Search for Gamma-Ray Emission from Local Primordial Black Holes with the Fermi Large Area Telescope
Journal
Date Issued
2018
Author(s)
Ackermann, M.
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Atwood, W. B.
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Baldini, L.
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Ballet, J.
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Barbiellini, G.
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Bastieri, D.
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Bellazzini, R.
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Berenji, B.
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Bissaldi, E.
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Blandford, R. D.
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Bloom, E. D.
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Bonino, R.
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Bottacini, E.
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Bregeon, J.
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Bruel, P.
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Buehler, R.
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Cameron, R. A.
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Caputo, R.
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•
Cavazzuti, E.
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Charles, E.
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Chekhtman, A.
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Cheung, C. C.
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Chiaro, G.
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Ciprini, S.
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Cohen-Tanugi, J.
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Conrad, J.
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Costantin, D.
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•
de Palma, F.
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Digel, S. W.
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Di Lalla, N.
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Di Mauro, M.
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Di Venere, L.
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Favuzzi, C.
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Fegan, S. J.
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Focke, W. B.
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Franckowiak, A.
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Fukazawa, Y.
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Funk, S.
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Fusco, P.
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Gargano, F.
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Gasparrini, D.
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Giglietto, N.
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Giordano, F.
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Green, D.
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Grenier, I. A.
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Guillemot, L.
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Guiriec, S.
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Horan, D.
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Jóhannesson, G.
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Johnson, C.
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Kensei, S.
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Kocevski, D.
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Kuss, M.
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Larsson, S.
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Latronico, L.
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Li, J.
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Longo, F.
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Loparco, F.
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Lovellette, M. N.
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Lubrano, P.
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Magill, J. D.
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Maldera, S.
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Malyshev, D.
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Manfreda, A.
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Mazziotta, M. N.
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McEnery, J. E.
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Meyer, M.
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Michelson, P. F.
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Mitthumsiri, W.
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Mizuno, T.
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Monzani, M. E.
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Moretti, E.
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Morselli, A.
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Moskalenko, I. V.
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Negro, M.
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Nuss, E.
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Ojha, R.
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Omodei, N.
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•
Orlando, E.
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Ormes, J. F.
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Palatiello, M.
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Paliya, V. S.
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Paneque, D.
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Pesce-Rollins, M.
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Piron, F.
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Rainò, S.
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Rando, R.
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Razzano, M.
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Razzaque, S.
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Reimer, A.
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Reimer, O.
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Ritz, S.
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Sánchez-Conde, M.
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Sgrò, C.
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Siskind, E. J.
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Spada, F.
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Spandre, G.
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Spinelli, P.
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Suson, D. J.
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Tajima, H.
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Thayer, J. G.
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Thayer, J. B.
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Torres, D. F.
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Tosti, G.
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Troja, E.
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Valverde, J.
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Vianello, G.
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Wood, K.
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Wood, M.
•
Zaharijas, G.
Abstract
Black holes with masses below approximately 1015 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 × 1011 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, {\dot{ρ }}PBH}< 7.2× {10}3 {pc}}-3 {yr}}-1. This limit is similar to the limits obtained with ground-based gamma-ray observatories.
Volume
857
Issue
1
Start page
49
Issn Identifier
0004-637X
Ads BibCode
2018ApJ...857...49A
Rights
open.access
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