Evidence of 100 TeV $\gamma$-ray emission from HESS J1702-420: A new PeVatron candidate
GIUNTI, L.
AstroParticule et Cosmologie [APC (UMR_7164)]
Institut de Recherches sur les lois Fondamentales de l'Univers [IRFU]
< Réduire
AstroParticule et Cosmologie [APC (UMR_7164)]
Institut de Recherches sur les lois Fondamentales de l'Univers [IRFU]
Langue
en
Article de revue
Ce document a été publié dans
Astronomy and Astrophysics - A&A. 2021, vol. 653, p. A152
EDP Sciences
Résumé en anglais
The identification of PeVatrons, hadronic particle accelerators reaching the knee of the cosmic ray spectrum (few $10^{15}$ eV), is crucial to understand the origin of cosmic rays in the Galaxy. We provide an update on the ...Lire la suite >
The identification of PeVatrons, hadronic particle accelerators reaching the knee of the cosmic ray spectrum (few $10^{15}$ eV), is crucial to understand the origin of cosmic rays in the Galaxy. We provide an update on the unidentified source HESS J1702-420, a promising PeVatron candidate. We present new observations of HESS J1702-420 made with the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.), and processed using improved analysis techniques. The analysis configuration was optimized to enhance the collection area at the highest energies. We applied a three-dimensional (3D) likelihood analysis to model the source region and adjust non thermal radiative spectral models to the $\gamma$-ray data. We also analyzed archival data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) to constrain the source spectrum at $\gamma$-ray energies >10 GeV. We report the detection of a new source component called HESS J1702-420A, that was separated from the bulk of TeV emission at a $5.4\sigma$ confidence level. The power law $\gamma$-ray spectrum of HESS J1702-420A extends with an index of $\Gamma=1.53\pm0.19_\text{stat}\pm0.20_\text{sys}$ and without curvature up to the energy band 64-113 TeV, in which it was detected by H.E.S.S. at a $4.0\sigma$ confidence level. This brings evidence for the source emission up to $100\,\text{TeV}$, which makes HESS J1702-420A a compelling candidate site for the presence of extremely high energy cosmic rays. Remarkably, in a hadronic scenario, the cut-off energy of the proton distribution powering HESS J1702-420A is found to be higher than 0.5 PeV at a 95% confidence level. HESS J1702-420A becomes therefore one of the most solid PeVatron candidates detected so far in H.E.S.S. data, altough a leptonic origin of its emission could not be ruled out either.< Réduire
Mots clés en anglais
cosmic radiation: spectrum
energy: high
p: energy
cosmic radiation: UHE
gamma ray: energy spectrum
dimension: 3
HESS
TeV
GLAST
acceleration
curvature
spectral
solids
galaxy
site
5/3
GeV
Origine
Importé de halUnités de recherche