High energy nuclear interactions in lead by cosmic ray protons at 3500 m

We report the detection of high-energy γ-ray signal towards the young star-forming region, W40. Using 10-yr Pass 8 data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope (Fermi-LAT), we extracted an extended γ-ray excess region with a significance of ~18σ. The radiation has a spectrum with a photon index of 2.49 ± 0.01. The spatial correlation with the ionized gas content favors the hadronic origin of the γ-ray emission. The total cosmic-ray (CR) proton energy in the γ-ray production region is estimated to be the order of 1047 erg. However, this could be a small fraction of the total energy released in cosmic rays (CRs) by local accelerators, presumably by massive stars, over the lifetime of the system. If so, W40, together with earlier detections of γ-rays from Cygnus cocoon, Westerlund 1, Westerlund 2, NGC 3603, and 30 Dor C, supports the hypothesis that young star clusters are effective CR factories. The unique aspect of this result is that the γ-ray emission is detected, for the first time, from a stellar cluster itself, rather than from the surrounding “cocoons”.

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Properties of Elementary Particle Fluxes in Primary Cosmic Rays Measured with the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer on the International Space Station

EPJ Web of Conferences ◽

10.1051/epjconf/201920901007 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 209 ◽

pp. 01007

Author(s):

Francesco Nozzoli

Keyword(s):

Electron Flux ◽

Space Station ◽

Cosmic Ray ◽

High Energy ◽

Precision Measurements ◽

High Energy Electrons ◽

Electrons And Positrons ◽

Positron Flux ◽

Rigidity Dependence ◽

Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer

Precision measurements by AMS of the fluxes of cosmic ray positrons, electrons, antiprotons, protons as well as their rations reveal several unexpected and intriguing features. The presented measurements extend the energy range of the previous observations with much increased precision. The new results show that the behavior of positron flux at around 300 GeV is consistent with a new source that produce equal amount of high energy electrons and positrons. In addition, in the absolute rigidity range 60–500 GV, the antiproton, proton, and positron fluxes are found to have nearly identical rigidity dependence and the electron flux exhibits different rigidity dependence.

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UVscope and its application aboard the ASTRI-Horn telescope

Experimental Astronomy ◽

10.1007/s10686-021-09728-6 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Maria Concetta Maccarone ◽

Giovanni La Rosa ◽

Osvaldo Catalano ◽

Salvo Giarrusso ◽

Alberto Segreto ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Gamma Ray ◽

Single Photon ◽

Photon Counting ◽

Light Flux ◽

Cosmic Ray ◽

High Energy ◽

Wide Field ◽

High Energy Astrophysics ◽

Single Photon Counting ◽

Photon Counting Mode

AbstractUVscope is an instrument, based on a multi-pixel photon detector, developed to support experimental activities for high-energy astrophysics and cosmic ray research. The instrument, working in single photon counting mode, is designed to directly measure light flux in the wavelengths range 300-650 nm. The instrument can be used in a wide field of applications where the knowledge of the nocturnal environmental luminosity is required. Currently, one UVscope instrument is allocated onto the external structure of the ASTRI-Horn Cherenkov telescope devoted to the gamma-ray astronomy at very high energies. Being co-aligned with the ASTRI-Horn camera axis, UVscope can measure the diffuse emission of the night sky background simultaneously with the ASTRI-Horn camera, without any interference with the main telescope data taking procedures. UVscope is properly calibrated and it is used as an independent reference instrument for test and diagnostic of the novel ASTRI-Horn telescope.

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