Observation of TeV Gamma Rays with Milagro

doi:10.1086/377498

Observation of TeV Gamma Rays from the Crab Nebula with Milagro Using a New Background Rejection Technique

R. Atkins et al 2003 ApJ 595 803-811 doi: 10.1086/377498

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R. Atkins¹, W. Benbow^2,3, D. Berley⁴, E. Blaufuss⁴, J. Bussons^4,5, D. G. Coyne², R. S. Delay⁶, T. DeYoung², B. L. Dingus⁷, D. E. Dorfan², R. W. Ellsworth⁸, A. Falcone^9,10, L. Fleysher¹¹, R. Fleysher¹¹, G. Gisler⁷, M. M. Gonzalez¹, J. A. Goodman⁴, T. J. Haines⁷, E. Hays⁴, C. M. Hoffman⁷, L. A. Kelley², R. W. Laird¹, J. McCullough^2,12, J. E. McEnery^1,13, R. S. Miller⁹, A. I. Mincer¹¹, M. F. Morales^2,14, P. Nemethy¹¹, D. Noyes⁴, J. M. Ryan⁹, F. W. Samuelson⁷, M. Schneider², B. Shen¹⁵, A. Shoup⁶, G. Sinnis^7,16, A. J. Smith⁴, G. W. Sullivan⁴, O. T. Tumer¹⁵, K. Wang^15,17, M. Wascko^15,18, D. A. Williams², S. Westerhoff^2,19, M. E. Wilson¹, X. Xu⁷ and G. B. Yodh⁶
¹ University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706
² University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064
³ Current address: Max Planck Institute, Heidelberg, Germany
⁴ University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742
⁵ Current address: Université de Montpellier II, Montpellier, France
⁶ University of California, Irvine, CA 92717
⁷ Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545
⁸ George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030
⁹ University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824-3525
¹⁰ Current address: Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907
¹¹ New York University, New York, NY 10003
¹² Current address: Cabrillo College, Aptos, CA 95003
¹³ Current address: Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771
¹⁴ Current address: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139
¹⁵ University of California, Riverside, CA 92521
¹⁶ Corresponding author (Los Alamos National Laboratory, MS 803, Los Alamos, NM 87545; )
¹⁷ Current address: Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Menlo Park, CA 94025
¹⁸ Current address: Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803
¹⁹ Current address: Columbia University, New York, NY 10027
E-mail: gus@lanl.gov

ABSTRACT. The recent advances in TeV gamma-ray astronomy are largely the result of the ability to differentiate between extensive air showers generated by gamma rays and hadronic cosmic rays. Air Cerenkov telescopes have developed and perfected the "imaging" technique over the past several decades. However, until now no background rejection method has been successfully used in an air shower array to detect a source of TeV gamma rays. We report on a method to differentiate hadronic air showers from electromagnetic air showers in the Milagro gamma-ray observatory, based on the ability to detect the energetic particles in an extensive air shower. The technique is used to detect TeV emission from the Crab Nebula. The flux from the Crab Nebula is estimated to be 2.68(±0.42^stat ± 1.4^sys) × 10^-7(E/1 TeV)^-2.59 m^-2 s^-1 TeV^-1, where the spectral index is assumed to be as given by the HEGRA collaboration.

Subject headings: gamma rays: observations; instrumentation: detectors; ISM: individual (Crab Nebula); stars: neutron; supernova remnants

Print publication: Issue 2 (2003 October 1)
Received 2003 May 2, accepted for publication 2003 June 11

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Observation of TeV Gamma Rays from the Crab Nebula with Milagro Using a New Background Rejection Technique

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