Speaker
Description
PeV gamma rays experience strong attenuation due to interaction with
the cosmic microwave background, thus allowing access only up to
Galactic distances. However, their hadronic origin implies that a
measurement of the diffuse PeV emission from the Galactic plane can
inform on the cosmic-ray propagation mechanisms as well as cosmic-ray
spectrum elsewhere within the Galaxy. Moreover, a successful source
detection would point to a Galactic accelerator capable of
accelerating cosmic rays up to at least a few PeV. The IceCube observatory and
its surface air shower array, IceTop, can detect the extensive air
showers produced by PeV gamma rays entering Earth's atmosphere. Air
shower footprint from IceTop and TeV muon signal from the deep ice
detector are used to distinguish muon-poor gamma ray showers from the
highly abundant cosmic rays. In this talk, I will present results from
the search for diffuse PeV emission from the Galactic plane and the
search for point-like sources in IceCube's field of view.
