Very High-Energy Gamma Ray by GAURANG B

Very High-Energy Gamma Ray by GAURANG B. YODH

THE VERY HIGH-ENERGY GAMMA RAY WINDOW ON THE UNIVERSE new generation of THE EARTH IS CONTINUOUSLY BOMBARDED by cosmic rays whose energy spectrum extends from a few GeV to 1011 GeV. gamma ray tele- After almost eighty years, since the discovery of cosmic radiation by Hess in 1912, the origin of cosmic rays is still not well scopes being built A understood. Understanding the nonthermal processes and throughout the world using air the environments that generate these high-energy particles is a fundamental problem in astrophysics. Gamma rays pro- Cerenkov and air shower tech- duced by the energetic collisions of particle beams in these sources can be rare messengers that provide important clues niques will be able to detect to understanding these energetic electromagnetic and nu- rare, very high -energy gamma clear processes. In this view, the sources of gamma rays of energies above about 100 GeV must be beams of charged par- rays from distant celestial ticles that have been accelerated to still higher energies. Some of the possible sources for energetic gamma ray production in- sources, thus enhancing our clude jets emerging from active galactic nuclei, the catastrophic understanding of cataclysmic collisions that seem to be responsible for gamma ray bursts, special radio galaxies, and the environments of rapidly spin- astrophysical events. ning neutron stars or supernova remnants. Even more exotic sources for these energetic gamma rays have been proposed, such as the annihilation of weakly interacting massive particles producing monochromatic gamma rays, and also the de- cay of cosmic strings left over from the Big Bang. Very high-energy (VHE) gamma ray astronomy is the observational science of measuring their flux, point of origin, energy spectra and temporal variations. These measurements provide the test bed for theoretical models of the astrophysical sources generating high energy particle beams, the nature of the medium in which they generate the gamma rays, and the

12 FALL/WINTER 1998 Detectors

properties of the background photons that can modify the source spectra of gamma rays during their transit to Earth. Specifically, VHE refers to energies above a few hundred GeV, which cor- − responds to wavelengths smaller than about 6×10 9 nanome- ters. The telescopes that are used to study VHE gamma rays − have to be sensitive to very small fluxes, typically 6×10 4 photons per square meter per hour. Considerable ingenuity is thus needed in designing telescopes to achieve believable detection of this very small flux. It is particularly important at the outset to emphasize a fundamental difference between particle showers that are initiated by gamma rays and those initiated by cosmic rays (most- ly protons). Protons and other electrically charged particles have their motion affected by galactic and intergalactic magnetic fields, which means that their arrival direction on Earth does not “point back” toward their source. This is not the case with the electrically neutral photons of gamma radiation, for which arrival direction does in fact correlate with source direction. Since about 1987, VHE astronomy has achieved the status of credible observational science with the unambiguous detection of two galactic and two extragalactic sources in the few hundred GeV to few TeV energy range by the atmospheric (or air) Cerenkov telescope (ACT) technique. These observations have provided excellent challenges to theoretical modelers of these sources. Typical energetic extragalactic sources observed by air Cerenkov telescopes are the two active galactic nuclei (AGN) blazars Markarian (Mrk) 421 and Mrk 501. Mrk 421 is at a distance of about 120 Mpc; its intrinsic luminosity in TeV gamma rays, if it is all beamed into a solid angle of

BEAM LINE 13 0.01 steradians, corresponds to a rel- instruments are limited in size, hav- ativistic mass conversion rate of ing a collecting area of only few more than one millionth of a solar square meters, and hence they be- mass per year! It is extremely effi- come insensitive to detection at en- cient in generating nonthermal gam- ergies above about 10 GeV, because The longitudinal and lateral development of a gamma ray shower in Earth’s ma radiation. Trevor Weekes of the the flux decreases so rapidly with atmosphere, which spreads the inﬂu- Whipple Observatory in Arizona has energy. Instead, we have to rely on ence of the single incident gamma ray described these observations as if the atmosphere to spread out the in- over a large area at the surface of the “we are looking down the barrel of a fluence of each individual gamma earth. The left illustration is the spread of gun, or a powerful cosmic jet, to see ray over a large area. The very high- the Cerenkov light pool, and at the right how it works.” energy gamma rays, coming from a is the spread of air shower particles. The distant source, interact in the up- Cerenkov light is collected by an optical light collector, and the air shower is NATURE’S GIFT per atmosphere and in so doing gen- sampled by a set of detectors spread erate a large splash or cascade of out on the ground. What makes it possible to detect particles, consisting mainly of elec- such small ﬂuxes? Most space-based trons and positrons and photons, which all move at or almost at the speed of light. This cascade process

Very High-Energy Very High-Energy serves two purposes: first, it trans- 12 Gamma Ray (10 eV) Gamma Ray (1012 eV) forms a single high-energy gamma ray into a very large number of fast- Nucleus Nucleus Electron-Positron Electron-Positron moving charged particles; and sec- Pair Pair ond, it spreads these particles out over a huge area. The relativistic particles gener- Secondary Secondary ate a flash of Cerenkov light, an Gamma Rays Gamma Rays electromagnetic shock wave which air Cerenkov telescopes (ACT) can detect. Those particles, both charged and neutral, that manage to pene- 20 trate down to ground level can be Kilometers detected by air shower telescopes Cerenkov (AST). Conversion of a single gam- Light ma ray into either a light flash or a particle swarm is shown schemat- ically in the illustration on the left. The effective collecting area for Cerenkov light is greater than 25 acres and for an air shower is greater than 2.5 acres at energies around Optical 1 TeV. Such large areas make it pos- Detector sible to detect the minute fluxes of these high energy gamma rays. ACT AST

14 FALL/WINTER 1998 CERENKOV AND AIR SHOWER TELESCOPES

Cerenkov Telescopes. The Cerenkov light pool reflects mainly the longitudinal development of the particle cascade. This light is detected by a Cerenkov telescope, which has a large optical mirror that is typically five or more meters in diameter. The Whipple telescope shown on the right is 10 meters in diameter (33 feet) and produces an image of the cascade in a high speed camera. The camera needs to be very fast because the Cerenkov flashes last only a few nanoseconds. These telescopes, like other optical instruments, are currently restricted to operating on dark nights and can point only at one source at a time. Typical observation times are a few hours each night. the shower, which is proportional to The Whipple Observatory 10 m optical Cerenkov imaging telescopes the energy of the primary gamma ray. collector and its imaging camera on have a powerful capability: they can Finally, the ACT technique has Mt. Hopkins in Arizona. The imaging discriminate against events generat- superior angular resolution, which camera consists of a cluster of photomultipliers that make a fine-grained ed by ordinary cosmic rays. Showers also makes it possible not only to re- image of the sharp Cerenkov light pulse. are produced not only by the gamma ject cosmic rays but also to study the (Courtesy Whipple Observatory) rays we desire to see but also by the spatial properties of sources that are much more copious cosmic rays. It not point-like. The Whipple tele- is therefore imperative to discrimi- scope has established the Crab Neb- nate against these cosmic ray back- ula as a standard candle and has been ground showers. This is done in the first to detect the two extra- imaging Cerenkov telescopes by re- galactic sources, the Blazars Mrk 421 quiring that the shape of the image and Mrk 501, mentioned previously. correspond to a gamma-initiated The limitations of imaging shower and not to a cosmic ray show- Cerenkov telescopes are that it is dif- er. This was first achieved by the ficult for them to observe more than Whipple collaboration at Mt. Hop- one source at a time, and they are not kins in Arizona. They are able to re- operative all the time as they require ject over 95 percent of cosmic ray dark nights. These difficulties are be- showers. One other advantage of the ing overcome through the use of a Cerenkov technique is that it can new AST technique that is ideally measure the total light generated by suited for continuous operation, day

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A new type of air shower telescope, called Milagro (or “miracle” in Spanish), is under construction at about 9000 feet in the Jemez moun- 8 m 50 m tains in New Mexico. It consists of a × × 80 m large pond (80m 60m 8m deep) of water that is instrumented with 840, Schematic cross section of the Milagro or night, and that can monitor the 8-inch photomultipliers (PMTs). As detector showing the two layers of pho- overhead sky. the showers produced by the desired tomultipliers (circles). The lighter circles Air shower telescopes. Conven- gamma rays as well as cosmic rays represent tubes that have responded to tional ground-based air shower hit the pond, they contain electrons, the Cerenkov light emitted by air shower positrons, MeV gamma rays, muons, particles traveling through water. Three telescopes consist of a collection of different kinds of air shower particles are detectors, such as scintillation coun- and hadrons. Upon entering the wa- indicated: electrons (positrons); MeV ters which respond to the passage ter, all of these particles produce gamma ray photons; and penetrating of charged particles spread out over Cerenkov light, which is then de- muons. The signals from all responding more than 2.5 acres. These counters tected by the photomultipliers. The PMTs are recorded—both time of hit and typically provide an active area cov- pond is encased in a light-tight bub- size of the pulse—from which the arrival erage of only about one percent. To ble (somewhat like a tennis court direction can be reconstructed. be able to detect showers produced bubble but black), so that the pond by TeV primaries, it is imperative to is sensitive day and night. It is fully build arrays at high altitudes as the sensitive over its entire area of 5000 maximum number of shower par- m2 or the size of a typical football ticles occurs high up in the atmos- field. A schematic of the cross sec- phere. One small array has been op- tion of Milagro is shown in the il- erating at Mt. Chacaltaya, Bolivia, at lustration above left. The pulse 17,000 feet for many years, ﬁrst start- height and time signals from these ed in the 1960s by George Clark of PMTs are recorded, and the event is For readers wishing to pursue very the Massachusetts Institute of Tech- reconstructed online to yield infor- high-energy gamma rays in more nology. mation about the energy of the detail, the following URLs may be A modern shower array dedicat- shower and the direction of the orig- helpful: ed to searching the skies for very inating particle. The performance of this instru- Whipple Telescope high-energy gamma rays is the Tibet http://egret.sao.arizona.edu/links.html Array, operating at about 14,000 feet ment has been tested in its first at Yanbajing, a few hours from Lhasa. phase, called Milagrito. It has been MAGIC This array is shown on pages 12 and operated for about a year and a half. http://hegra1.mppmu.mpg.de:8000/ 13. It has a threshold energy of a few The photographs on the next page il- MAGIC/ TeV. Particle showers from the air lustrate some of the features of this Milagro shower hitting the array are detected. novel telescope. http://umdgrb.umd.edu/~milagro/pro- These particles form a swarm that is The advantages of the Milagro ject_summary a few nano-lightseconds in thickness. telescope are that it is operational Veritas Hence by measuring the arrival time day and night; it views the entire http://pursn3.physics.purdue.edu/ver- and pulse heights of the responding overhead sky all the time; and it is itas/ detectors one can reconstruct the particularly suited to observation of STACEE content of the shower as well as its transients. When in full operation it http://hep.uchicago.edu/~stacee/ direction to an accuracy of about a will be sensitive down to a few hun- half of a degree. dred GeV, thus overlapping the

16 FALL/WINTER 1998 Jordan Goodman Jordan energy range of ACTs. With the ad- Certain ground based instruments Above left. The Milagro pond is enclosed in a dition of an array of water tanks out- are also being constructed to span light-tight inﬂated cover that can withstand the side the pond, Milagro will have sen- this energy gap. One example, called weather. It is possible to work under the cover for installation or maintenance activities. sitivity into the high energy range of STACEE, is being constructed in New Above right: A view of the Milagro volume under 10 to 100 TeV as well. At these higher Mexico using solar collectors at San- the cover. The structure is used to anchor the energies Milagro will have the dia Laboratories. A new proposal photomultipliers on a 3m× 3m grid. The photo- unique capability of detecting the from Germany, called MAGIC, would multipliers are attached to the grid by strings and muons that are produced only in cos- build a 17 m optical collector to im- rise to their required position by buoyancy force. mic ray showers. This will provide age the Cerenkov light from show- for cosmic ray rejection at higher en- ers in this energy range with an ad- increase the sensitivity for source ergies and a means of extending the vanced camera. A multiple imaging searches by over two orders of mag- energy spectrum into the region Cerenkov telescope is being con- nitude and lower the energy thresh- where a cutoff is expected to the ab- structed on Mount Abu in India. A old by a factor of about ten compared sorption of gamma rays in transit multiple mirror array of telescopes to those of currently operating ACT from source to Earth by ambient of the Whipple design, called Veritas, telescopes. This partial list of pro- background photons. is being vigorously pursued in the jects indicates that in the next decade U.S. under the leadership of the we should have gamma ray coverage WHERE ARE WE GOING WITH Whipple collaboration. A compari- of the high-energy universe from a VHE ASTRONOMY? son of light flux sensitivity, collec- few hundred MeV to 100 TeV. We can tion areas, and energy thresholds for look forward to providing much- The air Cerenkov and air shower ACT telescopes coming into opera- needed clues to understanding non- telescopes described here are not the tion or whose proposals are actively thermal energetic processes in the only ones that are currently being being pursued is given in the table Universe, and perhaps even the ques- constructed or proposed. These in- below. These instruments will tion of the origin of cosmic rays. struments are intended to explore Light ﬂux sensitivity, collection areas, and energy thresholds what we have currently defined as for some contemporary telescopes. the very high-energy gamma ray region. There remains an energy gap, Minimal Photon Flux Collector Area Energy Threshold 2 2 between 10 GeV and a few hundred Telescope (photons/m )(m) (GeV) GeV, that is still virgin territory. Whipple 98a 16 74 100 Satellite or space station-based in- Veritasb 10/telescope 9×74 60 struments, such as GLAST and AMS, MAGICc 1–2 234 20 are currently under development; STACEEc 2–5 Large 30–80 these will correspond to second aThe upgraded Whipple telescope will be operating in 1998. generation versions of the Comp- bProjects in proposal stage. c ton Gamma Ray Observatory and Currently under construction. should explore the 10 to 100 GeV sky.

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