Skip to main navigation Skip to search Skip to main content

Search for PeV Gamma-Ray Emission from the Southern Hemisphere with 5 Yr of Data from the IceCube Observatory

  • M. G. Aartsen
  • , M. Ackermann
  • , J. Adams
  • , J. A. Aguilar
  • , M. Ahlers
  • , M. Ahrens
  • , C. Alispach
  • , K. Andeen
  • , T. Anderson
  • , I. Ansseau
  • , G. Anton
  • , C. Argüelles
  • , J. Auffenberg
  • , S. Axani
  • , P. Backes
  • , H. Bagherpour
  • , X. Bai
  • , A. V. Balagopal
  • , A. Barbano
  • , S. W. Barwick
  • B. Bastian, V. Baum, S. Baur, R. Bay, J. J. Beatty, K. H. Becker, J. Becker Tjus, S. Benzvi, D. Berley, E. Bernardini, D. Z. Besson, G. Binder, D. Bindig, E. Blaufuss, S. Blot, C. Bohm, M. Börner, S. Böser, O. Botner, J. Böttcher, E. Bourbeau, J. Bourbeau, F. Bradascio, J. Braun, S. Bron, J. Brostean-Kaiser, A. Burgman, J. Buscher, R. S. Busse, T. Carver, C. Chen, E. Cheung, D. Chirkin, S. Choi, K. Clark, L. Classen, A. Coleman, G. H. Collin, J. M. Conrad, P. Coppin, P. Correa, D. F. Cowen, R. Cross, P. Dave, C. De Clercq, J. J. Delaunay, H. Dembinski, K. Deoskar, S. De Ridder, P. Desiati, K. D. De Vries, G. De Wasseige, M. De With, T. Deyoung, A. Diaz, J. C. Díaz-Vélez, H. Dujmovic, M. Dunkman, E. Dvorak, B. Eberhardt, T. Ehrhardt, P. Eller, R. Engel, P. A. Evenson, S. Fahey, A. R. Fazely, J. Felde, K. Filimonov, C. Finley, A. Franckowiak, E. Friedman, A. Fritz, T. K. Gaisser, J. Gallagher, E. Ganster, S. Garrappa, L. Gerhardt, K. Ghorbani, T. Glauch, T. Glüsenkamp, A. Goldschmidt, J. G. Gonzalez, D. Grant, Z. Griffith, S. Griswold, M. Günder, M. Gündüz, C. Haack, A. Hallgren, L. Halve, F. Halzen, K. Hanson, A. Haungs, D. Hebecker, D. Heereman, P. Heix, K. Helbing, R. Hellauer, F. Henningsen, S. Hickford, J. Hignight, G. C. Hill, K. D. Hoffman, R. Hoffmann, T. Hoinka, B. Hokanson-Fasig, K. Hoshina, F. Huang, M. Huber, T. Huber, K. Hultqvist, M. Hünnefeld, R. Hussain, S. In, N. Iovine, A. Ishihara, G. S. Japaridze, M. Jeong, K. Jero, B. J.P. Jones, F. Jonske, R. Joppe, D. Kang, W. Kang, A. Kappes, D. Kappesser, T. Karg, M. Karl, A. Karle, U. Katz, M. Kauer, J. L. Kelley, A. Kheirandish, J. Kim, T. Kintscher, J. Kiryluk, T. Kittler, S. R. Klein, R. Koirala, H. Kolanoski, L. Köpke, C. Kopper, S. Kopper, D. J. Koskinen, M. Kowalski, K. Krings, G. Krückl, N. Kulacz, N. Kurahashi, A. Kyriacou, M. Labare, J. L. Lanfranchi, M. J. Larson, F. Lauber, J. P. Lazar, K. Leonard, A. Leszczyńska, M. Leuermann, Q. R. Liu, E. Lohfink, C. J. Lozano Mariscal, L. Lu, F. Lucarelli, J. Lünemann, W. Luszczak, Y. Lyu, W. Y. Ma, J. Madsen, G. Maggi, K. B.M. Mahn, Y. Makino, P. Mallik, K. Mallot, S. Mancina, I. C. Mariş, R. Maruyama, K. Mase, R. Maunu, F. McNally, K. Meagher, M. Medici, A. Medina, M. Meier, S. Meighen-Berger, T. Menne, G. Merino, T. Meures, J. Micallef, D. Mockler, G. Momenté, T. Montaruli, R. W. Moore, R. Morse, M. Moulai, P. Muth, R. Nagai, U. Naumann, G. Neer, H. Niederhausen, S. C. Nowicki, D. R. Nygren, A. Obertacke Pollmann, M. Oehler, A. Olivas, A. O'Murchadha, E. O'Sullivan, T. Palczewski, H. Pandya, D. V. Pankova, N. Park, P. Peiffer, C. Pérez De Los Heros, S. Philippen, D. Pieloth, E. Pinat, A. Pizzuto, M. Plum, A. Porcelli, P. B. Price, G. T. Przybylski, C. Raab, A. Raissi, M. Rameez, L. Rauch, K. Rawlins, I. C. Rea, R. Reimann, B. Relethford, M. Renschler, G. Renzi, E. Resconi, W. Rhode, M. Richman, S. Robertson, M. Rongen, C. Rott, T. Ruhe, D. Ryckbosch, D. Rysewyk, I. Safa, S. E. Sanchez Herrera, A. Sandrock, J. Sandroos, M. Santander, S. Sarkar, K. Satalecka, M. Schaufel, H. Schieler, P. Schlunder, T. Schmidt, A. Schneider, J. Schneider, F. G. Schröder, L. Schumacher, S. Sclafani, D. Seckel, S. Seunarine, S. Shefali, M. Silva, R. Snihur, J. Soedingrekso, D. Soldin, M. Song, G. M. Spiczak, C. Spiering, J. Stachurska, M. Stamatikos, T. Stanev, R. Stein, P. Steinmüller, J. Stettner, A. Steuer, T. Stezelberger, R. G. Stokstad, A. Stößl, N. L. Strotjohann, T. Stürwald, T. Stuttard, G. W. Sullivan, I. Taboada, F. Tenholt, S. Ter-Antonyan, A. Terliuk, S. Tilav, K. Tollefson, L. Tomankova, C. Tönnis, S. Toscano, D. Tosi, A. Trettin, M. Tselengidou, C. F. Tung, A. Turcati, R. Turcotte, C. F. Turley, B. Ty, E. Unger, M. A. Unland Elorrieta, M. Usner, J. Vandenbroucke, W. Van Driessche, D. Van Eijk, N. Van Eijndhoven, S. Vanheule, J. Van Santen, M. Vraeghe, C. Walck, A. Wallace, M. Wallraff, N. Wandkowsky, T. B. Watson, C. Weaver, A. Weindl, M. J. Weiss, J. Weldert, C. Wendt, J. Werthebach, B. J. Whelan, N. Whitehorn, K. Wiebe, C. H. Wiebusch, L. Wille, D. R. Williams, L. Wills, M. Wolf, J. Wood, T. R. Wood, K. Woschnagg, G. Wrede, D. L. Xu, X. W. Xu, Y. Xu, J. P. Yanez, G. Yodh, S. Yoshida, T. Yuan, M. Zöcklein
  • University of Canterbury
  • German Electron Synchrotron
  • Université libre de Bruxelles
  • University of Copenhagen
  • Oskar Klein Centre
  • University of Geneva
  • Marquette University
  • Pennsylvania State University
  • Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • RWTH Aachen University
  • South Dakota School of Mines & Technology
  • Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
  • University of California at Irvine
  • Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
  • University of California at Berkeley
  • Ohio State University
  • University of Wuppertal
  • Ruhr University Bochum
  • University of Rochester
  • University of Maryland, College Park
  • University of Padua
  • University of Kansas
  • Moscow Engineering Physics Institute
  • Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
  • TU Dortmund University
  • Uppsala University
  • University of Wisconsin-Madison
  • University of Münster
  • Georgia Institute of Technology
  • Sungkyunkwan University
  • SNOLAB
  • University of Delaware
  • Vrije Universiteit Brussel
  • Ghent University
  • Humboldt University of Berlin
  • Michigan State University
  • Southern University and A&M College
  • Technical University of Munich
  • University of Alberta
  • Adelaide University
  • The University of Tokyo
  • Chiba University
  • Clark Atlanta University
  • University of Texas at Arlington
  • University of Alabama
  • Drexel University
  • University of Wisconsin-River Falls
  • Yale University
  • Mercer University
  • University of Alaska Anchorage
  • University of Oxford
  • University of California at Los Angeles
  • Stony Brook University

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

16 Scopus citations

Abstract

The measurement of diffuse PeV gamma-ray emission from the Galactic plane would provide information about the energy spectrum and propagation of Galactic cosmic rays, and the detection of a pointlike source of PeV gamma-rays would be strong evidence for a Galactic source capable of accelerating cosmic rays up to at least a few PeV. This paper presents several unbinned maximum-likelihood searches for PeV gamma-rays in the Southern Hemisphere using 5 yr of data from the IceTop air shower surface detector and the in-ice array of the IceCube Observatory. The combination of both detectors takes advantage of the low muon content and deep shower maximum of gamma-ray air showers and provides excellent sensitivity to gamma-rays between ∼0.6 and 100 PeV. Our measurements of pointlike and diffuse Galactic emission of PeV gamma-rays are consistent with the background, so we constrain the angle-integrated diffuse gamma-ray flux from the Galactic plane at 2 PeV to 2.61 × 10-19 cm-2 s-1 TeV-1 at 90% confidence, assuming an E -3 spectrum, and we estimate 90% upper limits on pointlike emission at 2 PeV between 10-21 and 10-20 cm-2 s-1 TeV-1 for an E -2 spectrum, depending on decl. Furthermore, we exclude unbroken power-law emission up to 2 PeV for several TeV gamma-ray sources observed by the High Energy Spectroscopic System and calculate upper limits on the energy cutoffs of these sources at 90% confidence. We also find no PeV gamma-rays correlated with neutrinos from IceCube's high-energy starting event sample. These are currently the strongest constraints on PeV gamma-ray emission.

Original languageEnglish
Article number9
JournalAstrophysical Journal
Volume891
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 1 2020

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Search for PeV Gamma-Ray Emission from the Southern Hemisphere with 5 Yr of Data from the IceCube Observatory'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this