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Evidence for a Galactic gamma ray halo

D. D. Dixon, D. H. Hartmann, E. D. Kolaczyk, J. Samimi, R. Diehl, G. Kanbach, H. Mayer-Hasselwander, A. W. Strong

astro-pharXiv:astro-ph/9803237

Abstract

We present quantitative statistical evidence for a γ-ray emission halo surrounding the Galaxy. Maps of the emission are derived. EGRET data were analyzed in a wavelet-based non-parametric hypothesis testing framework, using a model of expected diffuse (Galactic + isotropic) emission as a null hypothesis. The results show a statistically significant large scale halo surrounding the center of the Milky Way as seen from Earth. The halo flux at high latitudes is somewhat smaller than the isotropic gamma-ray flux at the same energy, though of the same order (O(10(-7)--10(-6)) ph/cm2/s/sr above 1 GeV).

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