Survey of the Galactic Plane with Milagro and the Discovery of MGRO J1908+06 and MGRO J2031+41

Journal Article · Thu Jul 12 04:00:00 EDT 2007 · AIP Conference Proceedings

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2757295· OSTI ID:21067212

Lansdell, C P; Huentemeyer, P ^[1]

---

1. University of Maryland, Dept. of Physics, College Park, MD 20742 (United States)

The Milagro Gamma-Ray Observatory is a water Cherenkov detector that operates continuously, detecting extensive air showers from the overhead sky. The large field of view and long observation time of Milagro is ideal for surveying large regions of the Northern Hemisphere sky and for detecting gamma rays at the highest energies. The emission from the entire inner galaxy as visible from the Northern Hemisphere - Galactic latitude |b| < 2 deg. and Galactic longitude l (set-membership sign) [30 deg., 110 deg.] - is detected at a median energy of 20 TeV with a significance of 10 standard deviations above the isotropic background. The flux of this region exceeds that predicted from cosmic ray interactions with matter and radiation. However, discrete sources will contribute to this flux and 7 locations within the inner Galaxy region with latitudes |b| < 5 deg. are more than 4.5 standard deviations above the isotropic background. Given the size of the Galaxy selected and the search method, 0.3 locations are expected above 4.5 standard deviations by chance, if the background is isotropic. The flux of the Galactic plane, of these 7 excess locations, and of a source at the location of Geminga will be reported.

• OSTI ID: 21067212
• Journal Information: AIP Conference Proceedings, Journal Name: AIP Conference Proceedings Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 921; ISSN APCPCS; ISSN 0094-243X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
CHERENKOV COUNTERS
COSMIC GAMMA SOURCES
COSMIC PHOTONS
COSMIC RAY DETECTION
EXTENSIVE AIR SHOWERS
GALAXIES
GAMMA ASTRONOMY
GAMMA DETECTION
PARTICLE INTERACTIONS
PHOTON EMISSION
TEV RANGE
WATER