arXiv subjects

N. Fraija

Publications and source records attributed to N. Fraija.

172 records · Page 10Linked to original sources

arXiv2014

The Study of TeV Variability and Duty Cycle of Mrk 421 from 3 Years of Observations with the Milagro Observatory

TeV flaring activity with time scales as short as tens of minutes and an orphan TeV flare have been observed from the blazar Markarian 421 (Mrk 421). The TeV emission from Mrk 421 is believed to be produced by leptonic synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) emission. In this scenario, correlations between the X-ray and the TeV fluxes are expected, TeV orphan flares are hardly explained and the activity (measured as duty cycle) of the source at TeV energies is expected to be equal or less than that observed in X-rays if only SSC is considered. To estimate the TeV duty cycle of Mrk 421 and to establish limits on its variability at different time scales, we continuously observed Mrk 421 with the Milagro observatory. Mrk 421 was detected by Milagro with a statistical significance of 7.1 standard deviations between 2005 September 21 and 2008 March 15. The observed spectrum is consistent with previous observations by VERITAS. We estimate the duty cycle of Mrk 421 for energies above 1 TeV for different hypothesis of the baseline flux and for different flare selections and we compare our results with the X-ray duty cycle estimated by Resconi et al. 2009. The robustness of the results is discussed.

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arXiv2013

The HAWC Gamma-Ray Observatory: Sensitivity to Steady and Transient Sources of Gamma Rays

The High-Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) Gamma-Ray Observatory is designed to record air showers produced by cosmic rays and gamma rays between 100 GeV and 100 TeV. Because of its large field of view and high livetime, HAWC is well-suited to measure gamma rays from extended sources, diffuse emission, and transient sources. We describe the sensitivity of HAWC to emission from the extended Cygnus region as well as other types of galactic diffuse emission; searches for flares from gamma-ray bursts and active galactic nuclei; and the first measurement of the Crab Nebula with HAWC-30.

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arXiv2013

The HAWC Gamma-Ray Observatory: Observations of Cosmic Rays

We describe measurements of GeV and TeV cosmic rays with the High-Altitude Water Cherenkov Gamma-Ray Observatory, or HAWC. The measurements include the observation of the shadow of the moon; the observation of small-scale and large-scale angular clustering of the TeV cosmic rays; the prospects for measurement of transient solar events with HAWC; and the observation of Forbush decreases with the HAWC engineering array and HAWC-30.

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arXiv2013

The HAWC Gamma-Ray Observatory: Dark Matter, Cosmology, and Fundamental Physics

The High-Altitude Water Cherenkov Gamma Ray Observatory (HAWC) is designed to perform a synoptic survey of the TeV sky. The high energy coverage of the experiment will enable studies of fundamental physics beyond the Standard Model, and the large field of view of the detector will enable detailed studies of cosmologically significant backgrounds and magnetic fields. We describe the sensitivity of the full HAWC array to these phenomena in five contributions shown at the 33rd International Cosmic Ray Conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (July 2013).

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arXiv2013

The HAWC Gamma-Ray Observatory: Design, Calibration, and Operation

The High-Altitude Water Cherenkov Gamma Ray Observatory (HAWC) is under construction 4100 meters above sea level at Sierra Negra, Mexico. We describe the design and cabling of the detector, the characterization of the photomultipliers, and the timing calibration system. We also outline a next-generation detector based on the water Cherenkov technique.

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arXiv2013

Sensitivity of the High Altitude Water Cherenkov Detector to Sources of Multi-TeV Gamma Rays

The High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) observatory is an array of large water Cherenkov detectors sensitive to gamma rays and hadronic cosmic rays in the energy band between 100 GeV and 100 TeV. The observatory will be used to measure high-energy protons and cosmic rays via detection of the energetic secondary particles reaching the ground when one of these particles interacts in the atmosphere above the detector. HAWC is under construction at a site 4100 meters above sea level on the northern slope of the volcano Sierra Negra, which is located in central Mexico at 19 degrees N latitude. It is scheduled for completion in 2014. In this paper we estimate the sensitivity of the HAWC instrument to point-like and extended sources of gamma rays. The source fluxes are modeled using both unbroken power laws and power laws with exponential cutoffs. HAWC, in one year, is sensitive to point sources with integral power-law spectra as low as 5x10^-13 cm^-2 sec^-1 above 2 TeV (approximately 50 mCrab) over 5 sr of the sky. This is a conservative estimate based on simple event parameters and is expected to improve as the data analysis techniques are refined. We discuss known TeV sources and the scientific contributions that HAWC can make to our understanding of particle acceleration in these sources.

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arXiv2012

On external shock model to explain the high-energy emission: GRB 940217, GRB 941017 and GRB 970217A

We present a leptonic model on the external shock context to describe the high-energy emission of GRB 940217, GRB 941017 and GRB 970217A. We argue that the emission consists of two components, one with a similar duration of the burst, and a second, longer-lasting GeV phase lasting hundred of seconds after the prompt phase. Both components can be described as synchrotron self-Compton emission from a reverse and forward shock respectively. For the reverse shock, we analyze the synchrotron self-Compton in the thick-shell case. The calculated fluxes and break energies are all consistent with the observed values.

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arXiv2012

Long and short high energy components presented in GRBs

We present a leptonic model on the external shock framework to describe the long- and short- lasting GeV component of some GRBs. This model was already applied successfully to GRB 090926A, and we extend it to describe the high-energy emission of GRB 090902B and GRB 090510. We argue that the high-energy emission consists of two components, one at MeV energies with a duration of a few seconds during the prompt phase, and a second GeV component lasting hundred of seconds after the prompt phase. The short high-energy component can be described as SSC emission from a reverse shock and the longer component arises from SSC emission of the forward shock. The main assumption of our model is that the jet is magnetized and evolves in the thick-shell case. The calculated fluxes and break energies are all consistent with the observed values.

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arXiv2012

Hadronic processes as origin of TeV emission in Fanaroff-Riley Class I: Cen A, M87 and NGC1275

Recent detections of Fanaroff-Riley Class I AGNs by HESS, MAGIC, and VERITAS suggest that very-high-energy gamma-rays (VHE, E > 100 GeV) may not have a leptonic origin. We present a hadronic model to describe the TeV photons as the neutral pion decay resulting from pgamma and pp interactions. For the pgamma interaction, we assume that the target photons are produced by leptonic processes and apparent at the second spectral peak. For the pp interaction we consider as targets the thermal particle densities in the lobes. We show that this model can describe the TeV spectra of the radio galaxies NCG 1275, M87 and Cen A

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arXiv2012

The long and the short of the high energy emission in GRB090926A: an external shock

SSC emission from a reverse shock has been suggested as the origin for the high energy component lasting 2 s in the prompt phase of GRB98080923 (Fraija et al. 2012). The model describes spectral indices, fluxes and the duration of the high-energy component as well as a long keV tail present in the prompt phase of GRB980923. Here, we present an extension of this model to describe the high-energy emission of GRB090926A. We argue that the emission consist of two components, one with a duration less than 1s during the prompt phase, and a second, longer-lasting GeV phase lasting hundred of seconds after the prompt phase. The short high-energy phase can be described as SSC emission from a reverse shock similar to that observed in GRB980923, while the longer component arises from the forward shock. The main assumption is that the jet is magnetized and evolves in the thick-shell case, and the calculated fluxes and break energies are all consistent with the observed values. A comparison between the resulting parameters obtained for GRB980923 and GRB090926A suggests differences in burst tails that could be attributable to the circumburst medium, and this could account for previous analyses reported in the literature for other bursts. We find that the density of the surrounding medium inferred from the observed values associated to the forward shock agrees with standard values for host galaxies such as the one associated to GRB090926A.

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