J. Y. Zhang

TeV gamma-ray survey of the northern sky using the ARGO-YBJ detector

The Astrophysical Radiation with Ground-based Observatory at Yang Ba Jing (ARGO-YBJ) detector is an extensive air shower array that has been used to monitor the northern γ-ray sky at energies above 0.3xa0TeV from 2007 November to 2013 January. In this paper, we present the results of a sky survey in the declination band from –10° to 70°, using data recorded over the past five years. With an integrated sensitivity ranging from 0.24 to ~1 Crab units depending on the declination, six sources have been detected with a statistical significance greater than five standard deviations. Several excesses are also reported as potential γ-ray emitters. The features of each source are presented and discussed. Additionally, 95% confidence level upper limits of the flux from the investigated sky region are shown. Specific upper limits for 663xa0GeV γ-ray active galactic nuclei inside the ARGO-YBJ field of view are reported. The effect of the absorption of γ-rays due to the interaction with extragalactic background light is estimated.

On the e+e– Excesses and the Knee of the Cosmic Ray Spectra—Hints of Cosmic Ray Acceleration in Young Supernova Remnants

Supernova remnants (SNRs) have long been regarded as sources of the Galactic cosmic rays (CRs) up to petaelectronvolts, but convincing evidence is still lacking. In this work we explore the common origin of the subtle features of the CR spectra, such as the knee of CR spectra and the excesses of electron/positron fluxes recently observed by ATIC, H.E.S.S., Fermi-LAT, and PAMELA. Numerical calculation shows that those features of CR spectra can be well reproduced in a scenario with e+e– pair production by interactions between high-energy CRs and background photons in an environment similar to the young SNR. The success of such a coherent explanation serves in turn as evidence that at least a portion of CRs might be accelerated in young SNRs.

A study on the sharp knee and fine structures of cosmic ray spectra

The paper investigates the overall and detailed features of cosmic ray (CR) spectra in the knee region using the scenario of nuclei-photon interactions around the acceleration sources. Young supernova remnants can be the physical realities of such kind of CR acceleration sites. The results show that the model can well explain the following problems simultaneously with one set of source parameters: the knee of CR spectra and the sharpness of the knee, the detailed irregular structures of CR spectra, the so-called “component B” of Galactic CRs, and the electron/positron excesses reported by recent observations. The coherent explanation serves as evidence that at least a portion of CRs might be accelerated at the sources similar to young supernova remnants, and one set of source parameters indicates that this portion mainly comes from standard sources or from a single source.