Evidence of TeV gamma-ray emission from the nearby starburst galaxy NGC 253

Itoh, C.; Enomoto, R.; Yanagita, S.; Yoshida, Tatsuo; Asahara, A.; Bicknell, G. V.; Clay, R. W.; Edwards, Philip; Gunji, Shuichi; Hara, Shinji; Hara, T.; Hattori, Takahiro; Hayashi, Shin-ichiro; Hayashi, S.; Kabuki, S.; Kajino, F.; Kawachi, A.; Kifune, T.; Kubo, H.; Kushida, J.; Matsubara, Y.; Mizumoto, Y.; Mori, M.; Moro, H.; Muraishi, H.; Muraki, Y.; Naito, T.; Nakase, T.; Nishida, D.; Nishijima, K.; Okumura, Ko; Ohishi, M.; Patterson, Joseph; Protheroe, R. J.; Sakurazawa, K.; Swaby, D. L.; Tanimori, T.; Tokanai, Fuyuki; Tsuchiya, K.; Tsunoo, Hajime; Uchida, Tomohisa; Watanabe, Akira; Watanabe, S.; Yoshikoshi, T.

doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20066244

Cited by 10 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…GeV and TeV gamma-rays have recently been detected in nearby starburst galaxies NGC 253 (Acero et al 2009), M 82, and Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), by Fermi-LAT (Abdo et al 2010a), High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) (Itoh et al 2007) and VERI-TAS (Karlsson & for the VERITAS collaboration 2009), support the starburst galaxies as a rich source of high energy gamma-rays. If a transient starburst did occur in the GC of our Milky Way, and produced a large population of CRs responsible for the observed Fermi bubbles, and WMAP haze, what triggered and terminated the starburst phase is unclear.…”

Section: Cosmic Rays From a Starburstmentioning

confidence: 94%

GIANT GAMMA-RAY BUBBLES FROMFERMI-LAT: ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEUS ACTIVITY OR BIPOLAR GALACTIC WIND?

Slatyer

Finkbeiner

2010

ApJ

1,094

1,392

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Data from the Fermi-LAT reveal two large gamma-ray bubbles, extending 50 degrees above and below the Galactic center, with a width of about 40 degrees in longitude. The gamma-ray emission associated with these bubbles has a significantly harder spectrum (dN/dE ∼ E −2 ) than the IC emission from electrons in the Galactic disk, or the gamma-rays produced by decay of pions from proton-ISM collisions. There is no significant spatial variation in the spectrum or gamma-ray intensity within the bubbles, or between the north and south bubbles. The bubbles are spatially correlated with the hard-spectrum microwave excess known as the WMAP haze; the edges of the bubbles also line up with features in the ROSAT X-ray maps at 1.5 − 2 keV.We argue that these Galactic gamma-ray bubbles were most likely created by some large episode of energy injection in the Galactic center, such as past accretion events onto the central massive black hole, or a nuclear starburst in the last ∼ 10 Myr. Dark matter annihilation/decay seems unlikely to generate all the features of the bubbles and the associated signals in WMAP and ROSAT; the bubbles must be understood in order to use measurements of the diffuse gamma-ray emission in the inner Galaxy as a probe of dark matter physics. Study of the origin and evolution of the bubbles also has the potential to improve our understanding of recent energetic events in the inner Galaxy and the high-latitude cosmic ray population.

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Section: Cosmic Rays From a Starburstmentioning

confidence: 94%

GIANT GAMMA-RAY BUBBLES FROMFERMI-LAT: ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEUS ACTIVITY OR BIPOLAR GALACTIC WIND?

Slatyer

Finkbeiner

2010

ApJ

1,094

1,392

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“…Amongst the best candidates are NGC 253 (Domingo-Santamaría & Torres 2005) and M 82 (Persic, Rephaeli & Arieli 2008); in fact, NGC 253 was claimed as a TeV emitter by the CANGAROO collaboration (Itoh et al 2003), but this detection was not confirmed by later, more sensitive, observations with H.E.S.S. and CAN-GAROO (Itoh et al 2007). Bounds on emission from the ultralumious infrared galaxy Arp 220 have been reported by the MAGIC collaboration (Albert et al 2007b).…”

Section: Other Extragalactic Source Classesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Teraelectronvolt Astronomy

Hinton

Hofmann

2009

Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys.

318

290

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Ground-based γ-ray astronomy, which provides access to the TeV energy range, is a young and rapidly developing discipline. Recent discoveries in this waveband have important consequences for a wide range of topics in astrophysics and astroparticle physics. This article is an attempt to review the experimental status of this field and to provide the basic formulae and concepts required to begin the interpretation of TeV observations.

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“…Although γ -ray emission from M82 and NGC 253 has been sought for several years with no success (at GeV, Cillis et al 2005; and at TeV, Aharonian et al 2005, Itoh et al 2007), the launch of Fermi and the advent of powerful very high energy (VHE) γ -ray telescopes has led to recent detections of both starbursts at GeV energies (with Fermi; Abdo et al 2010a) and in VHE γ -rays (M82 with VERITAS, Acciari et al 2009; NGC 253 with HESS, Acero et al 2009). These GeV and TeV detections constrain the CR population in these dense star-forming environments.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

ON THE GeV AND TeV DETECTIONS OF THE STARBURST GALAXIES M82 AND NGC 253

Lacki

Thompson

Quataert

et al. 2011

ApJ

197

281

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The GeV and TeV emission from M82 and NGC 253 observed by Fermi, HESS, and VERITAS constrain the physics of cosmic rays (CRs) in these dense starbursts. We argue that the γ -rays are predominantly hadronic in origin, as expected by previous studies. The measured fluxes imply that pionic losses are efficient for CR protons in both galaxies: we show that a fraction F cal ≈ 0.2-0.4 of the energy injected in high-energy primary CR protons is lost to inelastic proton-proton collisions (pion production) before escape, producing γ -rays, neutrinos, and secondary electrons and positrons. We discuss the factor of ∼2 uncertainties in this estimate, including supernova rate and leptonic contributions to the GeV-TeV emission. We argue that γ -ray data on ULIRGs like Arp 220 can test whether M82 and NGC 253 are truly calorimetric, and we present upper limits on Arp 220 from the Fermi data. We show that the observed ratio of the GeV to GHz fluxes of the starbursts suggests that non-synchrotron cooling processes are important for cooling the CR electron/positron population. We briefly reconsider previous predictions in light of the γ -ray detections, including the starburst contribution to the γ -ray background and CR energy densities. Finally, as a guide for future studies, we list the brightest star-forming galaxies on the sky and present updated predictions for their γ -ray and neutrino fluxes.

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Evidence of TeV gamma-ray emission from the nearby starburst galaxy NGC 253

Cited by 10 publications

References 20 publications

GIANT GAMMA-RAY BUBBLES FROMFERMI-LAT: ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEUS ACTIVITY OR BIPOLAR GALACTIC WIND?

GIANT GAMMA-RAY BUBBLES FROMFERMI-LAT: ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEUS ACTIVITY OR BIPOLAR GALACTIC WIND?

Teraelectronvolt Astronomy

ON THE GeV AND TeV DETECTIONS OF THE STARBURST GALAXIES M82 AND NGC 253

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