Resolving the Extragalactic $\gamma$-Ray Background above 50 GeV with the Fermi Large Area Telescope
Langue
en
Article de revue
Ce document a été publié dans
Physical Review Letters. 2016, vol. 116, n° 15, p. 151105
American Physical Society
Résumé en anglais
The Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) Collaboration has recently released a catalog of 360 sources detected above 50 GeV (2FHL). This catalog was obtained using 80 months of data re-processed with Pass 8, the newest event-level ...Lire la suite >
The Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) Collaboration has recently released a catalog of 360 sources detected above 50 GeV (2FHL). This catalog was obtained using 80 months of data re-processed with Pass 8, the newest event-level analysis, which significantly improves the acceptance and angular resolution of the instrument. Most of the 2FHL sources at high Galactic latitude are blazars. Using detailed Monte Carlo simulations, we measure, for the first time, the source count distribution, dN/dS, of extragalactic γ-ray sources at E>50 GeV and find that it is compatible with a Euclidean distribution down to the lowest measured source flux in the 2FHL (∼8×10-12 ph cm-2 s-1). We employ a one-point photon fluctuation analysis to constrain the behavior of dN/dS below the source detection threshold. Overall, the source count distribution is constrained over three decades in flux and found compatible with a broken power law with a break flux, Sb, in the range [8×10-12,1.5×10-11] ph cm-2 s-1 and power-law indices below and above the break of α2∈[1.60,1.75] and α1=2.49±0.12, respectively. Integration of dN/dS shows that point sources account for at least 86-14+16% of the total extragalactic γ-ray background. The simple form of the derived source count distribution is consistent with a single population (i.e., blazars) dominating the source counts to the minimum flux explored by this analysis. We estimate the density of sources detectable in blind surveys that will be performed in the coming years by the Cherenkov Telescope Array.< Réduire
Mots clés en anglais
photon: fluctuation
flux: energy dependence
background
blazar: energy spectrum
Cherenkov Telescope Array
angular resolution
Monte Carlo
acceptance
Euclidean
gamma ray: emission
galaxy
GLAST
Origine
Importé de halUnités de recherche