2005/02/28 by R. Atkins, the Milagro Collaboration, W. Benbow +35 · 80 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Cherenkov radiation #Cosmic ray #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #Detector #Egret #Extrapolation #Flux (metallurgy) #Galactic plane #Galaxy #Gamma ray #Neutrino Physics Research #Optics #Physics #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.95.251103
published in Physical Review Letters 95(25), 251103 (American Physical Society) · 5 pages, 5 figures, revtex4.sty, revised version
arxiv created 2005/08/27 · openalex publication_date 2005/12/16 · arxiv updated 2012/08/27 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
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 a region of 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 l\ensuremath∈(40\ifmmode^∘\else\textdegree\fi,100\ifmmode^∘\else\textdegree\fi) and latitude |b|<5\ifmmode^∘\else\textdegree\fi. Under the assumption of a simple power law spectrum, with no cutoff in the EGRET-Milagro energy range, the measured integral flux is \ensuremathφ_\ensuremathγ(>3.5 TeV)=(6.4\ifmmode±\else\textpm\fi1.4\ifmmode±\else\textpm\fi2.1)\ifmmode×\else\texttimes\fi10^\ensuremath-11 cm^\ensuremath-2 s^\ensuremath-1 sr^\ensuremath-1. This flux is consistent with an extrapolation of the EGRET spectrum between 1 and 30 GeV in this galactic region.