Evidence for TeV Gamma-Ray Emission from the Galactic Plane
Abstract
Gamma-ray emission from a narrow band at the Galactic equator has previously been detected up to 30 GeV. We report evidence for a TeV gamma-ray signal from the Galactic plane by Milagro, a large field of view water Cherenkov detector for extensive air showers. An excess with a significance of 4.5 standard deviations has been observed from the region of Galactic longitude between 40 and 100 deg and latitude |b| < 5 deg. Under the assumption of a simple power law spectrum, with no cutoff, in the EGRET-Milagro energy range, the measured integral flux is phi(>3.5TeV) = (6.4 +/- 1.4 +/- 2.1) 10^{-11} cm^{-2}s^{-1} str^{-1}. This flux is consistent with an extrapolation of the EGRET spectrum between 1 and 30 GeV in this Galactic region.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0502303,
title = {Evidence for TeV Gamma-Ray Emission from the Galactic Plane},
author = {the Milagro Collaboration},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0502303},
year = {2012}
}
Comments
5 pages, 5 figures, revtex4.sty, revised version