Fermi Large Area Telescope Observations of the Cosmic-Ray Induced
We report on measurements of the cosmic-ray induced {gamma}-ray emission of Earth's atmosphere by the Large Area Telescope onboard the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. The LAT has observed the Earth during its commissioning phase and with a dedicated Earth-limb following observation in September 2008. These measurements yielded {approx} 6.4 x 10{sup 6} photons with energies > 100 MeV and {approx} 250 hours total livetime for the highest quality data selection. This allows the study of the spatial and spectral distributions of these photons with unprecedented detail. The spectrum of the emission - often referred to as Earth albedo gamma-ray emission - has a power-law shape up to 500 GeV with spectral index {Lambda} = 2.79 {+-} 0.06.
- Research Organization:
- SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-76SF00515
- OSTI ID:
- 1035805
- Report Number(s):
- SLAC-PUB-14880; TRN: US1201229
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Fermi large area telescope observations of the cosmic-ray induced {gamma}-ray emission of the Earth's atmosphere
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