Probing the Sea of Cosmic Rays by Measuring Gamma-Ray Emission from Passive Giant Molecular Clouds with HAWC

Albert A, Alfaro R, Alvarez C, Angeles Camacho JR, Arteaga-Velazquez JC, Arunbabu KP, Avila Rojas D, Ayala Solares HA, Baghmanyan V, Belmont-Moreno E, Benzvi SY, Brisbois C, Caballero-Mora KS, Capistran T, Carraminana A, Casanova S, Cotti U, Cotzomi J, Coutino De Leon S, De La Fuente E, Diaz Hernandez R, Dingus BL, Duvernois MA, Durocher M, Diaz-Velez JC, Ellsworth RW, Engel K, Espinoza C, Fan KL, Fernandez Alonso M, Fraija N, Galvan-Gamez A, Garcia D, Garcia-Gonzalez JA, Garfias F, Gonzalez MM, Goodman JA, Harding JP, Hernandez S, Hona B, Huang D, Hueyotl-Zahuantitla F, Huntemeyer P, Iriarte A, Joshi V, Kieda D, Lara A, Lee WH, Lee J, Leon Vargas H, Linnemann JT, Longinotti AL, Luis-Raya G, Lundeen J, Malone K, Martinez O, Martinez-Castro J, Matthews JA, Miranda-Romagnoli P, Morales-Soto JA, Moreno E, Mostafa M, Nayerhoda A, Nellen L, Newbold M, Nisa MU, Noriega-Papaqui R, Omodei N, Peisker A, Perez-Araujo Y, Perez-Perez EG, Rho CD, Rosa-Gonzalez D, Ruiz-Velasco E, Salesa Greus F, Sandoval A, Schneider M, Serna-Franco J, Smith AJ, Springer RW, Surajbali P, Tanner M, Tollefson K, Torres I, Torres-Escobedo R, Turner R, Urena-Mena F, Villasenor L, Weisgarber T, Willox E, Zhou H, De Leon C (2021)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2021

Journal

Book Volume: 914

Journal Issue: 2

DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/abfc47

Abstract

The study of high-energy gamma rays from passive giant molecular clouds (GMCs) in our Galaxy is an indirect way to characterize and probe the paradigm of the "sea" of cosmic rays in distant parts of the Galaxy. By using data from the High Altitude Water Cerenkov (HAWC) Observatory, we measure the gamma-ray flux above 1 TeV of a set of these clouds to test the paradigm. We selected high galactic latitude clouds that are in HAWC's field of view and that are within 1 kpc distance from the Sun. We find no significant excess emission in the cloud regions, nor when we perform a stacked log-likelihood analysis of GMCs. Using a Bayesian approach, we calculate 95% credible interval upper limits of the gamma-ray flux and estimate limits on the cosmic-ray energy density of these regions. These are the first limits to constrain gamma-ray emission in the multi-TeV energy range (>1 TeV) using passive high galactic latitude GMCs. Assuming that the main gamma-ray production mechanism is due to proton-proton interaction, the upper limits are consistent with a cosmic-ray flux and energy density similar to that measured at Earth.

Authors with CRIS profile

Involved external institutions

Los Alamos National Laboratory United States (USA) (US) National Autonomous University of Mexico / Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) Mexico (MX) Universidad Autónoma de Chiapas (UNACH) Mexico (MX) Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo (UMSNH) Mexico (MX) Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) United States (USA) (US) Center for Theoretical Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences Poland (PL) University of Rochester (UR) United States (USA) (US) University of Maryland United States (USA) (US) National Institute for Astrophysics / Istituto Nazionale Astrofisica (INAF) Italy (IT) Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla (BUAP) / Meritorious Autonomous University of Puebla Mexico (MX) Universidad de Guadalajara (UDEG) Mexico (MX) University of Wisconsin - Madison United States (USA) (US) University of Utah United States (USA) (US) Michigan Technological University United States (USA) (US) University of Seoul (UOS) / 서울시립대학교 Korea, Republic of (KR) Michigan State University United States (USA) (US) Universidad Politécnica de Pachuca (UPP) Mexico (MX) National Polytechnic Institute of Mexico / Instituto Politécnico Nacional de México Mexico (MX) University of New Mexico (UNM) / Universidad de Nuevo México United States (USA) (US) Autonomous University of the State of Hidalgo / Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo Mexico (MX) Stanford University United States (USA) (US) Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik (MPIK) / Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics Germany (DE) California University of Pennsylvania United States (USA) (US) Shanghai Jiao Tong University / 上海交通大学 China (CN)

How to cite

APA:

Albert, A., Alfaro, R., Alvarez, C., Angeles Camacho, J.R., Arteaga-Velazquez, J.C., Arunbabu, K.P.,... De Leon, C. (2021). Probing the Sea of Cosmic Rays by Measuring Gamma-Ray Emission from Passive Giant Molecular Clouds with HAWC. Astrophysical Journal, 914(2). https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/abfc47

MLA:

Albert, A., et al. "Probing the Sea of Cosmic Rays by Measuring Gamma-Ray Emission from Passive Giant Molecular Clouds with HAWC." Astrophysical Journal 914.2 (2021).

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