MAGIC Observations of the Diffuse Γ-Ray Emission in the Vicinity of the Galactic Center? MAGIC Collaboration: V

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

MAGIC Observations of the Diffuse Γ-Ray Emission in the Vicinity of the Galactic Center? MAGIC Collaboration: V A&A 642, A190 (2020) Astronomy https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201936896 & c MAGIC Collaboration 2020 Astrophysics MAGIC observations of the diffuse γ-ray emission in the vicinity of the Galactic center? MAGIC Collaboration: V. A. Acciari1,2, S. Ansoldi3,24, L. A. Antonelli4, A. Arbet Engels5, D. Baack6, A. Babic´7, B. Banerjee8, U. Barres de Almeida9, J. A. Barrio10, J. Becerra González1,2, W. Bednarek11, L. Bellizzi12, E. Bernardini13,17, A. Berti14, J. Besenrieder15, W. Bhattacharyya13, C. Bigongiari4, A. Biland5, O. Blanch16, G. Bonnoli12, Ž. Bošnjak7, G. Busetto17, R. Carosi18, G. Ceribella15, Y. Chai15, A. Chilingaryan19, S. Cikota7, S. M. Colak16, U. Colin15, E. Colombo1,2, J. L. Contreras10, J. Cortina20, S. Covino4, V. D’Elia4, P. Da Vela18, F. Dazzi4, A. De Angelis17, B. De Lotto3, M. Delfino16,27, J. Delgado16,27, D. Depaoli14, F. Di Pierro14, L. Di Venere14, E. Do Souto Espiñeira16, D. Dominis Prester7, A. Donini3, D. Dorner21, M. Doro17, D. Elsaesser6, V. Fallah Ramazani22, A. Fattorini6, A. Fernández-Barral17, G. Ferrara4, D. Fidalgo10, L. Foffano17, M. V. Fonseca10, L. Font23, C. Fruck15;??, S. Fukami24, R. J. García López1,2, M. Garczarczyk13, S. Gasparyan19, M. Gaug23, N. Giglietto14, F. Giordano14, N. Godinovic´7, D. Green15, D. Guberman16, D. Hadasch24, A. Hahn15, J. Herrera1,2, J. Hoang10, D. Hrupec7, M. Hütten15, T. Inada24, S. Inoue24, K. Ishio15, Y. Iwamura24;??, L. Jouvin16, D. Kerszberg16, H. Kubo24, J. Kushida24, A. Lamastra4, D. Lelas7, F. Leone4, E. Lindfors22, S. Lombardi4, F. Longo3,28, M. López10, R. López-Coto17, A. López-Oramas1,2, S. Loporchio14, B. Machado de Oliveira Fraga9, C. Maggio23, P. Majumdar8, M. Makariev25, M. Mallamaci17, G. Maneva25, M. Manganaro7, K. Mannheim21, L. Maraschi4, M. Mariotti17, M. Martínez16, S. Masuda24, D. Mazin15,24, S. Micanovi´ c´7, D. Miceli3, M. Minev25, J. M. Miranda12, R. Mirzoyan15, E. Molina26, A. Moralejo16, D. Morcuende10, V. Moreno23, E. Moretti16, P. Munar-Adrover23, V. Neustroev22, C. Nigro13, K. Nilsson22, D. Ninci16, K. Nishijima24, K. Noda24, L. Nogués16, M. Nöthe6, S. Nozaki24, S. Paiano17, J. Palacio16, M. Palatiello3, D. Paneque15, R. Paoletti12, J. M. Paredes26, P. Peñil10, M. Peresano3, M. Persic3,29, P. G. Prada Moroni18, E. Prandini17, I. Puljak7, W. Rhode6, M. Ribó26, J. Rico16, C. Righi4, A. Rugliancich18, L. Saha10, N. Sahakyan19, T. Saito24, S. Sakurai24, K. Satalecka13, K. Schmidt6, T. Schweizer15, J. Sitarek11, I. Šnidaric´7, D. Sobczynska11, A. Somero1,2, A. Stamerra4, D. Strom15, M. Strzys15,24;??, Y. Suda15, T. Suric´7, M. Takahashi24, F. Tavecchio4, P. Temnikov25, T. Terzic´7, M. Teshima15,24, N. Torres-Albà26, L. Tosti14, S. Tsujimoto24, V. Vagelli14, J. van Scherpenberg15, G. Vanzo1,2, M. Vazquez Acosta1,2, C. F. Vigorito14, V. Vitale14, I. Vovk15,24;??, M. Will15, and D. Zaric´7 (Affiliations can be found after the references) Received 11 October 2019 / Accepted 24 May 2020 ABSTRACT Aims. In the presence of a sufficient amount of target material, γ-rays can be used as a tracer in the search for sources of Galactic cosmic rays (CRs). Here we present deep observations of the Galactic center (GC) region with the MAGIC telescopes and use them to infer the underlying CR distribution and to study the alleged PeV proton accelerator at the center of our Galaxy. Methods. We used data from ≈100 h observations of the GC region conducted with the MAGIC telescopes over five years (from 2012 to 2017). Those were collected at high zenith angles (58−70 deg), leading to a larger energy threshold, but also an increased effective collection area compared to low zenith observations. Using recently developed software tools, we derived the instrument response and background models required for extracting the diffuse emission in the region. We used existing measurements of the gas distribution in the GC region to derive the underlying distribution of CRs. We present a discussion of the associated biases and limitations of such an approach. Results. We obtain a significant detection for all four model components used to fit our data (Sgr A*, “Arc”, G0.9+0.1, and an extended component for the Galactic Ridge). We observe no significant difference between the γ-ray spectra of the immediate GC surroundings, which we model as a point source (Sgr A*) and the Galactic Ridge. The latter can be described as a power-law with index 2 and an exponential cut-off at around 20 TeV with the significance of the cut-off being only 2σ. The derived cosmic-ray profile hints to a peak at the GC position and with a measured profile index of 1:2 ± 0:3 is consistent with the 1=r radial distance scaling law, which supports the hypothesis of a CR accelerator at the GC. We argue that the measurements of this profile are presently limited by our knowledge of the gas distribution in the GC vicinity. Key words. gamma rays: general – gamma rays: ISM – Galaxy: center – cosmic rays ? Tables and sky maps are only available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/642/A190 ?? Corresponding authors: Christian Fruck, Ievgen Vovk, Yuki Iwamura and Marcel Strzys (e-mail: [email protected]). A190, page 1 of9 Open Access article, published by EDP Sciences, under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Open Access funding provided by Max Planck Society. A&A 642, A190 (2020) 1. Introduction The telescopes record flashes of Cherenkov light produced by extensive air showers (EAS) initiated in the upper atmosphere The Galactic center (GC) is one of the most extraordinary by γ-ray photons within a field of view of 1:5◦ (in radius). Both regions in the very high energy (VHE, >100 GeV) γ-ray sky, telescopes are operated together in a coincidence trigger stereo- containing a rich variety of sources capable of accelerating scopic mode, in which only events that simultaneously trigger charged particles and thereby producing VHE γ-ray emission both telescopes are recorded and analyzed (Aleksic´ et al. 2016). (van Eldik 2015; Aharonian et al. 2006a; H.E.S.S. Collaboration For low-zenith distance observations and for E > 220 GeV, the 2006). If those γ-rays are produced in hadronic interactions, integral sensitivity of MAGIC is (0:66 ± 0:03)% in units of the their sources may also contribute to the overall cosmic-ray “sea” Crab Nebula flux (C.U.) for 50 h of observation (Aleksic´ et al. filling the region with energized charged particles. This sea of 2016). At larger zenith angles (above 60◦), at which the GC cosmic rays (CRs) is believed to be responsible for the diffuse is observable at La Palma, the MAGIC collection area reaches Galactic plane emission detected by EGRET (Hunter et al. 1997) 1 km2 at the energies above 10 TeV (Ahnen et al. 2017a). and later studied by Fermi/LAT (Abdo et al. 2010), as well as MAGIC observations of the GC region which we used for the central γ-ray ridge detected with all major Imaging Atmo- this study were carried out between April 2012 and May 2017 spheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs, H.E.S.S. Collaboration (typically from March to July). The observation time after qual- 2006; Archer et al. 2016; Ahnen et al. 2017a). The detected γ- ity selection cuts is ≈100 h. The data were taken in the so-called rays originate primarily from deep inelastic nuclear interactions “Wobble” mode (Fomin et al. 1994), centered on Sgr A* with a of the high-energetic particles with the surrounding gas, which pointing offset of 0:4◦. can also be traced via its emission in the radio band (CS emis- The acquired data were processed with the standard MAGIC sion, Tsuboi et al. 1999; CO emission, Oka et al. 1998). Thus, Analysis and Reconstruction Software (MARS, Zanin et al. deep γ-ray observations in the TeV energy range can be used to 2013). The steps involved include the selection of good data infer the underlying CR density, provided that the gas distribu- quality periods, low-level processing of camera images, calcula- tion is reliably measured. tion of image parameters, and the reconstruction of the energy This idea has been applied in earlier studies using observa- and incoming direction of the primary γ-rays. The last step ≈± ◦ tions of the central 1 region (in latitude) of the Galaxy (cor- is performed using the machine learning technique Random ≈ responding to 300 pc at a distance of 8.5 kpc) with the High Forests (Albert et al. 2008), where Monte Carlo events and real Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.), suggesting an inhomo- background data are used for training. This technique is also geneous distribution of CRs around the GC (Aharonian et al. used for background suppression through event classification. 2006b; H.E.S.S. Collaboration 2016, 2018). Furthermore, those At the quality selection step, we removed events correspond- data indicate that the central super-massive black hole of our 15 ing to known temporary hardware issues or recorded during bad Galaxy may itself accelerate particles to PeV (10 eV) energies. weather periods. As the full data sample contains some nights Observing the GC region with the MAGIC telescopes is only with weak moonlight, we also excluded time periods with sky possible at large zenith distances (>58◦), implying an increased brightness &2:5 times the typical dark night sky brightness. Data optical thickness of the atmosphere and larger distance to the recorded with higher sky brightness lead to biases when ana- shower maximum, which leads to a stronger dilution of the lyzed with the same pipeline that is used for data that has been Cherenkov light.
Recommended publications
  • Active Galactic Nuclei: a Brief Introduction
    Active Galactic Nuclei: a brief introduction Manel Errando Washington University in St. Louis The discovery of quasars 3C 273: The first AGN z=0.158 2 <latexit sha1_base64="4D0JDPO4VKf1BWj0/SwyHGTHSAM=">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</latexit> <latexit sha1_base64="H7Rv+ZHksM7/70841dw/vasasCQ=">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</latexit> The power source of quasars • The luminosity (L) of quasars, i.e. how bright they are, can be as high as Lquasar ~ 1012 Lsun ~ 1040 W. • The energy source of quasars is accretion power: - Nuclear fusion: 2 11 1 ∆E =0.007 mc =6 10 W s g−
    [Show full text]
  • The Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory Comes of Age
    The Organisation DOI: 10.18727/0722-6691/5194 The Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory Comes of Age Federico Ferrini 1 Conceived around a decade ago by a the detection of a clear signal from Wolfgang Wild 1, 2 group of scientists, we are now on the the Crab nebula above 1 TeV with the cusp of constructing the largest observa- Whipple 10-m imaging atmospheric tory to study the gamma-ray Universe. Cherenkov telescope (IACT). Since then, 1 CTAO, Heidelberg (DE) and Bologna (IT) Here we present a short look back at the the instrumentation for, and techniques 2 ESO evolution and recent matu ration of the of, astronomy with IACTs have evolved CTA project, as well as an outline of our to the extent that a flourishing new scien- expectations for the near future. A com- tific discipline has been established, with The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is prehensive introduction to CTA, including the detection of more than 150 sources the next-generation ground-based the detection technique, its history, the and a major impact in astrophysics — observatory for gamma-ray astronomy extraordinary improvements with respect and, more widely, in physics. The current at very high energies. With up to 120 to previous experimental facilities, and the major arrays of IACTs (the High Energy telescopes on two sites, CTA will be the scientific objectives has been provided by Stereoscopic System [H.E.S.S.], the world’s largest and most sensitive Werner Hofmann, Spokesperson of the Major Atmospheric Gamma Imaging high-energy gamma-ray observatory CTA Consortium (Hofmann, 2017). Cherenkov Telescope [MAGIC], and the covering the entire sky.
    [Show full text]
  • Antimatter Gravity and the Universe Dragan Hajdukovic
    Antimatter gravity and the Universe Dragan Hajdukovic To cite this version: Dragan Hajdukovic. Antimatter gravity and the Universe. Modern Physics Letters A, World Scientific Publishing, 2019, 10.1142/S0217732320300013. hal-02106808v3 HAL Id: hal-02106808 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02106808v3 Submitted on 21 Nov 2019 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. 1 Brief Review Antimatter gravity and the Universe Dragan Slavkov Hajdukovic Institute of Physics, Astrophysics and Cosmology Crnogorskih junaka 172, Cetinje, Montenegro [email protected] Abstract: The aim of this brief review is twofold. First, we give an overview of the unprecedented experimental efforts to measure the gravitational acceleration of antimatter; with antihydrogen, in three competing experiments at CERN (AEGIS, ALPHA and GBAR), and with muonium and positronium in other laboratories in the world. Second, we present the 21st Century’s attempts to develop a new model of the Universe with the assumed gravitational repulsion between matter and antimatter; so far, three radically different and incompatible theoretical paradigms have been proposed. Two of these 3 models, Dirac-Milne Cosmology (that incorporates CPT violation) and the Lattice Universe (based on CPT symmetry), assume a symmetric Universe composed of equal amounts of matter and antimatter, with antimatter somehow “hidden” in cosmic voids; this hypothesis produced encouraging preliminary results.
    [Show full text]
  • Very High Energy Gamma Ray Observations with the MAGIC Telescope (A Biased Selection)
    Very High Energy Gamma Ray Observations with the MAGIC Telescope (a biased selection) Nepomuk Otte for the MAGIC collaboration • Imaging air shower Cherenkov technique – The MAGIC telescope • Observation of the AGN 3c279 • Observation of Neutron Stars with MAGIC • The Crab nebula and Pulsar (young pulsar) [astro-ph/0705.3244] • PSR B1951+32 (middle aged pulsar) [astro-ph/0702077] • PSR B1957+20 (millisecond pulsar) • LS I 61+303 [Science 2006] • Where to go next? A. Nepomuk Otte Max-Planck-Institut für Physik / Humboldt Universität Berlin 2 The non-thermal universe in VHE gamma-rays SNRs Pulsars Micro quasars AGNs and PWN X-ray binaries GRBs Origin of Space-time cosmic rays Dark matter & relativity Cosmology A. Nepomuk Otte Max-Planck-Institut für Physik / Humboldt Universität Berlin 3 VHE gamma-ray sources status ICRC 2007 71 known sources detections from ground Rowell A. Nepomuk Otte Max-Planck-Institut für Physik / Humboldt Universität Berlin 4 Imaging Air Cherenkov Technique Cherenkov light image of particle shower Gamma in telescope camera ray Particle ~ 10 km • fast light flash (nanoseconds) shower • 100 photons per m² (1 TeV Gamma Ray) t h g o li ~ 1 v o k n e r e h C reconstruct: ~ 120 m arrival direction, energy reject hadron background A. Nepomuk Otte Max-Planck-Institut für Physik / Humboldt Universität Berlin 5 CurrentCurrent generationgeneration CherenkovCherenkov telescopestelescopes MAGIC Veritas MAGIC (Germany, Spain, Italy) VERITAS 1 telescope 17 meters Ø (USA & England) 4 (7) telescopes Montosa 10 meters Ø Canyon, Roque de Arizona los Muchachos, Canary Islands CANGAROO III Cangaroo(Australia III & Japan) 4 telescopes 10 meters Ø H.E.S.S.
    [Show full text]
  • Pos(ICRC2021)788
    ICRC 2021 THE ASTROPARTICLE PHYSICS CONFERENCE ONLINE ICRC 2021Berlin | Germany THE ASTROPARTICLE PHYSICS CONFERENCE th Berlin37 International| Germany Cosmic Ray Conference 12–23 July 2021 Very-high-energy gamma-ray emission from GRB 201216C detected by MAGIC Satoshi Fukami,0,∗ Alessio Berti,1 Serena Loporchio,2 Yusuke Suda,3 Lara Nava,4 PoS(ICRC2021)788 Koji Noda,0 Željka Bošnjak, 5 Katsuaki Asano0 and Francesco Longo6,ℎ on behalf of the MAGIC Collaboration† 0Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, The University of Tokyo, Kashiwanoha 5-1-5, Kashiwa, Japan 1Max Planck Institut for Physics,Föhringer Ring 6, Munich, Germany 2INFN MAGIC Group: INFN Sezione di Bari and Dipartimento Interateneo di Fisica dell’Università e del Politecnico di Bari, I-70125, Bari, Italy 3Physics Program, Graduate School of Advanced Science and Engineering, Hiroshima University, 739-8526 Hiroshima, Japan 4National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF), Street number, Merate, Italy 5 Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia 6University of Trieste, Department of Physics, via Valerio 2, Trieste, Italy ℎINFN, Sezione di Trieste, via Valerio 2, Trieste, Italy E-mail: [email protected] Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are the most energetic phenomena in the Universe. Many aspects of GRB physics are still under debate, such as the origin of their gamma-ray emission above the GeV energy range. In 2019, MAGIC detected TeV gamma rays from the long GRB 190114C, whose emission can be well explained by synchrotron-self Compton emission by relativistic electrons. However, it is still unclear whether such a process is common in GRBs, given the reduced number of GRBs detected until now at the very high energies (VHE).
    [Show full text]
  • The Cherenkov Telescope Array Science Goals and Current Status
    EPJ Web of Conferences 209, 01038 (2019) https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf /201920901038 RICAP-18 1 The Cherenkov Telescope Array 2 Science Goals and Current Status 1,a 2,b 3 The CTA Consortium , represented by Rene A. Ong 1 4 See https://www.cta-observatory.org/consortium_authors/authors_2018_09.html 2 5 Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles CA, 90095, USA 6 7 Abstract. The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is the major ground-based gamma-ray 8 observatory planned for the next decade and beyond. Consisting of two large atmospheric 9 Cherenkov telescope arrays (one in the southern hemisphere and one in the northern 10 hemisphere), CTA will have superior angular resolution, a much wider energy range, and 11 approximately an order of magnitude improvement in sensitivity, as compared to existing 12 instruments. The CTA science programme will be rich and diverse, covering cosmic 13 particle acceleration, the astrophysics of extreme environments, and physics frontiers 14 beyond the Standard Model. This paper outlines the science goals for CTA and covers 15 the current status of the project. 16 1 Introduction 17 The field of very high-energy gamma-ray (VHE, E > 20 GeV) astronomy has come of age in recent 18 years, due to a wealth of information from both ground-based and space-borne telescopes. Prior to 19 2000, the general expectation for the field was to detect the accelerators of the high-energy cosmic 20 rays, most likely supernova remnants (SNRs). However, the reality over the last two decades has 21 been the discovery of an astonishing variety of VHE gamma-ray sources, both within the Milky Way, 22 e.g.
    [Show full text]
  • The Future of Gamma-Ray Astronomy Jürgen Knödlseder
    The future of gamma-ray astronomy Jürgen Knödlseder To cite this version: Jürgen Knödlseder. The future of gamma-ray astronomy. Comptes rendus Physique, Gamma-ray astronomy, Volume 2, 17 (6), pp.663-678, 2016, 10.1016/j.crhy.2016.04.008. hal-01381811 HAL Id: hal-01381811 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01381811 Submitted on 28 Apr 2020 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Astrophysics The future of gamma-ray astronomy J¨urgenKn¨odlseder IRAP, 9 avenue du Colonel Roche 31028 Toulouse Cedex 4, France Received *****; accepted after revision +++++ Abstract The field of gamma-ray astronomy has experienced impressive progress over the last decade. Thanks to the advent of a new generation of imaging air Cherenkov telescopes (H.E.S.S., MAGIC, VERITAS) and thanks to the launch of the Fermi-LAT satellite, several thousand gamma-ray sources are known today, revealing an unexpected ubiquity of particle acceleration processes in the Universe. Major scientific challenges are still ahead, such as the identification of the nature of Dark Matter, the discovery and understanding of the sources of cosmic rays, or the comprehension of the particle acceleration processes that are at work in the various objects.
    [Show full text]
  • An Interacting Molecular Cloud Scenario for Production of Gamma
    An interacting molecular cloud scenario for production of gamma-rays and neutrinos from MAGIC J1835−069, and MAGIC J1837−073 Prabir Banik∗ and Arunava Bhadra† High Energy and Cosmic Ray Research Centre, University of North Bengal, Siliguri 734013, India Recently the MAGIC telescope observed three TeV gamma-ray extended sources in the galactic plane in the neighborhood of radio SNR G24.7+0.6. Among them, the PWN HESS J1837−069 was detected earlier by the HESS observatory during its first galactic plane survey. The other two sources, MAGIC J1835−069 and MAGIC J1837−073 are detected for the first time at such high energies. Here we shall show that the observed gamma-rays from the SNR G24.7+0.6 and the HESS J1837−069 can be explained in terms of hadronic interactions of the PWN/SNR accelerated cosmic rays with the ambient matter. We shall further demonstrate that the observed gamma-rays from the MAGIC J1837−073 can be interpreted through hadronic interactions of runaway cosmic- rays from PWN HESS J1837−069 with the molecular cloud at the location of MAGIC J1837−073. No such association has been found between MAGIC J1835−069 and SNR G24.7+0.6 or PWN HESS J1837−069. We have examined the maximum energy attainable by cosmic-ray particles in the SNR G24.7+0.6/ PWN HESS J1837−069 and the possibility of their detection with future gamma-ray telescopes. The study of TeV neutrino emissions from the stated sources suggests that the HESS J1837−069 should be detected by IceCube Gen-2 neutrino telescope in a few years of observation.
    [Show full text]
  • MAGIC Multiwavelength Observations: Policy, and Some
    MAGIC multiwavelength observations: policy, and some recent results Alessandro De Angelis Universit`adi Udine, INFN and INAF, Italy, and IST, Lisboa, Portugal on behalf of the MAGIC Collaboration Email: [email protected] Abstract— MAGIC, 17 meters of diameter, is the world’s largest single dish Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescope, and reaches in the analysis the lowest energy threshold (60 GeV) among the VHE gamma detectors. Completed in September 2004, MAGIC started full operation with its first cycle of data taking in February 2005. MAGIC observations in the galaxy cover, among others, supernova remnants, the Galactic Center and binary systems. The low threshold makes of MAGIC the IACT looking deepest in the Universe: the record of extragalactic sources detected includes Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) at z > 0.2. Here we discuss the present performance of MAGIC and the policy for the use of MAGIC data in multiwavelength campaigns. After a review of some recent highlights from MW studies, including the discovery of the most distant source ever detected (the AGN 3C279 at z ≃ 0.54), we present the expected performance of MAGIC after the inauguration of the second telescope, scheduled for September 21st, 2008. Multiwavelength studies are a key for the study of emission mechanisms from galactic and extragalactic sources, and Very-High Energy photon detectors are becoming crucial as the GLAST era approaches. Fig. 1. The MAGIC telescope in August 2004. I. INTRODUCTION The Major Atmospheric Gamma Imaging Cherenkov (MAGIC) telescope [1] is located on the Canary Island of related to fundamental physics (search for dark matter, study of La Palma and is the largest Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov anomalous dispersion relations for photons such as predicted Telescope (IACT) worldwide.
    [Show full text]
  • Science Case for a Wide Field-Of-View Very-High-Energy Gamma-Ray Observatory in the Southern Hemisphere
    Science Case for a Wide Field-of-View Very-High-Energy Gamma-Ray Observatory in the Southern Hemisphere A. Albert1, R. Alfaro2 H. Ashkar3, C. Alvarez4,4 J.Alvarez´ 5, J.C. Arteaga-Vel´azquez5, H. A. Ayala Solares6, R. Arceo4, J.A. Bellido7, S. BenZvi8, T. Bretz9, C.A. Brisbois10, A.M. Brown11, F. Brun3, K.S. Caballero-Mora4, A. Carosi12, A. Carrami~nana13, S. Casanova14;15, P.M. Chadwick11, G. Cotter16, S. Couti~no De Le´on13, P. Cristofari17;18, S. Dasso19;20, E. de la Fuente21, B.L. Dingus1,23 P. Desiati22, F. de O. Salles23, V. de Souza24, D. Dorner25, J. C. D´ıaz-V´elez21;22, J.A. Garc´ıa-Gonz´alez2, M. A. DuVernois22, G. Di Sciascio26, K. Engel27, H. Fleischhack10, N. Fraija28, S. Funk29, J-F. Glicenstein3, J. Gonzalez,30 M. M. Gonz´alez28, J. A. Goodman27, J. P. Harding1, A. Haungs31, J. Hinton15, B. Hona10, D. Hoyos32;33, P. Huentemeyer10, A. Iriarte34, A. Jardin-Blicq15, V. Joshi15, S. Kaufmann11, K. Kawata35, S. Kunwar15, J. Lefaucheur3, J.-P. Lenain36, K. Link31, R. L´opez-Coto37, V. Marandon15, M. Mariotti38, J. Mart´ınez-Castro39, H. Mart´ınez-Huerta24, M. Mostaf´a6, A. Nayerhoda14, L. Nellen32, E. de O~naWilhelmi40;41, R.D. Parsons15, B. Patricelli42;43, A. Pichel19, Q. Piel12, E. Prandini38, E. Pueschel41, S. Procureur3, A. Reisenegger44;45, C. Rivi`ere27, J. Rodriguez2;46, A. C. Rovero19, G. Rowell7, E. L. Ruiz-Velasco15, A. Sandoval2, M. Santander47, T. Sako35, T. K. Sako35, K. Satalecka41, H. Schoorlemmer15;?, F. Sch¨ussler3;?, M. Seglar-Arroyo3, A.
    [Show full text]
  • Letter of Intent: Antimatter Gravity Experiment (AGE) at Fermilab
    Version 2.0 February 6, 2009 Letter of Intent: Antimatter Gravity Experiment (AGE) at Fermilab Alex D. Cronin University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA Thomas J. Phillips∗ Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708, USA Mark Fischler, Alan Hahn, James T. Volk, G.P. Yeh Fermilab, Batavia, Illinois 60510, USA Rod G. Greaves First Point Scientific, Agoura Hills, California 91301, USA Stephen D. Howe, Gerald P. Jackson, Raymond Lewis, Joseph M. Zlotnicki Hbar Technologies, LLC, West Chicago, Illinois 60185, USA Daniel M. Kaplan, Thomas J. Roberts1, Jeff Terry Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, Illinois 60616, USA Glenn A. Horton-Smith, Bharat Ratra Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas 66506, USA Todd K. Pedlar Luther College, Decorah, Iowa 52101, USA H. Richard Gustafson University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA J. Boise Pearson NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Alabama, USA Thomas E. Coan Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas 75275, USA Mark G. Raizen University of Texas, Austin, Texas 78712, USA ∗Contact person; email: [email protected]. Abstract We propose to make the first direct measurement of the gravitational accelera- tion of antimatter by taking advantage of Fermilab's unique ability to accumulate large numbers of antiprotons. Such a measurement will be a fundamental test of gravity in a new regime, directly testing both the equivalence principle and the prediction of General Relativity that matter and antimatter behave identi- cally in the gravitational field of the earth. We propose to decelerate antiprotons in the Main Injector and transfer them into an antihydrogen-production Pen- ning trap. The antihydrogen will emerge from the trap in a low-velocity beam.
    [Show full text]
  • Antimatter Gravity and the Universe
    1 Brief Review Antimatter gravity and the Universe Dragan Slavkov Hajdukovic Institute of Physics, Astrophysics and Cosmology Crnogorskih junaka 172, Cetinje, Montenegro [email protected] Abstract: The aim of this brief review is twofold. First, we give an overview of the unprecedented experimental efforts to measure the gravitational acceleration of antimatter; with antihydrogen, in three competing experiments at CERN (AEGIS, ALPHA and GBAR), and with muonium and positronium in other laboratories in the world. Second, we present the 21st Century’s attempts to develop a new model of the Universe with the assumed gravitational repulsion between matter and antimatter; so far, three radically different and incompatible theoretical paradigms have been proposed. Two of these 3 models, Dirac-Milne Cosmology (that incorporates CPT violation) and the Lattice Universe (based on CPT symmetry), assume a symmetric Universe composed of equal amounts of matter and antimatter, with antimatter somehow “hidden” in cosmic voids; this hypothesis produced encouraging preliminary results. The heart of the third model is the hypothesis that quantum vacuum fluctuations are virtual gravitational dipoles; for the first time, this hypothesis makes possible and inevitable to include the quantum vacuum as a source of gravity. Standard Model matter is considered as the only content of the Universe, while phenomena usually attributed to dark matter and dark energy are explained as the local and global effects of the gravitational polarization of the quantum vacuum by the immersed baryonic matter. An additional feature is that we might live in a cyclic Universe alternatively dominated by matter and antimatter. In about three years, we will know if there is gravitational repulsion between matter and antimatter; a discovery that can forever change our understanding of the Universe.
    [Show full text]