1. Search for Gamma-Ray Emission from Local Primordial Black Holes with the Fermi Large Area Telescope
- Author
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Ackermann, M., Atwood, W. B., Baldini, L., Ballet, J., Barbiellini, G., Bastieri, D., Bellazzini, R., Berenji, B., Bissaldi, E., Blandford, R. D., Bloom, E. D., Bonino, R., Bottacini, E., Bregeon, J., Bruel, P., Buehler, R., Cameron, R. A., Caputo, R., Caraveo, P. A., Cavazzuti, E., Charles, E., Chekhtman, A., Cheung, C. C., Chiaro, G., Ciprini, S., Cohen-Tanugi, J., Conrad, Jan, Costantin, D., D'Ammando, F., de Palma, F., Digel, S. W., Di Lalla, N., Di Mauro, M., Di Venere, L., Favuzzi, C., Fegan, S. J., Focke, W. B., Franckowiak, A., Fukazawa, Y., Funk, S., Fusco, P., Gargano, F., Gasparrini, D., Giglietto, N., Giordano, F., Giroletti, M., Green, D., Grenier, I. A., Guillemot, L., Guiriec, S., Horan, D., Johannesson, G., Johnson, C., Kensei, S., Kocevski, D., Kuss, M., Larsson, S., Latronico, L., Li, J., Longo, F., Loparco, F., Lovellette, M. N., Lubrano, P., Magill, J. D., Maldera, S., Malyshev, D., Manfreda, A., Mazziotta, M. N., McEnery, J. E., Meyer, M., Michelson, P. F., Mitthumsiri, W., Mizuno, T., Monzani, M. E., Moretti, E., Morselli, A., Moskalenko, I. V., Negro, M., Nuss, E., Ojha, R., Omodei, N., Orienti, M., Orlando, E., Ormes, J. F., Palatiello, M., Paliya, V. S., Paneque, D., Persic, M., Pesce-Rollins, M., Piron, F., Principe, G., Raino, S., Rando, R., Razzano, M., Razzaque, S., Reimer, A., Reimer, O., Ritz, S., Sanchez-Conde, M., Sgro, C., Siskind, E. J., Spada, F., Spandre, G., Spinelli, P., Suson, D. J., Tajima, H., Thayer, J. G., Thayer, J. B., Torres, D. F., Tosti, G., Troja, E., Valverde, J., Vianello, G., Wood, K., Wood, M., Zaharijas, G., Ackermann, M., Atwood, W. B., Baldini, L., Ballet, J., Barbiellini, G., Bastieri, D., Bellazzini, R., Berenji, B., Bissaldi, E., Blandford, R. D., Bloom, E. D., Bonino, R., Bottacini, E., Bregeon, J., Bruel, P., Buehler, R., Cameron, R. A., Caputo, R., Caraveo, P. A., Cavazzuti, E., Charles, E., Chekhtman, A., Cheung, C. C., Chiaro, G., Ciprini, S., Cohen-Tanugi, J., Conrad, Jan, Costantin, D., D'Ammando, F., de Palma, F., Digel, S. W., Di Lalla, N., Di Mauro, M., Di Venere, L., Favuzzi, C., Fegan, S. J., Focke, W. B., Franckowiak, A., Fukazawa, Y., Funk, S., Fusco, P., Gargano, F., Gasparrini, D., Giglietto, N., Giordano, F., Giroletti, M., Green, D., Grenier, I. A., Guillemot, L., Guiriec, S., Horan, D., Johannesson, G., Johnson, C., Kensei, S., Kocevski, D., Kuss, M., Larsson, S., Latronico, L., Li, J., Longo, F., Loparco, F., Lovellette, M. N., Lubrano, P., Magill, J. D., Maldera, S., Malyshev, D., Manfreda, A., Mazziotta, M. N., McEnery, J. E., Meyer, M., Michelson, P. F., Mitthumsiri, W., Mizuno, T., Monzani, M. E., Moretti, E., Morselli, A., Moskalenko, I. V., Negro, M., Nuss, E., Ojha, R., Omodei, N., Orienti, M., Orlando, E., Ormes, J. F., Palatiello, M., Paliya, V. S., Paneque, D., Persic, M., Pesce-Rollins, M., Piron, F., Principe, G., Raino, S., Rando, R., Razzano, M., Razzaque, S., Reimer, A., Reimer, O., Ritz, S., Sanchez-Conde, M., Sgro, C., Siskind, E. J., Spada, F., Spandre, G., Spinelli, P., Suson, D. J., Tajima, H., Thayer, J. G., Thayer, J. B., Torres, D. F., Tosti, G., Troja, E., Valverde, J., Vianello, G., Wood, K., Wood, M., and Zaharijas, G.
- Abstract
Black holes with masses below approximately 10(15) g are expected to emit gamma-rays with energies above a few tens of MeV, which can be detected by the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT). Although black holes with these masses cannot be formed as a result of stellar evolution, they may have formed in the early universe and are therefore called primordial black holes (PBHs). Previous searches for PBHs have focused on either short-timescale bursts or the contribution of PBHs to the isotropic gamma-ray emission. We show that, in cases of individual PBHs, the Fermi-LAT is most sensitive to PBHs with temperatures above approximately 16 GeV and masses 6 x 10(11) g, which it can detect out to a distance of about 0.03 pc. These PBHs have a remaining lifetime of months to years at the start of the Fermi mission. They would appear as potentially moving point sources with gamma-ray emission that become spectrally harder and brighter with time until the PBH completely evaporates. In this paper, we develop a new algorithm to detect the proper motion of gamma-ray point sources, and apply it to 318 unassociated point sources at a high galactic latitude in the third Fermi-LAT source catalog. None of the unassociated point sources with spectra consistent with PBH evaporation show significant proper motion. Using the nondetection of PBH candidates, we derive a 99% confidence limit on the PBH evaporation rate in the vicinity of Earth, <(rho)over dot>(PBH) < 7.2 x 10(3) pc(-3) yr(-1). This limit is similar to the limits obtained with ground-based gamma-ray observatories.
- Published
- 2018
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