Measuring 10-1000 GeV Cosmic Ray Electrons with GLAST/LAT

TL;DR

This paper evaluates the GLAST/LAT instrument's ability to detect high-energy cosmic ray electrons between 10 GeV and 1 TeV, highlighting its potential for astrophysical and dark matter research.

Contribution

It provides an assessment of LAT's capabilities for high-energy electron detection and explores various scientific investigations enabled by this data.

Findings

Expected detection of approximately 10^7 electrons above 20 GeV annually

Simulation results support the feasibility of studying cosmic-ray propagation and dark matter signatures

LAT can measure electron anisotropy in the specified energy range

Abstract

We present here the capabilities of the GLAST Large Area Telescope to detect cosmic ray high-energy (HE) electrons in the energy range from 10 GeV to 1 TeV. We also discuss the science topics that can be investigated with HE electron data and quantify the results with LAT instrument simulations. The science topics include CR propagation, calibration of the IC gamma-ray model, testing hypotheses regarding the origin of HE energy cosmic-ray electrons, searching for any signature of Kaluza Klein Dark Matter annihilation, and measuring the HE electron anisotropy. We expect to detect ~ 107 electrons above 20 GeV per year of LAT operation.