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Title: Local H i emissivity measured with FERMI-LAT and implications for Cosmic-ray spectra

Abstract

Cosmic-ray (CR) electrons and nuclei interact with the Galactic interstellar gas and produce high-energy γ-rays. The γ-ray emission rate per hydrogen atom, called emissivity, provides a unique indirect probe of the CR flux. We present the measurement and the interpretation of the emissivity in the solar neighborhood for γ-ray energy from 50 MeV to 50 GeV. We analyzed a subset of 4 yr of observations from the Large Area Telescope (LAT) aboard the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope (Fermi) restricted to absolute latitudes $$10^\circ \lt | b| \lt 70^\circ $$. From a fit to the LAT data including atomic, molecular, and ionized hydrogen column density templates, as well as a dust optical depth map, we derived the emissivities, the molecular hydrogen–to–CO conversion factor $${X}_{\mathrm{CO}}=(0.902\pm 0.007)\times {10}^{20}$$ cm–2 (K km s–1)–1, and the dust-to-gas ratio $${X}_{\mathrm{DUST}}=(41.4\pm 0.3)\times {10}^{20}$$ cm–2 mag–1. Moreover, we detected for the first time γ-ray emission from ionized hydrogen. We compared the extracted emissivities to those calculated from γ-ray production cross sections and to CR spectra measured in the heliosphere. We observed that the experimental emissivities are reproduced only if the solar modulation is accounted for. This provides a direct detection of solar modulation observed previously through the anticorrelationmore » between CR fluxes and solar activity. Lastly, we fitted a parameterized spectral form to the heliospheric CR observations and to the Fermi-LAT emissivity and obtained compatible local interstellar spectra for proton and helium kinetic energy per nucleon between between 1 and 100 GeV and for electron–positrons between 0.1 and 100 GeV.« less

Authors:
 [1]
  1. CEA-IRFU/CNRS/Univ. Paris Diderot, Gif-sur-Yvette (France)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
1355151
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-76SF00515
Resource Type:
Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
The Astrophysical Journal (Online)
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 806; Journal Issue: 2; Journal ID: ISSN 1538-4357
Publisher:
Institute of Physics (IOP)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; cosmic rays; gamma rays: diffuse background; gamma rays: ISM

Citation Formats

Casandjian, Jean -Marc. Local H i emissivity measured with FERMI-LAT and implications for Cosmic-ray spectra. United States: N. p., 2015. Web. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/806/2/240.
Casandjian, Jean -Marc. Local H i emissivity measured with FERMI-LAT and implications for Cosmic-ray spectra. United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/806/2/240
Casandjian, Jean -Marc. 2015. "Local H i emissivity measured with FERMI-LAT and implications for Cosmic-ray spectra". United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/806/2/240. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1355151.
@article{osti_1355151,
title = {Local H i emissivity measured with FERMI-LAT and implications for Cosmic-ray spectra},
author = {Casandjian, Jean -Marc},
abstractNote = {Cosmic-ray (CR) electrons and nuclei interact with the Galactic interstellar gas and produce high-energy γ-rays. The γ-ray emission rate per hydrogen atom, called emissivity, provides a unique indirect probe of the CR flux. We present the measurement and the interpretation of the emissivity in the solar neighborhood for γ-ray energy from 50 MeV to 50 GeV. We analyzed a subset of 4 yr of observations from the Large Area Telescope (LAT) aboard the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope (Fermi) restricted to absolute latitudes $10^\circ \lt | b| \lt 70^\circ $. From a fit to the LAT data including atomic, molecular, and ionized hydrogen column density templates, as well as a dust optical depth map, we derived the emissivities, the molecular hydrogen–to–CO conversion factor ${X}_{\mathrm{CO}}=(0.902\pm 0.007)\times {10}^{20}$ cm–2 (K km s–1)–1, and the dust-to-gas ratio ${X}_{\mathrm{DUST}}=(41.4\pm 0.3)\times {10}^{20}$ cm–2 mag–1. Moreover, we detected for the first time γ-ray emission from ionized hydrogen. We compared the extracted emissivities to those calculated from γ-ray production cross sections and to CR spectra measured in the heliosphere. We observed that the experimental emissivities are reproduced only if the solar modulation is accounted for. This provides a direct detection of solar modulation observed previously through the anticorrelation between CR fluxes and solar activity. Lastly, we fitted a parameterized spectral form to the heliospheric CR observations and to the Fermi-LAT emissivity and obtained compatible local interstellar spectra for proton and helium kinetic energy per nucleon between between 1 and 100 GeV and for electron–positrons between 0.1 and 100 GeV.},
doi = {10.1088/0004-637X/806/2/240},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1355151}, journal = {The Astrophysical Journal (Online)},
issn = {1538-4357},
number = 2,
volume = 806,
place = {United States},
year = {Sat Jun 20 00:00:00 EDT 2015},
month = {Sat Jun 20 00:00:00 EDT 2015}
}

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Works referencing / citing this record:

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