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Abstract: The distribution of ultra-high-energy cosmic-ray arrival directions appears to be nearly isotropic except for a dipole moment of order 6×(E/10 EeV) per cent. Nonetheless, at the highest energies, as the number of possible candidate sources within the propagation horizon and the magnetic deflections both shrink, smaller-scale anisotropies might be expected to emerge. On the other hand, the flux suppression reduces the statistics available for searching for such anisotropies. In this work, we consider two different lists of candidate sources: a sample of nearby starburst galaxies and the 2MRS catalog tracing stellar mass within 250 Mpc. We combine surface-detector data collected at the Pierre Auger Observatory until 2020 and the Telescope Array until 2019, and use them to test models in which UHECRs comprise an isotropic background and a foreground originating from the candidate sources and randomly deflected by magnetic fields. The free parameters of these models are the energy threshold, the signal fraction, and the search angular scale. We find a correlation between the arrival directions of 11.8%+5.0%−3.1% of cosmic rays detected with E≥38 EeV by Auger or with E≳49 EeV by TA and the position of nearby starburst galaxies on a 15.5∘+5.3∘−3.2∘ angular scale, with a 4.2σ post-trial significance, as well as a weaker correlation with the overall galaxy distribution.
Keywords: Pierre Auger Observatory, Telescope Array, indirect detection, surface detection, ground array, ultra-high energy, cosmic rays, anisotropy, full-sky, starburst galaxies, source correlations, dipole
Published in RUNG: 04.10.2023; Views: 255; Downloads: 4
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Abstract: Dark matter (DM) is one of the major components in the Universe. However, at present its existence is still only inferred through indirect astronomical observations. DM particles can annihilate or decay, producing final-state Standard Model pairs that subsequently annihilate into high-energy �-rays. The dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs) in the Milky Way DM halo have long been considered optimal targets to search for annihilating DM signatures in GeV-to-TeV �-ray spectra due to their high DM densities (hence high astrophysical factors), as well as the expected absence of intrinsic �-ray emission of astrophysical origin. For such targets, it is important to compute the amount of DM in their halos in a consistent way to optimize the �-ray data analysis. Such estimates directly affect the observability of DM signals in dSphs, as well as the DM constraints that can be derived in case of null detection. In this contribution, we present the results on the sensitivity of the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) for DM annihilation and decay searches using planned observations of the Milky Way dSphs. We select the most promising targets among all presently known dwarf satellites, providing new determinations of their expected DM signal. This study shows an improvement of approximately an order of magnitude in sensitivity compared to current searches in similar targets. We also discuss the results in terms of cuspy and cored DM models, and investigate the sensitivity obtained by the combination of observations from different dSphs. Finally, we explore the optimal strategies for CTA observations of dSphs.
Keywords: Cherenkov Telescope Array, CTA, Dark matter, Standard Model, dwarf spheroidal galaxies
Published in RUNG: 26.09.2023; Views: 265; Downloads: 4
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Abstract: This study investigates low luminosity Fanaroff-Riley Type 0 (FR0) radio galaxies as a potentially significant source of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs). Due to their much higher prevalence in the local universe compared to more powerful radio galaxies (about five times more than FR-1s), FR0s may provide a substantial fraction of the total UHECR energy density. To determine the nucleon composition and energy spectrum of UHECRs emitted by FR0 sources, simulation results from CRPropa3 are fit to Pierre Auger Observatory data. The resulting emission spectral indices, rigidity cutoffs, and nucleon fractions are compared to recent Auger results. The FR0 simulations include the approximately isotropic distribution of FR0 galaxies and various intergalactic magnetic field configurations (including random and structured fields) and predict the fluxes of secondary photons and neutrinos produced during UHECR propagation through cosmic photon backgrounds. This comprehensive simulation allows for investigating the properties of the FR0 sources using observational multi-messenger data.
Keywords: ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs), UHECR propagation, CRPropa, active galactic nuclei (AGN), jetted AGN, FR0 radio galaxies, Pierre Auger Observatory, UHECR energy spectrum, UHECR mass composition
Published in RUNG: 24.08.2023; Views: 325; Downloads: 4
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Keywords: accretion, accretion discs, tidal disruption events, transients, galaxies, supermassive black holesc
Published in RUNG: 15.05.2023; Views: 689; Downloads: 0
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Abstract: We analyze 11 years of Fermi-Large Area Telescope (LAT) data corresponding to the sky regions of seven dwarf irregular (dIrr) galaxies. DIrrs are dark matter (DM)-dominated systems, proposed as interesting targets for the indirect search of DM with gamma rays. The galaxies represent interesting cases with a strong disagreement between the density profiles (core versus cusp) inferred from observations and numerical simulations. In this work, we addressed the problem by considering two different DM profiles, based on both the fit to the rotation curve (in this case, a Burkert cored profile) and results from N-body cosmological simulations (i.e., Navarro-Frenk-White cuspy profile). We also include halo substructure in our analysis, which is expected to boost the DM signal by a factor of 10 in halos such as those of dIrrs. For each DM model and dIrr, we create a spatial template of the expected DM-induced gamma-ray signal to be used in the analysis of Fermi-LAT data. No significant emission is detected from any of the targets in our sample. Thus, we compute upper limits on the DM annihilation cross section versus mass parameter space. Among the seven dIrrs, we find IC10 and NGC6822 to yield the most stringent individual constraints, independently of the adopted DM profile. We also produce combined DM limits for all objects in the sample, which turn out to be dominated by IC10 for all DM models and annihilation channels, i.e., b¯b, τ+τ−, and W+W−. The strongest constraints are obtained for b¯b and are at the level of <σv>∼7×10−26 cm3 s−1 at mχ ∼ 6 GeV. Though these limits are a factor of ∼3 higher than the thermal relic cross section at low weakly interacting massive particles masses, they are independent from and complementary to those obtained by means of other targets.
Keywords: Dark matter, gamma-ray astronomy, galaxies, astronomical masses and mass distributions
Published in RUNG: 26.01.2023; Views: 631; Downloads: 0
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