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Fermi-LAT Detection of Gamma-Ray Emission in the Vicinity of the Star Forming Regions W43 and Westerlund 2

Particle acceleration in massive star forming regions can proceed via a large variety of possible emission scenarios, including high-energy gamma-ray production in the colliding wind zone of the massive Wolf-Rayet binary (here WR 20a and WR I2Ia), collective wind scenarios, diffusive shock acceleration at the boundaries of wind-blown bubbles in the stellar cluster, and outbreak phenomena from hot stellar winds into the interstellar medium. In view of the recent Fermi-LAT detection of HESS JI023-575 (in the vicinity of Westerlund 2), we examine another very high energy (VHE) gamma-ray source, HESS JI848-0145 (in the vicinity ofW43), possibly associated with a massive star cluster. Considering multi-wavelength data, in particular TeV gamma-rays, we examine the available evidence that the gamma-ray emission coincident with Westerlund 2 and W43 could originate in particles accelerated by the above-mentioned mechanisms in massive star clusters.

Lemoine-Goumard, M.

DMSP satellite detections of gamma-ray bursts

Gamma-ray burst detectors are aboard six U. S. Air Force defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) spacecraft, two of which are currently in use. Their 800-km altitude orbits give a field of view to 117 degrees from the zenith. A great many bursts have been detected, usually in coincidence with detections by GRO or other satellites such as PVO or ULYSSES. The directions of the sources can be determined with considerable accuracy from such correlated observations, even when GRO/BATSE with its directional capabilities is not involved. Thus these DMSP data, especially in conjunction with other observations, should be helpful in trying to understand the true nature of gamma-ray bursts.

Terrell, J.

A Non-Triggered Burst Supplement to the BATSE Gamma-Ray Burst Catalogs

The Burst and Transient Source Experiment (BATSE) on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory detects gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) with a real-time burst detection (or "trigger") system running onboard the spacecraft. Under some circumstances, however, a GRB may not activate the onboard burst trigger. For example, the burst may be too faint to exceed the onboard detection threshold, or it may occur while the onboard burst trigger is disabled for technical reasons. This paper is a catalog of such "non-triggered" GRBs that were detected in a search of the archival continuous data from BATSE. It lists 873 non-triggered bursts that were recorded between 1991 December 9.0 and 1997 December 17.0. For each burst, the catalog gives an estimated source direction, duration, peak flux, and fluence. Similar data are presented for 50 additional bursts of unknown origin that were detected in the 25-50 keV range; these events may represent the low-energy "tail" of the GRB spectral distribution. This catalog increases the number of GRBs detected with BATSE by 48% during the time period covered by the search.

Kommers, J.

A Nontriggered Burst Supplement to the BATSE Gamma-Ray Burst Catalogs

The Burst and Transient Source Experiment (BATSE) on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory detects gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) with a real-time burst detection (or "trigger") system running onboard the spacecraft. Under some circumstances, however, a GRB may not activate the on-board burst trigger. For example, the burst may be too faint to exceed the on-board detection threshold, or it may occur while the on-board burst trigger is disabled for technical reasons. This paper describes a catalog of 873 "nontriggered" GRBs that were detected in a search of the archival continuous data from BATSE recorded between 1991 December 9.0 and 1997 December 17.0. For each burst, the catalog gives an estimated source direction, duration, peak flux, and fluence. Similar data are presented for 50 additional bursts of unknown origin that were detected in the 25-50 keV range; these events may represent the low-energy "tail" of the GRB spectral distribution. This catalog increases the number of GRBs detected with BATSE by 48% during the time period covered by the search.

Kommers, Jefferson M.

TeV gamma rays from millisecond pulsars and the detectability of globular clusters

I investigate the detectability of TeV gamma rays from millisecond pulsars, assuming the energy source that powers this emission is the loss of rotational energy of the spinning neutron star. I show that although individual sources may be too weak to detect, the contribution of many (about 1000) active millisecond pulsars may lead to currently detectable TeV gamma-ray emissions from globular clusters, provided the average pulsar converts about 0.1 percent of its spin-down energy into TeV gamma rays. Future detections of TeV gamma rays from globular clusters (or more restrictive upper limits on the fluxes) will lead to better estimates of the number of active millisecond pulsars the clusters contain, and to a better understanding of the pulsar emission mechanism. I also derive flux estimates for the following sources: (1) the Crab Nebula, (2) PSR 19374-21, PSR 1953 4-29, and PSR 1855 4-09, and (3) nearby millisecond pulsars in the galactic disk.

Smith, I. A.

Detection of gamma-ray lines from the direction of the Crab Nebula

The Crab Nebula and its associated pulsar NP0531+21 were observed during a balloon flight of the Durham MK1 high resolution spectrometer on June 6, 1981. The data indicate two significant line features of energies of 404.7 and 1049.8 keV with intensities of (7.2 + or - 2.1) x 0.001 and (12.0 + or - 0.5) x 0.01/5. After subtracting instrumental resolution, the widths of these lines were determined to be (3.5 + or - 1.4) keV and (6.3 + or - 1.6) keV at 404.7 and 1049.8 keV respectively. A third line at 78.8 keV was detected as a transient event with a peak intensity of (1.1 + or - 0.3) x 0.01 photons sq cm/s and a width 1.5 keV. It is shown that all three line features are consistent with a point source located at the Crab.

Owens, A.

The gamma-ray telescope Gamma-1

French and Soviet specialists have designed and built the gamma-ray telescope GAMMA-1 to detect cosmic gamma rays above 50 MeV. The sensitive area of the detector is 1400 sq cm, energy resolution is 30% at 300 MeV, and angular resolution 1.2 deg at 300 MeV (and less than 20' arc when a coded aperture mask is used). Results on calibration of the qualification model and Monte-Carlo calculations are presented.

Akimov, V. V.

Post-Launch Analysis of Swift's Gamma-Ray Burst Detection Sensitivity

The dependence of Swift#s detection sensitivity on a burst#s temporal and spectral properties shapes the detected burst population. Using s implified models of the detector hardware and the burst trigger syste m I find that Swift is more sensitive to long, soft bursts than CGRO# s BATSE, a reference mission because of its large burst database. Thu s Swift has increased sensitivity in the parameter space region into which time dilation and spectral redshifting shift high redshift burs ts.

Band, David L.

Fermi Detection of Gamma-Ray Emission from the M2 Soft X-Ray Flare on 2010 June 12

The GOES M2-class solar flare, SOL2010-06-12T00:57, was modest in many respects yet exhibited remarkable acceleration of energetic particles. The flare produced an approximately 50 s impulsive burst of hard X- and gamma-ray emission up to at least 400 MeV observed by the Fermi GBM and LAT experiments. The remarkably similar hard X-ray and high-energy gamma-ray time profiles suggest that most of the particles were accelerated to energies greater than or equal to 300 MeV with a delay of approximately 10 s from mildly relativistic electrons, but some reached these energies in as little as approximately 3 s. The gamma-ray line fluence from this flare was about ten times higher than that typically observed from this modest GOES class of X-ray flare. There is no evidence for time-extended greater than 100 MeV emission as has been found for other flares with high-energy gamma rays.

Ackermann, M.

Detection of galactic Al-26 gamma radiation by the SMM spectrometer

The Solar Maximum Mission satellite's gamma-ray spectrometer has detected a line near 1.81 MeV in each of the three years (1980-1982) over which the Galactic center traversed the broad aperture of that instrument. No significant intensity variation is noted over this period. The Galactic center/anticenter intensity ratio is greater than 2.5, and the center of the emission is noted to be consistent with the location of the Galactic center. For an assumed source distribution which follows the more than 100 MeV Galactic gamma radiation, the total flux in the direction of the Galactic center and the measured energy of the line are consistent with the detection of a narrow gamma-ray line from interstellar Al-26 by HEAO 3 in 1979-1980.

Share, G. H.

Al-26 - A galactic source of gamma-ray line emission

A detectable gamma-ray line at 1.809 MeV results from the decay of Al-26 in the interstellar medium if this isotope is synthesized in supernovae with abundance of about 0.001 relative to Mg-26. The expected intensity from the direction of the galactic center is approximately 0.0001 photon/sq cm/sec per sr, and the line width is less than 3 keV. This intensity is comparable to the intensities of the other strongest gamma-ray lines resulting from processes of nucleosynthesis at 0.847 MeV from Fe-56, 1.156 MeV from Ca-44, and 1.173 and 1.332 MeV from Ni-60. But the width of the line from Al-26 decay is an order of magnitude smaller than that of either the 0.847- or the 1.156-MeV lines, and hence this line should be much more easily observable with high-resolution detectors.

Ramaty, R.

Gamma-Ray Imaging for Explosives Detection

We describe a gamma-ray imaging camera (GIC) for active interrogation of explosives being developed by NASA/GSFC and NSWCICarderock. The GIC is based on the Three-dimensional Track Imager (3-DTI) technology developed at GSFC for gamma-ray astrophysics. The 3-DTI, a large volume time-projection chamber, provides accurate, approx.0.4 mm resolution, 3-D tracking of charged particles. The incident direction of gamma rays, E, > 6 MeV, are reconstructed from the momenta and energies of the electron-positron pair resulting from interactions in the 3-DTI volume. The optimization of the 3-DTI technology for this specific application and the performance of the GIC from laboratory tests is presented.

deNolfo, G. A.

Detection of a weak gamma-ray burst from the direction of Ursa Major

An 80-second gamma-ray burst was detected over the energy range 42-205 keV by a balloon-borne gamma-ray telescope at 23:00:22 UT on May 11, 1988. Assuming a uniformly distributed source model, a 30 keV energy threshold, and a 3 delta detection threshold, it is estimated that the burst rate is 39,000 + 90,000 - 32,000/yr. It is found that the emission originated from the direction of Ursa Major. The event displays a marginal periodicity with a fundamental period 2.17 + or - 0.12 s.

Owens, Alan