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Detection of sub-TeV gamma rays from the Galactic center direction by CANGAROO-II

  • K. Tsuchiya*
  • , R. Enomoto
  • , L. T. Ksenofontov
  • , M. Mori
  • , T. Naito
  • , A. Asahara
  • , G. V. Bicknell
  • , R. W. Clay
  • , Y. Doi
  • , P. G. Edwards
  • , S. Gunji
  • , S. Hara
  • , T. Hara
  • , T. Hattori
  • , Sei Hayashi
  • , C. Itoh
  • , S. Kabuki
  • , F. Kajino
  • , H. Katagiri
  • , A. Kawachi
  • T. Kifune, H. Kubo, T. Kurihara, R. Kurosaka, J. Kushida, Y. Matsubara, Y. Miyashita, Y. Mizumoto, H. Moro, H. Muraishi, Y. Muraki, T. Nakase, D. Nishida, K. Nishijima, M. Ohishi, K. Okumura, J. R. Patterson, R. J. Protheroe, N. Sakamoto, K. Sakurazawa, D. L. Swaby, T. Tanimori, H. Tanimura, G. Thornton, F. Tokanai, T. Uchida, S. Watanabe, T. Yamaoka, S. Yanagita, T. Yoshida, T. Yoshikoshi
*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    197 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    We have detected sub-TeV gamma-ray emission from the direction of the Galactic center (GC) using the CANGAROO-II Imaging Atmospheric Cerenkov Telescope. We detected a statistically significant excess at energies greater than 250 GeV. The flux was 1 order of magnitude lower than that of the Crab Nebula at 1 TeV with a soft spectrum proportional to E -4.6±0.5. The signal centroid is consistent with the GC direction, and the observed profile is consistent with a pointlike source. Our data suggest that the GeV source 3EG J1746-2851 is identical to this TeV source, and we study the combined spectra to determine the possible origin of the gamma-ray emission. We also obtain an upper limit on the cold dark matter density in the Galactic halo.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)L115-L118
    JournalAstrophysical Journal
    Volume606
    Issue number2 II
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 10 May 2004

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