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03/07/05 14:55:46 (20 years ago)
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wittek
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  • trunk/MagicSoft/GC-Proposal/GC.tex

    r6760 r6762  
    4242%% abstract %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
    4343\begin{abstract} 
    44 The Galactic Center (GC) is a very interesting region. Gamma radiation above  a few hundred GeV has been detected recently by Whipple, Cangaroo and HESS. The reconstructed spectra from Cangaroo and HESS show significant differences. Source and acceleration mechanism have still to be identified.
    45 
    46 Various possibilities for the acceleration of the very high energy gamma rays
    47 are discussed in the literature, like accretion flow onto the central black hole, supernova shocks in Sgr A East, proton acceleration near the event horizon of the black hole, or WIMP dark matter annihilation. Although the observed VHE gamma
    48 radiation from the GC is most probably not due to SUSY-neutralino particle
    49 dark matter (DM) annihilation, other models like Kaluza-Klein dark matter are not ruled out. Moreover, assuming a universal DM distribution profile, the GC is expected to yield the largest DM flux due to its relative vicinity.
    50 
    51 
    52 The GC culminates at about 58 deg ZA in La Palma. It can be observed with
    53 MAGIC at up to 60 deg ZA for about 150 hours per year between April and late August. The expected integral flux above 700 GeV derived from the HESS data is $(3.2 \pm 1.0)\cdot 10^{-12}\mathrm{cm}^{-2}\mathrm{s}^{-1}$. Comparing this to the expected MAGIC sensitivity from MC simulations, this could result in a 5 $\sigma$ detection in about $1.8\pm0.5$ hours.
    54 
    55 The observations have to be conducted as early as possible to participate in the exciting physics of the Galactic Center. The main motivations are:
     44Due to the wealth of sources, the region around
     45the Galactic Center (GC) is very interesting. Recently, gamma radiation above
     46a few hundred GeV has been detected by the Whipple, Cangaroo and HESS
     47collaborations. The reconstructed spectra from Cangaroo and HESS show
     48significant differences. The acceleration mechanisms have still to be
     49identified.
     50
     51Various possibilities for the acceleration of the very high energy (VHE)
     52gamma rays are discussed in the literature, like accretion flow onto the
     53central black
     54hole, supernova shocks in Sgr A East, proton acceleration near the event
     55horizon of the black hole, or WIMP dark matter annihilation. Although the
     56observed VHE gamma radiation from the GC is most probably not due to
     57the annihilation of SUSY-neutralino dark matter (DM) particles, other models
     58like Kaluza-Klein dark matter are not ruled out. Moreover, assuming a
     59universal DM density profile, the GC is expected to yield the largest DM flux
     60amongst the favoured candidates, due to its proximity.
     61
     62At La Palma, the GC culminates at about 58 deg zenith angle (ZA). It can be
     63observed with MAGIC at up to 60 deg ZA for about 150 hours per year, between
     64April and late August. The expected integral flux above 700 GeV derived from
     65the HESS data is $(3.2 \pm 1.0)\cdot 10^{-12}\mathrm{cm}^{-2}\mathrm{s}^{-1}$.
     66Comparing this to the expected MAGIC sensitivity from MC simulations, this
     67could result in a 5 $\sigma$ detection in about $1.8\pm0.5$ hours.
     68
     69The observations have to be conducted as early as possible in order to
     70participate in the ongoing discussion about gamma radiation from the GC.
     71The main motivations for the observation of the GC are :
    5672
    5773\begin{itemize}
    58 \item To solve the flux discrepancies between HESS and Cangaroo, inter-calibration between the instruments.
    59 \item Extend the observed spectrum to higher energies due to large ZA.
    60 \item Determine the nature and acceleration mechanism of the source. Set constraints to models for particle dark matter annihilation.
     74\item to measure the gamma flux and its energy dependence (due to the high
     75zenith angles higher energies are accessible),
     76\item to inter-calibrate MAGIC and HESS,
     77\item to help resolving the flux discrepancies between HESS and
     78Cangaroo,
     79\item to gain information about the nature and acceleration mechanism of the
     80source,
     81\item to set constraints on models for dark-matter-particle annihilation.
    6182\end{itemize}
    6283
    63 
    64 To get a comparable data set to the other experiments and to be able to reconstruct the spectrum, an observation of 20 hours plus 20 hours of dedicated OFF data would be needed and hereby applied for. Moreover due to the large threshold moon observations are envisaged and 60 hours are applied for.
     84In order to collect a data sample comparable in size to those of the other
     85experiments and to be able to measure the energy spectrum, 40 hours of
     86observation time are requested. The 40 hours will be split into 20 hours ON
     87and 20 hours dedicated OFF data or they will be devoted to observations in
     88the wobble mode. In addition, 60 hours of observation during moonshine are
     89applied for.
    6590\end{abstract}
    6691
     
    80105\section{Introduction}
    81106
    82 
    83 
    84 The Galactic Center (GC) region, excepting the famous source Sgr A$^*$, contains many unusual objects which may be responsible for the high energy processes generation gamma rays \cite{Aharonian2005,Atoyan2004,Horns2004}. The GC is rich in massive stellar clusters with up to 100 OB stars \cite{GC_environment}, immersed in a dense gas within the volume of 300 pc and the mass of $2.7 \cdot 10^7 M_{\odot}$, young supernova remnants e.g. G0.570-0.018 or Sgr A East, and nonthermal radio arcs. An overview of the sources in the GC region is given in figure \ref{fig:GC_sources}. Some data about the Galactic Center are summarized in table \ref{table:GC_properties}.
     107The Galactic Center (GC) region contains many unusual objects which may be
     108responsible for the high energy processes generating gamma rays
     109\cite{Aharonian2005,Atoyan2004,Horns2004}. The GC is rich in massive stellar
     110clusters with up to 100 OB stars \cite{GC_environment}, immersed in a dense
     111gas within a radius of 300 pc and the mass of $2.7 \cdot 10^7 M_{\odot}$,
     112young supernova remnants e.g. G0.570-0.018 or Sgr A East, and nonthermal radio arcs. An overview of the sources in the GC region is given in figure \ref{fig:GC_sources}. Some data about the Galactic Center are summarized in table \ref{table:GC_properties}.
    85113
    86114\begin{table}[h]{\normalsize\center
     
    88116 \hline
    89117 (RA, dec), epoch J2000.0 & $(17^h45^m12^s,-29.01$ deg)
    90 \\ heliocentric distance  & $8\pm0.5$ kpc (1 deg = 24 pc)
     118\\ heliocentric distance  & $8\pm0.4$ kpc \cite{Eisenhauer2003}
     119(1 deg = 140 pc)
    91120\\ mass of the black hole & $2\pm0.5 \cdot 10^6 M_{\odot}$
    92121\\
     
    106135
    107136
    108 In fact, EGRET has detected a strong source in direction of the GC, 3 EG J1745-2852 \cite{GC_egret}, which has a broken power law spectrum extending up to at least 10 GeV, with the index 1.3 below the bread at a few GeV. If in the GC, the gamma ray luminosity of this source is very large $~2 \cdot 10^{37} \mathrm{erg}/\mathrm{s}$, which is equivalent to about 10 Crab pulsars. Up to now, the GC has been observed at energies above 200 GeV by Veritas, Cangaroo and HESS, \cite{GC_whipple,GC_cangaroo,GC_hess}. Figure \ref{fig:GC_gamma_flux} shows the reconstructed spectra by the other IACTs while figure \ref{fig:GC_source_location} shows the different reconstructed positions of the GC source. Recently a second TeV gamma source only about 1 degree away from the Galactic Center has been discovered \cite{SNR_G09+01}. Its integral flux above 200 GeV represents about 2\% of the gamma flux from the Crab nebula with a photon-index of about 2.4.
     137In fact, EGRET has detected a strong source in direction of the GC,
     1383 EG J1745-2852 \cite{GC_egret}, which has a broken power law spectrum
     139extending up to at least 10 GeV, with the index 1.3 below the break at a few
     140GeV. Asssuming a distance of 8.5 kpc, the gamma ray luminosity of this source
     141is very large $~2.2 \cdot 10^{37} \mathrm{erg}/\mathrm{s}$, which is
     142equivalent to about 10 Crab pulsars. An independent analysis of the EGRET data
     143\cite{Hooper2002} indicates a source position, excluded beyond 99.9 \%
     144as the GC.
     145
     146Up to now, the GC has been observed at
     147energies above 200 GeV by Veritas, Cangaroo and HESS, \cite{GC_whipple,
     148GC_cangaroo,GC_hess}. Figure \ref{fig:GC_gamma_flux} shows the reconstructed
     149spectra by the other IACTs while figure \ref{fig:GC_source_location} shows the
     150different reconstructed positions of the GC source. Recently a second TeV
     151gamma source only about 1 degree away from the Galactic Center has been
     152discovered \cite{SNR_G09+01}. Its integral flux above 200 GeV represents about
     1532\% of the gamma flux from the Crab nebula with a photon-index of about 2.4.
    109154
    110155\begin{figure}[h!]
     
    458503\end{equation}
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