A Targeted Search for Point Sources of EeV Photons with the Pierre Auger Observatory

AAB, A.; ABREU, P.; AGLIETTA, M.; SAMARAI, I.AL.; ALBUQUERQUE, I.F.M.; ALLEKOTTE, I.; ALMELA, A.; CASTILLO, J. ALVAREZ; ALVAREZ-MUÑIZ, J.; ANASTASI, G.A.; ANCHORDOQUI, L.; ANDRADA, B.; ANDRINGA, S.; ARAMO, C.; ARQUEROS, F.; ARSENE, N.; ASOREY, H.; ASSIS, P.; AUBLIN, J.; AVILA, G.; BADESCU, A.M.; BALACEANU, A.; LUZ, R. J. BARREIRA; BEATTY, J.J.; BECKER, K.H.; BELLIDO, J.A.; BERAT, C.; BERTAINA, M.E.; BERTOU, X.; BIERMANN, P.L.; BILLOIR, P.; BITEAU, J.; BLAESS, S.G.; BLANCO, A.; BLAZEK, J.; BLEVE, C.; BOHÁ?OVÁ, M.; BONCIOLI, D.; BONIFAZI, C.; BORODAI, N.; BOTTI, A.M.; BRACK, J.; BRANCUS, I.; BRETZ, T.; BRIDGEMAN, A.; BRIECHLE, F.L.; BUCHHOLZ, P.; BUENO, A.; BUITINK, S.; BUSCEMI, M.; CABALLERO-MORA, K.S.; CACCIANIGA, L.; CANCIO, A.; CANFORA, F.; CARAMETE, L.; CARUSO, R.; CASTELLINA, A.; CATALDI, G.; CAZON, L.; CHAVEZ, A.G.; CHINELLATO, J.A.; CHUDOBA, J.; CLAY, R.W.; COLALILLO, R.; COLEMAN, A.; COLLICA, L.; COLUCCIA, M.R.; CONCEIÃO, R.; CONTRERAS, F.; COOPER, M.J.; COUTU, S.; COVAULT, C.E.; CRONIN, J.; D'AMICO, S

Astrophysical Journal Letters

Institute of Physics Publishing

Año: 2017 vol. 837

2041-8205

Simultaneous measurements of air showers with the fluorescence and surface detectors of the Pierre Auger Observatory allow a sensitive search for EeV photon point sources. Several Galactic and extragalactic candidate objects are grouped in classes to reduce the statistical penalty of many trials from that of a blind search and are analyzed for a significant excess above the background expectation. The presented search does not find any evidence for photon emission at candidate sources, and combined p-values for every class are reported. Particle and energy flux upper limits are given for selected candidate sources. These limits significantly constrain predictions of EeV proton emission models from non-transient Galactic and nearby extragalactic sources, as illustrated for the particular case of the Galactic center region.