Fermi large area telescope observations of the cosmic-ray induced {gamma}-ray emission of the Earth's atmosphere

Abdo, A A; Ackermann, M; Ajello, M; Bechtol, K; Berenji, B; Bloom, E D; Borgland, A W; Bouvier, A; Buehler, R; Cameron, R A; Charles, E; Chiang, J; Claus, R; Digel, S W; Couto e Silva, E do; Drell, P S; Dubois, R; Focke, W B; Funk, S; Glanzman, T

doi:10.1103/PHYSREVD.80.122004

Title: Fermi large area telescope observations of the cosmic-ray induced {gamma}-ray emission of the Earth's atmosphere

Journal Article · Tue Dec 15 00:00:00 EST 2009 · Physical Review. D, Particles Fields

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVD.80.122004· OSTI ID:21313534

Abdo, A A ^[1]; Ackermann, M; Ajello, M; Bechtol, K; Berenji, B; Bloom, E D; Borgland, A W; Bouvier, A; Buehler, R; Cameron, R A; Charles, E; Chiang, J; Claus, R; Digel, S W; Couto e Silva, E do; Drell, P S; Dubois, R; Focke, W B; Funk, S; Glanzman, T ^[2]

Space Science Division, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, D.C. 20375 (United States)
W. W. Hansen Experimental Physics Laboratory, Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Department of Physics and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305 (United States)

We report on measurements of the cosmic-ray induced {gamma}-ray emission of Earth's atmosphere by the Large Area Telescope on board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. The Large Area Telescope has observed the Earth during its commissioning phase and with a dedicated Earth limb following observation in September 2008. These measurements yielded {approx}6.4x10{sup 6} photons with energies >100 MeV and {approx}250 hours total live time 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 {gamma}=2.79{+-}0.06.

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OSTI ID:: 21313534

Journal Information:: Physical Review. D, Particles Fields, Vol. 80, Issue 12; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.80.122004; (c) 2009 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0556-2821

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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