The energy spectrum of cosmic electrons measured with the MAGIC telescopes
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Department
Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät
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Abstract
Die hier vorgestellte Analyse nutzt die MAGIC Teleskope, zwei abbildende Cherenkov-Teleskope, zum Vermessen des Elektronenflusses. Der Energiebereich dieser Teleskope überschneidet sich großflächig sowohl mit dem der Satellitenmissionen Fermi-LAT und AMS-02 als auch mit den hochenergetischen Messungen der Cherenkov-Teleskope VERITAS und H.E.S.S.. Diese Arbeit hat das Elektronenspektrum im Bereich von 135 GeV bis 4 TeV mittels der MAGIC Teleskope vermesssen. Das Spektrum lässt sich in diesem Bereich mit einem einfachen Potenzgesetz mit dem Index -3.14+-0.05(stat)+-0.5(syst) beschrieben werden. Die für diese Messung entwickelte Analyse weicht grundlegend von der Standardanalyse in MAGIC ab. Die Differenzierung von Signal und Untergrund kann nicht anhand der Richtung der eintreffenden Teilchen vorgenommen werden. Stattdessen basiert die Differenzierung auf einem Algorithmus für maschinelles Lernen, welcher eine Unterscheidung zwischen elektromagnetischen und hadronischen Luftschauern ermöglicht. Der Untergrund muss für diese Analyse anhand von Monte Carlo Simulationen geschätzt werden. Dafür wurden Protonen simuliert. Zudem liegt ein Schwerpunkt der Arbeit auf der Abschätzung systematischer Fehler und Unsicherheiten der neuen Analyse. Erwartungsgemäß sind die Unsicherheiten dieser indirekten Messmethode deutlich größer als bei direkten Messungen der Satellitenexperimente. Aufgrund der großen Unsicherheiten kann ein Bruch bei 800 GeV jedoch auch nicht ausgeschlossen werden. Die hier präsentierte Messung stimmt innerhalb der Fehler mit den Ergebnissen von AMS-02 und Fermi-LAT sowie innerhalb von zwei Standardabweichungen mit den Messungen von H.E.S.S. und VERITAS überein. Eine Interpretation des Elektronenflusses gestaltet sich aufgrund des großen Fehlers als schwierig. Im Endeffekt kann keine der potentiellen neuen Quellen kosmischer Elektronen ausgeschlossen werden.
The measurement presented in this thesis seeks to provide an increased overlap of the Fermi-LAT and AMS-02 measurement, as well as the very-high-energy H.E.S.S. and VERITAS measurement. The MAGIC telescopes, a stereoscopic system of imaging air-shower Cherenkov telescopes, are a good candidate for such a measurement. They overlap largely with the Fermi-LAT energy range, down to 130 GeV, and extend into the energy range of the H.E.S.S. system, extending the measurement up to 4 TeV. The measurement performed in this thesis uses a non-standard method developed especially for this analysis. It is based on a machine-learning-algorithm which differentiates between hadronic and electro-magnetic air showers. The background needs to be simulated from Monte Carlo protons, which were produced in large quantities for this thesis. As this is an indirect detection method, the systematic uncertainties are much larger than those of the satellite missions. A detailed study of the systematic uncertainties was performed in the scope of this thesis, which prove to be much larger than the statistical uncertainties. The measured spectrum presented here extends from 135 GeV up to 4 TeV. It shows no clear break in the spectrum and is in line with an extension of the single power-law observed by Fermi-LAT and AMS-02. A broken power-law interpretation was disfavored when compared to the single power-law. The final spectrum has a powerlaw index of -3.14+-0.05(stat)+-0.5(syst). Due to the large uncertainties no definitive conclusion can be given at this point. Also, the cutoff seen by H.E.S.S. can not be ruled out. The result presented in this thesis is compatible with the Fermi-LAT and AMS-02 results, however there is minor tension with the H.E.S.S. and VERITAS results around 4 TeV. The limiting factor of the method is the large systematic uncertainty, making it impossible to distinguish between different electron sources for the results presented in this thesis.
The measurement presented in this thesis seeks to provide an increased overlap of the Fermi-LAT and AMS-02 measurement, as well as the very-high-energy H.E.S.S. and VERITAS measurement. The MAGIC telescopes, a stereoscopic system of imaging air-shower Cherenkov telescopes, are a good candidate for such a measurement. They overlap largely with the Fermi-LAT energy range, down to 130 GeV, and extend into the energy range of the H.E.S.S. system, extending the measurement up to 4 TeV. The measurement performed in this thesis uses a non-standard method developed especially for this analysis. It is based on a machine-learning-algorithm which differentiates between hadronic and electro-magnetic air showers. The background needs to be simulated from Monte Carlo protons, which were produced in large quantities for this thesis. As this is an indirect detection method, the systematic uncertainties are much larger than those of the satellite missions. A detailed study of the systematic uncertainties was performed in the scope of this thesis, which prove to be much larger than the statistical uncertainties. The measured spectrum presented here extends from 135 GeV up to 4 TeV. It shows no clear break in the spectrum and is in line with an extension of the single power-law observed by Fermi-LAT and AMS-02. A broken power-law interpretation was disfavored when compared to the single power-law. The final spectrum has a powerlaw index of -3.14+-0.05(stat)+-0.5(syst). Due to the large uncertainties no definitive conclusion can be given at this point. Also, the cutoff seen by H.E.S.S. can not be ruled out. The result presented in this thesis is compatible with the Fermi-LAT and AMS-02 results, however there is minor tension with the H.E.S.S. and VERITAS results around 4 TeV. The limiting factor of the method is the large systematic uncertainty, making it impossible to distinguish between different electron sources for the results presented in this thesis.
Description
Keywords
MAGIC, kosmische Elektronen, galaktisch, hochenergetische Strahlung, diffuses Spektrum, MAGIC, cosmic electrons, galactic, very-high-energy, diffuse spectrum
Dewey Decimal Classification
530 Physik
Citation
Mallot, Ann Kathrin.(2017). The energy spectrum of cosmic electrons measured with the MAGIC telescopes. 10.18452/17698