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[28.01D] Observation and Study of TeV Air-Shower Events from the Direction of the Sun with the Milagro Detector

L. Fleysher (New York University), Milagro Collaboration

Air shower data from the Milagro detector were used to examine the Moon and the Sun regions of the sky at energies near 1TeV.

The cosmic ray shadow of the Sun is comparable to that of the Moon during the phase of low solar activity but is significantly disturbed during the high state. This implies that the cosmic ray shadow of the Sun can provide new information on the large scale structure of the solar and interplanetary magnetic fields and their time variation.

In addition, a gamma-ray signal from the solar region could arise from the annihilations of relic supersymmetric dark matter particles (such as neutralinos) which are trapped in the solar gravitational potential well. The same data set is being used to establish an upper limit on the gamma-ray flux from the Sun. A preliminary limit on neutralino mass is derived with the help of a Monte Carlo computer calculation of the neutralino density in the Solar system.

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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 34
© 2002. The American Astronomical Soceity.