High-Latitude Molecular Clouds as gamma-ray Sources for GLAST

Abstract

For about two decades, a population of relative small and nearby molecular clouds has been known to exist at high Galactic latitudes. Lying more than 10${}^{\circ }$ from the Galactic plane, these clouds have typical distances of $\sim$150 pc, angular sizes of $\sim 1^{\circ }$, and masses of order tens of solar masses. These objects are passive sources of high-energy $\gamma$-rays through cosmic ray-gas interactions. Using a new wide-angle CO survey of the northern sky, we show that typical high-latitude clouds are not bright enough in $\gamma$-rays to have been detected by EGRET, but that of order 100 of them will be detectable by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on GLAST. Thus, we predict a new steady population of $\gamma$-ray sources at high Galactic latitudes, perhaps the most numerous after active galactic nuclei.

Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Letters

References in corpus (4)

• A Uniform CO Survey of the Molecular Clouds in Orion and Monoceros
• Theoretical modelling of the diffuse emission of gamma-rays from extreme regions of star formation: The case of Arp 220
• Blazar Counterparts for 3EG Sources at -40 < decl. < 0: Pushing South Through the Bulge
• Luminous infrared galaxies as plausible gamma-ray sources for GLAST and IACTs

Cited by in corpus (9)

• Surveys with the Cherenkov Telescope Array
• The Interaction of Cosmic Rays with Diffuse Clouds
• Can Astrophysical Gamma Ray Sources Mimic Dark Matter Annihilation in Galactic Satellites?
• Unraveling the Nature of Unidentified High Galactic Latitude Fermi/LAT Gamma-ray Sources with Suzaku
• Runaway stars as cosmic ray injectors inside molecular clouds
• Catalogue of 12CO(J=1-0) and 13CO(J=1-0) Molecular Clouds in the Carina Flare Supershell
• On the potential of the Cherenkov Telescope Array for the study of cosmic-ray diffusion in molecular clouds
• High Latitude, Translucent Molecular Clouds as Probes of Local Cosmic Rays
• GLAST Large Area Telescope Multiwavelength Planning