The VERITAS Survey of the Cygnus Region of the Galactic Plane

TL;DR

The VERITAS survey of the Cygnus region extensively mapped potential gamma-ray sources, detecting two sources and enhancing understanding of high-energy phenomena in this rich astrophysical area.

Contribution

This paper presents the first extensive VHE gamma-ray survey of the Cygnus region, identifying new sources and improving sensitivity over previous observations.

Findings

Detection of two VHE gamma-ray sources.

Survey sensitivity reaches below 4% of Crab flux.

Identification of potential gamma-ray emitters in Cygnus.

Abstract

The VERITAS IACT observatory has carried out an extensive survey of the Cygnus region between 67 and 82 degrees in galactic longitude and between -1 and 4 degrees in galactic latitude. This region is a natural choice for a Very High Energy (VHE) gamma-ray survey in the Northern Hemisphere, as it contains a substantial number of potential VHE gamma-ray emitters such as supernova remnants, pulsar wind nebulae, high-mass X-ray binaries, and massive star clusters, in addition to a few previously detected VHE gamma-ray sources. It is also home to a number of GeV gamma-ray sources, including no less than four new high-significance sources detected in the first six months of Fermi data. The VERITAS survey, comprising more than 140 hours of observations, reaches an average VHE point-source flux sensitivity of better than 4% of the Crab Nebula flux at energies above 200 GeV. Here we report on preliminary results from this survey, including two source detections, and discuss the prospects for further studies that would exploit the joint coverage provided by VERITAS and Fermi data in this region.