bronze Open-Access
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