First Detection of Photons with Energy beyond 100 TeV from an Astrophysical Source

M Amenomori; Y W Bao; X J Bi; D Chen; T L Chen; W Y Chen; Xu Chen; Y Chen; Cirennima; S W Cui; Danzengluobu; L K Ding; J H Fang; K Fang; C F Feng; Zhaoyang Feng; Z Y Feng; Qi Gao; Q B Gou; Y Q Guo; H H He; Z T He; K Hibino; N Hotta; Haibing Hu; H B Hu; J Huang; H Y Jia; L Jiang; H B Jin; F Kajino; K Kasahara; Y Katayose; C Kato; S Kato; K Kawata; M Kozai; Labaciren; G M Le; A F Li; H J Li; W J Li; Y H Lin; B Liu; C Liu; J S Liu; M Y Liu; Y-Q Lou; H Lu; X R Meng; H Mitsui; K Munakata; Y Nakamura; H Nanjo; M Nishizawa; M Ohnishi; I Ohta; S Ozawa; X L Qian; X B Qu; T Saito; M Sakata; T K Sako; Y Sengoku; J Shao; M Shibata; A Shiomi; H Sugimoto; M Takita; Y H Tan; N Tateyama; S Torii; H Tsuchiya; S Udo; H Wang; H R Wu; L Xue; K Yagisawa; Y Yamamoto; Z Yang; A F Yuan; L M Zhai; H M Zhang; J L Zhang; X Zhang; X Y Zhang; Y Zhang; Yi Zhang; Ying Zhang; Zhaxisangzhu; X X Zhou; Tibet <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mi>AS</mi><mi>γ</mi></math> Collaboration

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.123.051101

First Detection of Photons with Energy beyond 100 TeV from an Astrophysical Source

Phys Rev Lett. 2019 Aug 2;123(5):051101. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.123.051101.

Authors

M Amenomori¹, Y W Bao², X J Bi³, D Chen⁴, T L Chen⁵, W Y Chen³, Xu Chen^{3

6}, Y Chen², Cirennima⁵, S W Cui⁷, Danzengluobu⁵, L K Ding³, J H Fang^{3

6}, K Fang³, C F Feng⁸, Zhaoyang Feng³, Z Y Feng⁹, Qi Gao⁵, Q B Gou³, Y Q Guo³, H H He³, Z T He⁷, K Hibino¹⁰, N Hotta¹¹, Haibing Hu⁵, H B Hu³, J Huang³, H Y Jia⁹, L Jiang³, H B Jin⁴, F Kajino¹², K Kasahara¹³, Y Katayose¹⁴, C Kato¹⁵, S Kato¹⁶, K Kawata¹⁶, M Kozai¹⁷, Labaciren⁵, G M Le¹⁸, A F Li^{3

8

19}, H J Li⁵, W J Li^{3

9}, Y H Lin^{3

6}, B Liu², C Liu³, J S Liu³, M Y Liu⁵, Y-Q Lou²⁰, H Lu³, X R Meng⁵, H Mitsui¹⁴, K Munakata¹⁵, Y Nakamura³, H Nanjo¹, M Nishizawa²¹, M Ohnishi¹⁶, I Ohta²², S Ozawa¹³, X L Qian²³, X B Qu²⁴, T Saito²⁵, M Sakata¹², T K Sako¹⁶, Y Sengoku¹⁴, J Shao^{3

8}, M Shibata¹⁴, A Shiomi²⁶, H Sugimoto²⁷, M Takita¹⁶, Y H Tan³, N Tateyama¹⁰, S Torii¹³, H Tsuchiya²⁸, S Udo¹⁰, H Wang³, H R Wu³, L Xue⁸, K Yagisawa¹⁴, Y Yamamoto¹², Z Yang³, A F Yuan⁵, L M Zhai⁴, H M Zhang³, J L Zhang³, X Zhang², X Y Zhang⁸, Y Zhang³, Yi Zhang³, Ying Zhang³, Zhaxisangzhu⁵, X X Zhou⁹; Tibet <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mi>AS</mi><mi>γ</mi></math> Collaboration

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physics, Hirosaki University, Hirosaki 036-8561, Japan.
² School of Astronomy and Space Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China.
³ Key Laboratory of Particle Astrophysics, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
⁴ National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100012, China.
⁵ Physics Department of Science School, Tibet University, Lhasa 850000, China.
⁶ University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
⁷ Department of Physics, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang 050016, China.
⁸ Department of Physics, Shandong University, Jinan 250100, China.
⁹ Institute of Modern Physics, SouthWest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 610031, China.
¹⁰ Faculty of Engineering, Kanagawa University, Yokohama 221-8686, Japan.
¹¹ Faculty of Education, Utsunomiya University, Utsunomiya 321-8505, Japan.
¹² Department of Physics, Konan University, Kobe 658-8501, Japan.
¹³ Research Institute for Science and Engineering, Waseda University, Tokyo 169-8555, Japan.
¹⁴ Faculty of Engineering, Yokohama National University, Yokohama 240-8501, Japan.
¹⁵ Department of Physics, Shinshu University, Matsumoto 390-8621, Japan.
¹⁶ Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, University of Tokyo, Kashiwa 277-8582, Japan.
¹⁷ Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (ISAS/JAXA), Sagamihara 252-5210, Japan.
¹⁸ National Center for Space Weather, China Meteorological Administration, Beijing 100081, China.
¹⁹ School of Information Science and Engineering, Shandong Agriculture University, Taian 271018, China.
²⁰ Physics Department, Astronomy Department and Tsinghua Center for Astrophysics, Tsinghua-National Astronomical Observatories of China joint Research Center for Astrophysics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
²¹ National Institute of Informatics, Tokyo 101-8430, Japan.
²² Sakushin Gakuin University, Utsunomiya 321-3295, Japan.
²³ Department of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Shandong Management University, Jinan 250357, China.
²⁴ College of Science, China University of Petroleum, Qingdao, 266555, China.
²⁵ Tokyo Metropolitan College of Industrial Technology, Tokyo 116-8523, Japan.
²⁶ College of Industrial Technology, Nihon University, Narashino 275-8576, Japan.
²⁷ Shonan Institute of Technology, Fujisawa 251-8511, Japan.
²⁸ Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Tokai-mura 319-1195, Japan.

PMID: 31491288
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.123.051101

Abstract

We report on the highest energy photons from the Crab Nebula observed by the Tibet air shower array with the underground water-Cherenkov-type muon detector array. Based on the criterion of a muon number measured in an air shower, we successfully suppress 99.92% of the cosmic-ray background events with energies E>100 TeV. As a result, we observed 24 photonlike events with E>100 TeV against 5.5 background events, which corresponds to a 5.6σ statistical significance. This is the first detection of photons with E>100 TeV from an astrophysical source.