arXiv subjects

S. Vernetto

Publications and source records attributed to S. Vernetto.

28 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2012

Observation of TeV gamma rays from the Cygnus region with the ARGO-YBJ experiment

We report the observation of TeV gamma-rays from the Cygnus region using the ARGO-YBJ data collected from 2007 November to 2011 August. Several TeV sources are located in this region including the two bright extended MGRO J2019+37 and MGRO J2031+41. According to the Milagro data set, at 20 TeV MGRO J2019+37 is the most significant source apart from the Crab Nebula. No signal from MGRO J2019+37 is detected by the ARGO-YBJ experiment, and the derived flux upper limits at 90% confidence level for all the events above 600 GeV with medium energy of 3 TeV are lower than the Milagro flux, implying that the source might be variable and hard to be identified as a pulsar wind nebula. The only statistically significant (6.4 standard deviations) gamma-ray signal is found from MGRO J2031+41, with a flux consistent with the measurement by Milagro.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2011

Long-term monitoring of the TeV emission from Mrk 421 with the ARGO-YBJ experiment

ARGO-YBJ is an air shower detector array with a fully covered layer of resistive plate chambers. It is operated with a high duty cycle and a large field of view. It continuously monitors the northern sky at energies above 0.3 TeV. In this paper, we report a long-term monitoring of Mrk 421 over the period from 2007 November to 2010 February. This source was observed by the satellite-borne experiments Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer and Swift in the X-ray band. Mrk 421 was especially active in the first half of 2008. Many flares are observed in both X-ray and gamma-ray bands simultaneously. The gamma-ray flux observed by ARGO-YBJ has a clear correlation with the X-ray flux. No lag between the X-ray and gamma-ray photons longer than 1 day is found. The evolution of the spectral energy distribution is investigated by measuring spectral indices at four different flux levels. Hardening of the spectra is observed in both X-ray and gamma-ray bands. The gamma-ray flux increases quadratically with the simultaneously measured X-ray flux. All these observational results strongly favor the synchrotron self-Compton process as the underlying radiative mechanism.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2011

Mean Interplanetary Magnetic Field Measurement Using the ARGO-YBJ Experiment

The sun blocks cosmic ray particles from outside the solar system, forming a detectable shadow in the sky map of cosmic rays detected by the ARGO-YBJ experiment in Tibet. Because the cosmic ray particles are positive charged, the magnetic field between the sun and the earth deflects them from straight trajectories and results in a shift of the shadow from the true location of the sun. Here we show that the shift measures the intensity of the field which is transported by the solar wind from the sun to the earth.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2010

The proton-air inelastic cross-section measurement at $\sqrt{s} \approx $ 2 TeV from EAS-TOP experiment

The proton-air inelastic cross section value \sigmapairin=338$\pm$21({\it stat})$\pm$19({\it syst})-28({\it syst}) mb at $\sqrt{s} \approx $ 2 TeV has been measured by the EAS-TOP Extensive Air Shower experiment. The absorption length of cosmic ray proton primaries cascades reaching the maximum development at the observation level is obtained from the flux attenuation for different zenith angles (i.e. atmospheric depths). The analysis, including the effects of the heavier primaries contribution and systematic uncertainties, is described. The experimental result is compared with different high energy interaction models and the relationships with the {\it pp} ($\bar pp$) total cross section measurements are discussed.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2009

Sky monitoring with ARGO-YBJ

A sky monitoring at gamma ray energy E > 0.6 TeV has been performed by the full coverage Extensive Air Shower detector ARGO-YBJ, located in Tibet at 4300 m of altitude. We monitored 135 galactic and extragalactic gamma ray sources in the sky declination band from -10 to +70 degrees for 424 days, detecting the Crab Nebula and Mrk421 with a significance respectively of 7.0 and 8.0 standard deviations. For a set of 11 AGNs known to emit in the TeV energy range, the search has been performed in time scales of 1, 10 and 30 days in order to study possible flaring activities. Significant emissions has been observed from Mrk421 in the time scales of 10 and 30 days, during June and March 2008, when the source had a strong activity also observed in the X-rays waveband. The analysis of the background has revealed the existence of a significant excess of the CR flux in two localized regions of angular size 10-30 degrees, in agreement with previous indications.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2009

Measurement of the antiproton/proton ratio at few-TeV energies with the ARGO-YBJ experiment

Cosmic ray antiprotons provide an important probe for the study of cosmic-ray propagation in the interstellar space and to investigate the existence of Galactic dark matter. Cosmic rays are hampered by the Moon, therefore a deficit of cosmic rays in its direction is expected (the so-called "Moon shadow"). The Earth-Moon system acts as a magnetic spectrometer. In fact, due to the geomagnetic field the center of the Moon shifts westward by an amount depending on the primary cosmic ray energy. Paths of primary antiprotons are therefore deflected in an opposite sense in their way to the Earth. This effect allows, in principle, the search of antiparticles in the opposite direction of the observed Moon shadow. The ARGO-YBJ experiment, in stable data taking since November 2007 with an energy threshold of a few hundreds of GeV, is observing the Moon shadow with high statistical significance. Using about 1 year data, an upper limit of the antip/p flux ratio in the few-TeV energy region is set to a few percent with a confidence level of 90%.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2009

Evolution of the cosmic ray anisotropy above 10^{14} eV

The amplitude and phase of the cosmic ray anisotropy are well established experimentally between 10^{11} eV and 10^{14} eV. The study of their evolution into the energy region 10^{14}-10^{16} eV can provide a significant tool for the understanding of the steepening ("knee") of the primary spectrum. In this letter we extend the EAS-TOP measurement performed at E_0 around 10^{14} eV, to higher energies by using the full data set (8 years of data taking). Results derived at about 10^{14} and 4x10^{14} eV are compared and discussed. Hints of increasing amplitude and change of phase above 10^{14} eV are reported. The significance of the observation for the understanding of cosmic ray propagation is discussed.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2004

The ARGO-YBJ sensitivity to GRBs

ARGO-YBJ is a "full coverage" air shower detector under construction at the YangBaJing Laboratory (4300 m a.s.l., Tibet, P.R. of China). Its main goals are gamma-ray astronomy and cosmic ray studies. In this paper we present the capabilities of ARGO-YBJ in detecting the emission from Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) at energies E>10 GeV.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2003

Expected sensitivity of ARGO-YBJ to detect point gamma-ray sources

ARGO-YBJ is a full coverage air shower detector currently under construction at the Yangbajing Laboratory (4300 m a.s.l., Tibet, China). First data obtained with a subset of the apparatus will be available in summer 2003 while the full detector operation is expected in 2005. One of the main aims of ARGO-YBJ is the observation of gamma-ray sources, at an energy threshold of a few hundreds GeV. In this paper we present the expected sensitivity to detect point gamma ray sources, with particular attention to the Crab Nebula. According to our simulations a Crab-like signal could be detected in one year of operation with a statistical significance of 10 standard deviations, without any gamma/hadron discrimination.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2003

Sensitivity of the ARGO-YBJ strip size spectrum to different models of the primary cosmic ray composition in the energy range 10 - 500 TeV

The ARGO-YBJ experiment is currently under construction at the Yangbajing Cosmic Ray Laboratory (4300 m a.s.l.). The detector will cover 74 X 78 m^2 with a single layer of Resistive Plate Counters (RPCs), surrounded by a partially instrumented guard ring. Signals from each RPC are picked-up with 80 read out strips 6 cm wide and 62 cm long. These strips allow one to count the particle number of small size air showers. In this paper we discuss the digital response of the detector for showers with core located in a small fiducial area inside the carpet. The results enable us to assess the sensitivity of the strip size spectrum measurement to discriminate between different models of the Primary Cosmic Ray composition in the energy range 10 - 500 TeV.

astro-ph↗