Engineering topics

Favuzzi, C.

Publications and source records attributed to Favuzzi, C..

At least 19 records

DOE OSTI2018

Unresolved Gamma-Ray Sky through its Angular Power Spectrum

The gamma-ray sky has been observed with unprecedented accuracy in the last decade by the Fermi-large area telescope (LAT), allowing us to resolve and understand the high-energy Universe. The nature of the remaining unresolved emission [unresolved gamma-ray background (UGRB)] below the LAT source detection threshold can be uncovered by characterizing the amplitude and angular scale of the UGRB fluctuation field. This Letter presents a measurement of the UGRB autocorrelation angular power spectrum based on eight years of Fermi-LAT Pass 8 data products. The analysis is designed to be robust against contamination from resolved sources and noise systematics. The sensitivity to subthreshold sources is greatly enhanced with respect to previous measurements. We find evidence (with ~ 3.7σ significance) that the scenario in which two classes of sources contribute to the UGRB signal is favored over a single class. A double power law with exponential cutoff can explain the anisotropy energy spectrum well, with photon indices of the two populations being 2.55 ± 0.23 and 1.86 ± 0.15.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2018

VERITAS and Fermi -LAT Observations of TeV Gamma-Ray Sources Discovered by HAWC in the 2HWC Catalog

The High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) collaboration recently published their 2HWC catalog, listing 39 very high energy (VHE; >100 GeV) gamma-ray sources based on 507 days of observation. Among these, 19 sources are not associated with previously known teraelectronvolt (TeV) gamma-ray sources. We have studied 14 of these sources without known counterparts with VERITAS and Fermi-LAT. VERITAS detected weak gamma-ray emission in the 1 TeV–30 TeV band in the region of DA 495, a pulsar wind nebula coinciding with 2HWC J1953+294, confirming the discovery of the source by HAWC. Here, we did not find any counterpart for the selected 14 new HAWC sources from our analysis of Fermi-LAT data for energies higher than 10 GeV. During the search, we detected gigaelectronvolt (GeV) gamma-ray emission coincident with a known TeV pulsar wind nebula, SNR G54.1+0.3 (VER J1930+188), and a 2HWC source, 2HWC J1930+188. The fluxes for isolated, steady sources in the 2HWC catalog are generally in good agreement with those measured by imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes. However, the VERITAS fluxes for SNR G54.1+0.3, DA 495, and TeV J2032+4130 are lower than those measured by HAWC, and several new HAWC sources are not detected by VERITAS. This is likely due to a change in spectral shape, source extension, or the influence of diffuse emission in the source region.

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DOE OSTI2018

Investigating the Nature of Late-time High-energy GRB Emission through Joint Fermi / Swift Observations

Here, we use joint observations by the Swift X-ray Telescope (XRT) and the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) of gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglows to investigate the nature of the long-lived high-energy emission observed by Fermi LAT. Joint broadband spectral modeling of XRT and LAT data reveals that LAT nondetections of bright X-ray afterglows are consistent with a cooling break in the inferred electron synchrotron spectrum below the LAT and/or XRT energy ranges. Such a break is sufficient to suppress the high-energy emission so as to be below the LAT detection threshold. By contrast, LAT-detected bursts are best fit by a synchrotron spectrum with a cooling break that lies either between or above the XRT and LAT energy ranges. We speculate that the primary difference between GRBs with LAT afterglow detections and the nondetected population may be in the type of circumstellar environment in which these bursts occur, with late-time LAT detections preferentially selecting GRBs that occur in low wind-like circumburst density profiles. Furthermore, we find no evidence of high-energy emission in the LAT-detected population significantly in excess of the flux expected from the electron synchrotron spectrum fit to the observed X-ray emission. The lack of excess emission at high energies could be due to a shocked external medium in which the energy density in the magnetic field is stronger than or comparable to that of the relativistic electrons behind the shock, precluding the production of a dominant synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) component in the LAT energy range. Alternatively, the peak of the SSC emission could be beyond the 0.1–100 GeV energy range considered for this analysis.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2018

The Search for Spatial Extension in High-latitude Sources Detected by the Fermi Large Area Telescope

Here, we present a search for spatial extension in high-latitude ($| b| \gt 5^\circ $) sources in recent Fermi point source catalogs. The result is the Fermi High-Latitude Extended Sources Catalog, which provides source extensions (or upper limits thereof) and likelihood profiles for a suite of tested source morphologies. We find 24 extended sources, 19 of which were not previously characterized as extended. These include sources that are potentially associated with supernova remnants and star-forming regions. We also found extended γ-ray emission in the vicinity of the Cen A radio lobes and—at GeV energies for the first time—spatially coincident with the radio emission of the SNR CTA 1, as well as from the Crab Nebula. We also searched for halos around active galactic nuclei, which are predicted from electromagnetic cascades induced by the e + e – pairs that are deflected in intergalactic magnetic fields. These pairs are produced when γ-rays interact with background radiation fields. We do not find evidence for extension in individual sources or in stacked source samples. This enables us to place limits on the flux of the extended source components, which are then used to constrain the intergalactic magnetic field to be stronger than 3 × 10 –16 G for a coherence length λ ≳ 10 kpc, even when conservative assumptions on the source duty cycle are made. This improves previous limits by several orders of magnitude.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2018

Fermi-LAT Observations of LIGO/Virgo Event GW170817

We present the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) observations of the binary neutron star merger event GW170817 and the associated short gamma-ray burst (SGRB) GRB 170817A detected by the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor. The LAT was entering the South Atlantic Anomaly at the time of the LIGO/Virgo trigger (t GW ) and therefore cannot place constraints on the existence of high-energy (E > 100 MeV) emission associated with the moment of binary coalescence. We focus instead on constraining high-energy emission on longer timescales. No candidate electromagnetic counterpart was detected by the LAT on timescales of minutes, hours, or days after the LIGO/Virgo detection. The resulting flux upper bound (at 95% C.L.) from the LAT is 4.5 × 10 -10 erg cm -2 s -1 in the 0.1–1 GeV range covering a period from t GW + 1153 s to t GW + 2027 s. At the distance of GRB 170817A, this flux upper bound corresponds to a luminosity upper bound of 9.7 × 10 43 erg s -1 , which is five orders of magnitude less luminous than the only other LAT SGRB with known redshift, GRB 090510. We also discuss the prospects for LAT detection of electromagnetic counterparts to future gravitational-wave events from Advanced LIGO/Virgo in the context of GW170817/GRB 170817A.

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DOE OSTI2018

Search for Gamma-Ray Emission from Local Primordial Black Holes with the Fermi Large Area Telescope

Black holes with masses below approximately 10 15 g are expected to emit gamma-rays with energies above a few tens of MeV, which can be detected by the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT). Although black holes with these masses cannot be formed as a result of stellar evolution, they may have formed in the early universe and are therefore called primordial black holes (PBHs). Previous searches for PBHs have focused on either short-timescale bursts or the contribution of PBHs to the isotropic gamma-ray emission. We show that, in cases of individual PBHs, the Fermi-LAT is most sensitive to PBHs with temperatures above approximately 16 GeV and masses 6 × 10 11 g, which it can detect out to a distance of about 0.03 pc. These PBHs have a remaining lifetime of months to years at the start of the Fermi mission. They would appear as potentially moving point sources with gamma-ray emission that become spectrally harder and brighter with time until the PBH completely evaporates. In this paper, we develop a new algorithm to detect the proper motion of gamma-ray point sources, and apply it to 318 unassociated point sources at a high galactic latitude in the third Fermi-LAT source catalog. None of the unassociated point sources with spectra consistent with PBH evaporation show significant proper motion. Finally, using the nondetection of PBH candidates, we derive a 99% confidence limit on the PBH evaporation rate in the vicinity of Earth, ${\dot{\rho }}_{\mathrm{PBH}}\lt 7.2\times {10}^{3}\ {\mathrm{pc}}^{-3}\,{\mathrm{yr}}^{-1}$. This limit is similar to the limits obtained with ground-based gamma-ray observatories.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2017

3FHL: The Third Catalog of Hard Fermi -LAT Sources

We present a catalog of sources detected above 10 GeV by the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) in the first 7 years of data using the Pass 8 event-level analysis. This is the Third Catalog of Hard Fermi -LAT Sources (3FHL), containing 1556 objects characterized in the 10 GeV–2 TeV energy range. The sensitivity and angular resolution are improved by factors of 3 and 2 relative to the previous LAT catalog at the same energies (1FHL). The vast majority of detected sources (79%) are associated with extragalactic counterparts at other wavelengths, including 16 sources located at very high redshift ( z > 2). Of the sources, 8% have Galactic counterparts and 13% are unassociated (or associated with a source of unknown nature). The high-latitude sky and the Galactic plane are observed with a flux sensitivity of 4.4 to 9.5 × 10{sup −11} ph cm{sup −2} s{sup −1}, respectively (this is approximately 0.5% and 1% of the Crab Nebula flux above 10 GeV). The catalog includes 214 new γ -ray sources. The substantial increase in the number of photons (more than 4 times relative to 1FHL and 10 times to 2FHL) also allows us to measure significant spectral curvature for 32 sources and find flux variability for 163 of them. Furthermore, we estimate that for the same flux limit of 10{sup −12} erg cm{sup −2} s{sup −1}, the energy range above 10 GeV has twice as many sources as the range above 50 GeV, highlighting the importance, for future Cherenkov telescopes, of lowering the energy threshold as much as possible.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2017

Fermi Observations of the LIGO Event GW170104

We present the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) and Large Area Telescope (LAT) observations of the LIGO binary black hole merger (BBH) event GW170104. No candidate electromagnetic counterpart was detected by either GBM or LAT. A detailed analysis of the GBM and LAT data over timescales from seconds to days covering the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) localization region is presented. The resulting flux upper bound from the GBM is (5.2–9.4) × 10{sup −7} erg cm{sup −2} s{sup −1} in the 10–1000 keV range and from the LAT is (0.2–90) × 10{sup −9} erg cm{sup −2} s{sup −1} in the 0.1–1 GeV range. We also describe the improvements to our automated pipelines and analysis techniques for searching for and characterizing the potential electromagnetic counterparts for future gravitational-wave events from Advanced LIGO/Virgo.

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DOE OSTI2017

Search for Extended Sources in the Galactic Plane Using Six Years of Fermi -Large Area Telescope Pass 8 Data above 10 GeV

The spatial extension of a γ -ray source is an essential ingredient to determine its spectral properties, as well as its potential multiwavelength counterpart. The capability to spatially resolve γ -ray sources is greatly improved by the newly delivered Fermi -Large Area Telescope (LAT) Pass 8 event-level analysis, which provides a greater acceptance and an improved point-spread function, two crucial factors for the detection of extended sources. Here, we present a complete search for extended sources located within 7° from the Galactic plane, using 6 yr of Fermi -LAT data above 10 GeV. We find 46 extended sources and provide their morphological and spectral characteristics. This constitutes the first catalog of hard Fermi -LAT extended sources, named the Fermi Galactic Extended Source Catalog, which allows a thorough study of the properties of the Galactic plane in the sub-TeV domain.

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DOE OSTI2017

The Fermi Galactic Center GeV excess and implications for dark matter

Here, the region around the Galactic Center (GC) is now well established to be brighter at energies of a few GeV than what is expected from conventional models of diffuse gamma-ray emission and catalogs of known gamma-ray sources. We study the GeV excess using 6.5 yr of data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope. We characterize the uncertainty of the GC excess spectrum and morphology due to uncertainties in cosmic-ray source distributions and propagation, uncertainties in the distribution of interstellar gas in the Milky Way, and uncertainties due to a potential contribution from the Fermi bubbles. We also evaluate uncertainties in the excess properties due to resolved point sources of gamma rays. The GC is of particular interest, as it would be expected to have the brightest signal from annihilation of weakly interacting massive dark matter (DM) particles. However, control regions along the Galactic plane, where a DM signal is not expected, show excesses of similar amplitude relative to the local background. Furthermore, based on the magnitude of the systematic uncertainties, we conservatively report upper limits for the annihilation cross-section as a function of particle mass and annihilation channel.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2017

Cosmic-ray electron-positron spectrum from 7 GeV to 2 TeV with the Fermi Large Area Telescope

Here, we present a measurement of the cosmic-ray electron+positron spectrum between 7 GeV and 2 TeV performed with almost seven years of data collected with the Fermi Large Area Telescope. We find that the spectrum is well fit by a broken power law with a break energy at about 50 GeV. Above 50 GeV, the spectrum is well described by a single power law with a spectral index of 3.07 ± 0.02(stat + syst) ± 0.04(energy measurement). An exponential cutoff lower than 1.8 TeV is excluded at 95% CL.

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DOE OSTI2017

Search for Cosmic-Ray Electron and Positron Anisotropies with Seven Years of Fermi Large Area Telescope Data

We present the Large Area Telescope on board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope that has collected the largest ever sample of high-energy cosmic-ray electron and positron events since the beginning of its operation. Potential anisotropies in the arrival directions of cosmic-ray electrons or positrons could be a signature of the presence of nearby sources. We use almost seven years of data with energies above 42 GeV processed with the Pass 8 reconstruction. The present data sample can probe dipole anisotropies down to a level of 10 -3 . We take into account systematic effects that could mimic true anisotropies at this level. We present a detailed study of the event selection optimization of the cosmic-ray electrons and positrons to be used for anisotropy searches. Since no significant anisotropies have been detected on any angular scale, we present upper limits on the dipole anisotropy. Lastly, the present constraints are among the strongest to date probing the presence of nearby young and middle-aged sources.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2017

Gamma-ray blazars within the first 2 billion years

The detection of high-redshift (z >3) blazars enables the study of the evolution of the most luminous relativistic jets over cosmic time. More importantly, high-redshift blazars tend to host massive black holes and can be used to constrain the space density of heavy black holes in the early universe. Here, we report the first detection with the Fermi-Large Area Telescope of five γ-ray-emitting blazars beyond z = 3.1, more distant than any blazars previously detected in γ-rays. Among these five objects, NVSS J151002+570243 is now the most distant known γ-ray-emitting blazar at z = 4.31. These objects have steeply falling γ-ray spectral energy distributions (SEDs), and those that have been observed in X-rays have a very hard X-ray spectrum, both typical of powerful blazars. Their Compton dominance (ratio of the inverse Compton to synchrotron peak luminosities) is also very large (>20). All of these properties place these objects among the most extreme members of the blazar population. Their optical spectra and the modeling of their optical-UV SEDs confirm that these objects harbor massive black holes (M{sub BH}∼10{sup 8−10} M{sub ⊙}). We find that, at z≈4, the space density of >10{sup 9} M{sub ⊙} black holes hosted in radio-loud and radio-quiet active galactic nuclei are similar, implying that radio-loudness may play a key role in rapid black hole growth in the early universe.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2017

Observations of M31 and M33 with the Fermi Large Area Telescope: A Galactic Center Excess in Andromeda?

The Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) has opened the way for comparative studies of cosmic rays (CRs) and high-energy objects in the Milky Way (MW) and in other, external, star-forming galaxies. Using 2 yr of observations with the Fermi LAT, Local Group galaxy M31 was detected as a marginally extended gamma-ray source, while only an upper limit has been derived for the other nearby galaxy M33. We revisited the gamma-ray emission in the direction of M31 and M33 using more than 7 yr of LAT Pass 8 data in the energy range 0.1--100 GeV, presenting detailed morphological and spectral analyses. M33 remains undetected, and we computed an upper limit of 2.0×10{sup −12} erg cm{sup −2} s{sup −1} on the 0.1--100 GeV energy flux (95% confidence level). This revised upper limit remains consistent with the observed correlation between gamma-ray luminosity and star formation rate tracers and implies an average CR density in M33 that is at most half of that of the MW. M31 is detected with a significance of nearly 10σ. Its spectrum is consistent with a power law with photon index Γ=2.4±0.1{sub stat+syst} and a 0.1--100 GeV energy flux of (5.6±0.6{sub stat+syst})×10{sup −12} erg cm{sup −2} s{sup −1}. M31 is detected to be extended with a 4σ significance. The spatial distribution of the emission is consistent with a uniform-brightness disk with a radius of 0.°4 and no offset from the center of the galaxy, but nonuniform intensity distributions cannot be excluded. The flux from M31 appears confined to the inner regions of the galaxy and does not fill the disk of the galaxy or extend far from it. The gamma-ray signal is not correlated with regions rich in gas or star formation activity, which suggests that the emission is not interstellar in origin, unless the energetic particles radiating in gamma rays do not originate in recent star formation. Alternative and nonexclusive interpretations are that the emission results from a population of millisecond pulsars dispersed in the bulge and disk of M31 by disrupted globular clusters or from the decay or annihilation of dark matter particles, similar to what has been proposed to account for the so-called Galactic center excess found in Fermi-LAT observations of the MW.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2017

Fermi -LAT Observations of High-energy Behind-the-limb Solar Flares

We report on the Fermi -LAT detection of high-energy emission from the behind-the-limb (BTL) solar flares that occurred on 2013 October 11, and 2014 January 6 and September 1. The Fermi -LAT observations are associated with flares from active regions originating behind both the eastern and western limbs, as determined by STEREO . All three flares are associated with very fast coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and strong solar energetic particle events. We present updated localizations of the >100 MeV photon emission, hard X-ray (HXR) and EUV images, and broadband spectra from 10 keV to 10 GeV, as well as microwave spectra. We also provide a comparison of the BTL flares detected by Fermi -LAT with three on-disk flares and present a study of some of the significant quantities of these flares as an attempt to better understand the acceleration mechanisms at work during these occulted flares. We interpret the HXR emission to be due to electron bremsstrahlung from a coronal thin-target loop top with the accelerated electron spectra steepening at semirelativistic energies. The >100 MeV gamma-rays are best described by a pion-decay model resulting from the interaction of protons (and other ions) in a thick-target photospheric source. The protons are believed to have been accelerated (to energies >10 GeV) in the CME environment and precipitate down to the photosphere from the downstream side of the CME shock and landed on the front side of the Sun, away from the original flare site and the HXR emission.

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DOE OSTI2017

SEARCHING THE GAMMA-RAY SKY FOR COUNTERPARTS TO GRAVITATIONAL WAVE SOURCES: FERMI GAMMA-RAY BURST MONITO R AND LARGE AREA TELESCOPE OBSERVATIONS OF LVT151012 AND GW151226

We present the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) and Large Area Telescope (LAT) observations of the LIGO binary black hole merger event GW151226 and candidate LVT151012. At the time of the LIGO triggers on LVT151012 and GW151226, GBM was observing 68% and 83% of the localization regions, and LAT was observing 47% and 32%, respectively. No candidate electromagnetic counterparts were detected by either the GBM or LAT. We present a detailed analysis of the GBM and LAT data over a range of timescales from seconds to years, using automated pipelines and new techniques for characterizing the flux upper bounds across large areas of the sky. Due to the partial GBM and LAT coverage of the large LIGO localization regions at the trigger times for both events, differences in source distances and masses, as well as the uncertain degree to which emission from these sources could be beamed, these non-detections cannot be used to constrain the variety of theoretical models recently applied to explain the candidate GBM counterpart to GW150914.

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DOE OSTI2016

( Fermi Fermi) Large Area Telescope detection of extended gamma-ray emission from the radio galaxy Fornax A

We report the Fermi Large Area Telescope detection of extended γ-ray emission from the lobes of the radio galaxy Fornax A using 6.1 years of Pass 8 data. After Centaurus A, this is now the second example of an extended γ-ray source attributed to a radio galaxy. Both an extended flat disk morphology and a morphology following the extended radio lobes were preferred over a point-source description, and the core contribution was constrained to be <14% of the total γ-ray flux. A preferred alignment of the γ-ray elongation with the radio lobes was demonstrated by rotating the radio lobes template. We found no significant evidence for variability on ∼0.5 year timescales. Taken together, these results strongly suggest a lobe origin for the γ-rays. With the extended nature of the >100 MeV γ-ray emission established, we model the source broadband emission considering currently available total lobe radio and millimeter flux measurements, as well as X-ray detections attributed to inverse Compton (IC) emission off the cosmic microwave background (CMB). Unlike the Centaurus A case, we find that a leptonic model involving IC scattering of CMB and extragalactic background light (EBL) photons underpredicts the γ-ray fluxes by factors of about ∼2–3, depending on the EBL model adopted. An additional γ-ray spectral component is thus required, and could be due to hadronic emission arising from proton–proton collisions of cosmic rays with thermal plasma within the radio lobes.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2016

( Fermi Fermi)-LAT observations of the LIGO event GW150914

The Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) has an instantaneous field of view (FoV) covering ∼1/5 of the sky and it completes a survey of the entire sky in high-energy gamma-rays every 3 hr. It enables searches for transient phenomena over timescales from milliseconds to years. Among these phenomena could be electromagnetic counterparts to gravitational wave (GW) sources. In this paper, we present a detailed study of the LAT observations relevant to Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) event GW150914, which is the first direct detection of gravitational waves and has been interpreted as being due to the coalescence of two stellar-mass black holes. The localization region for GW150914 was outside the LAT FoV at the time of the GW signal. However, as part of routine survey observations, the LAT observed the entire LIGO localization region within ∼70 minutes of the trigger and thus enabled a comprehensive search for a γ-ray counterpart to GW150914. The study of the LAT data presented here did not find any potential counterparts to GW150914, but it did provide limits on the presence of a transient counterpart above 100 MeV on timescales of hours to days over the entire GW150914 localization region.

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