Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
1771218 | Astroparticle Physics | 2009 | 8 Pages |
Abstract
Aiming to observe cosmic gamma-rays in the 10-1000Â TeV energy region, we propose a 10000Â m2 underground water-Cherenkov muon-detector (MD) array that operates in conjunction with the Tibet air-shower (AS) array. Significant improvement is expected in the sensitivity of the Tibet AS array towards celestial gamma-ray signals above 10Â TeV by utilizing the fact that gamma-ray-induced air showers contain far fewer muons compared with cosmic-ray-induced ones. We carried out detailed Monte Carlo simulations to assess the attainable sensitivity of the Tibet ASÂ +Â MD array towards celestial TeV gamma-ray signals. Based on the simulation results, the Tibet ASÂ +Â MD array will be able to reject 99.99% of background events at 100Â TeV, with 83% of gamma-ray events remaining. The sensitivity of the Tibet ASÂ +Â MD array will be â¼20 times better than that of the present Tibet AS array around 20-100Â TeV. The Tibet ASÂ +Â MD array will measure the directions of the celestial TeV gamma-ray sources and the cutoffs of their energy spectra. Furthermore, the Tibet ASÂ +Â MD array, along with imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes as well as the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope and X-ray satellites such as Suzaku and MAXI, will make multiwavelength observations and conduct morphological studies on sources in the quest for evidence of the hadronic nature of the cosmic-ray acceleration mechanism.
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Authors
T.K. Sako, K. Kawata, M. Ohnishi, A. Shiomi, M. Takita, H. Tsuchiya,