Resolving the Extragalactic $\gamma$-Ray Background above 50 GeV with the Fermi Large Area Telescope

Journal Article · Thu Apr 14 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.151105· OSTI ID:1355687

Ackermann, M.; Ajello, M.; Albert, A.; Atwood, W. B.; Baldini, L.; Ballet, J.; Barbiellini, G.; Bastieri, D.; Bechtol, K.; Bellazzini, R.; Bissaldi, E.; Blandford, R. D.; Bloom, E. D.; Bonino, R.; Bregeon, J.; Britto, R. J.; Bruel, P.; Buehler, R.; Caliandro, G. A.; Cameron, R. A. ; Caragiulo, M.; Caraveo, P. A.; Cavazzuti, E.; Cecchi, C.; Charles, E.; Chekhtman, A.; Chiang, J.; Chiaro, G.; Ciprini, S.; Cohen-Tanugi, J.; Cominsky, L. R.; Costanza, F.; Cutini, S.; D’Ammando, F.; de Angelis, A.; de Palma, F.; Desiante, R.; Digel, S. W.; Di Mauro, M.; Di Venere, L.; Domínguez, A.; Drell, P. S.; Favuzzi, C.; Fegan, S. J.; Ferrara, E. C.; Franckowiak, A.; Fukazawa, Y.; Funk, S.; Fusco, P.; Gargano, F.; Gasparrini, D.; Giglietto, N.; Giommi, P.; Giordano, F.; Giroletti, M.; Godfrey, G.; Green, D.; Grenier, I. A.; Guiriec, S.; Hays, E.; Horan, D.; Iafrate, G.; Jogler, T.; Jóhannesson, G.; Kuss, M.; La Mura, G.; Larsson, S.; Latronico, L.; Li, J.; Li, L.; Longo, F.; Loparco, F.; Lott, B.; Lovellette, M. N.; Lubrano, P.; Madejski, G. M.; Magill, J.; Maldera, S.; Manfreda, A.; Mayer, M.; Mazziotta, M. N.; Michelson, P. F.; Mitthumsiri, W.; Mizuno, T.; Moiseev, A. A.; Monzani, M. E.; Morselli, A.; Moskalenko, I. V.; Murgia, S.; Negro, M.; Nuss, E.; Ohsugi, T.; Okada, C.; Omodei, N.; Orlando, E.; Ormes, J. F.; Paneque, D.; Perkins, J. S.; Pesce-Rollins, M.; Petrosian, V.; Piron, F.; Pivato, G.; Porter, T. A.; Rainò, S.; Rando, R.; Razzano, M.; Razzaque, S.; Reimer, A.; Reimer, O.; Reposeur, T.; Romani, R. W.; Sánchez-Conde, M.; Schmid, J.; Schulz, A.; Sgrò, C.; Simone, D.; Siskind, E. J.; Spada, F.; Spandre, G.; Spinelli, P.; Suson, D. J.; Takahashi, H.; Thayer, J. B.; Tibaldo, L.; Torres, D. F.; Troja, E.; Vianello, G.; Yassine, M.; Zimmer, S.

The Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) Collaboration has recently released a catalog of 360 sources detected above 50 GeV (2FHL). This catalog was obtained using 80 months of data re-processed with Pass 8, the newest event-level analysis, which significantly improves the acceptance and angular resolution of the instrument. Most of the 2FHL sources at high Galactic latitude are blazars. In this paper, using detailed Monte Carlo simulations, we measure, for the first time, the source count distribution, dN/dS, of extragalactic γ-ray sources at E > 50 GeV and find that it is compatible with a Euclidean distribution down to the lowest measured source flux in the 2FHL (~8 x 10^-12 ph cm^-2s^-1). We employ a one-point photon fluctuation analysis to constrain the behavior of dN/dS below the source detection threshold. Overall, the source count distribution is constrained over three decades in flux and found compatible with a broken power law with a break flux, S_b, in the range [8 x 10^-12, 1.5 x 10^-11] ph cm^-2s^-1 and power-law indices below and above the break of α₂ ϵ [1.60, 1.75] and α₁ = 2.49 ± 0.12, respectively. Integration of dN/dS shows that point sources account for at least 86$$+16\atop{-14}$$ % of the total extragalactic γ-ray background. The simple form of the derived source count distribution is consistent with a single population (i.e., blazars) dominating the source counts to the minimum flux explored by this analysis. Finally, we estimate the density of sources detectable in blind surveys that will be performed in the coming years by the Cherenkov Telescope Array.

• Research Organization: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE; National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); National Inst. for Nuclear Physics (INFN) (Italy)
• Contributing Organization: The Fermi-LAT Collaboration
• Grant/Contract Number: AC02-76SF00515
• OSTI ID: 1355687
• Alternate ID(s): OSTI ID: 1247444
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 116, Issue 15; ISSN 0031-9007
• Publisher: American Physical Society (APS)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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