Results from the Milagrito experiment

Authors

A J. Smith, University of Maryland - College ParkFollow
R Atkins, University of UtahFollow
W Benbow, University of California - Santa Cruz
D Berley, University of Maryland - College Park
M L. Chen, University of Maryland - College Park
D G. Coyne, University of California - Santa Cruz
B L. Dingus, University of UtahFollow
D E. Dorfan, University of California - Santa Cruz
R W. Ellsworth, George Mason University
D Evans, University of Maryland - College Park
A Falcone, University of New Hampshire - Main CampusFollow
L Fleysher, New York UniversityFollow
R Fleysher, New York UniversityFollow
G Gisler, Los Alamos National Laboratory
J A. Goodman, University of Maryland - College Park
T J. Haines, Los Alamos National LaboratoryFollow
C M. Hoffman, Los Alamos National Laboratory
S Hugenberger, University of California - Irvine
L A. Kelley, University of California - Santa Cruz
I Leonor, University of California - Irvine
Mark L. McConnell, University of New Hampshire - Main CampusFollow
J F. McCullough, University of California - Santa Cruz
J E. McEnery, University of UtahFollow
R S. Miller, University of New Hampshire - Main CampusFollow
A I. Mincer, New York University
M F. Morales, University of California - Santa CruzFollow
P Nemethy, New York University
James M. Ryan, University of New HampshireFollow
B Shen, University of California - Riverside
A Shoup, University of California - Irvine
G Sinnis, Los Alamos National Laboratory
G W. Sullivan, University of Maryland - College Park
O T. Tumer, University of California - Riverside
K Wang, University of California - Riverside
M O. Wascko, University of California - Riverside
S Westerhoff, University of California - Santa Cruz
D A. Williams, University of California - Santa CruzFollow
T Yang, University of California - Santa Cruz
G B. Yodh, University of California - Irvine

Abstract

The Milagro water Cherenkov detector near Los Alamos, New Mexico is the first air shower detector capable of continuously monitoring the sky at energies between 500 GeV and 20 TeV. Preliminary results of the Milagro experiment are presented. A predecessor of the Milagro detector, Milagrito, was operational from February 1997 to May 1998. Milagrito consisted of 228 8^″ photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) arranged in a grid with a 2.8 meter spacing and submerged in 1–2 meters of water. During its operation, Milagrito collected in excess of 9 billion events with a median energy of about 3 TeV. The detector’s sensitivity extends below 1 TeV for showers from near zenith. The results of an all sky search for the Milagrito data for both transient and DC sources will be presented, including the Crab Nebula and active galaxies Markarian 501 and 421, which are known sources of TeV gamma-rays. Also presented will be a study of the TeV emission from gamma ray bursts (GRBs) in Milagrito’s field of view detected by the BATSE experiment on the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory.

Department

Space Science Center, Physics

Publication Date

2000

Journal Title

AIP Conference Proceedings

Publisher

AIP Publishing

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1063/1.1291408

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Recommended Citation

Results from the Milagrito experiment Smith, A. J. and Atkins, R. and Benbow, W. and Berley, D. and Chen, M. L. and Coyne, D. G. and Dingus, B. L. and Dorfan, D. E. and Ellsworth, R. W. and Evans, D. and Falcone, A. and Fleysher, L. and Fleysher, R. and Gisler, G. and Goodman, J. A. and Haines, T. J. and Hoffman, C. M. and Hugenberger, S. and Kelley, L. A. and Leonor, I. and McConnell, M. and McCullough, J. F. and McEnery, J. E. and Miller, R. S. and Mincer, A. I. and Morales, M. F. and Nemethy, P. and Ryan, J. M. and Shen, B. and Shoup, A. and Sinnis, G. and Sullivan, G. W. and Tumer, T. and Wang, K. and Wascko, M. O. and Westerhoff, S. and Williams, D. A. and Yang, T. and Yodh, G. B., AIP Conference Proceedings, 515, 441-447 (2000), DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.1291408

Rights

© 2000 American Institute of Physics