@article{af451ec1b9bf46e09b0926bcc2c2778d,
title = "A maximum-likelihood-based technique for detecting extended gamma-ray sources with VERITAS",
abstract = "Gamma-ray observations ranging from hundreds of MeV to tens of TeV are a valuable tool for studying particle acceleration and diffusion within our galaxy. Supernova remnants, pulsar wind nebulae, and star-forming regions are the main particle accelerators in our local Galaxy. Constructing a coherent physical picture of these astrophysical objects requires the ability to distinguish extended regions of gamma-ray emission, the ability to analyze small-scale spatial variation within these regions, and methods to synthesize data from multiple observatories across multiple wavebands. Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs) provide fine angular resolution (<0.1 degree) for gamma-rays above 100 GeV. Typical data reduction methods rely on source-free regions in the field of view to estimate cosmic-ray background. This presents difficulties for sources with unknown extent or those which encompass a large portion of the IACT field of view (3.5 degrees for VERITAS). Maximum-likelihood-based techniques are well-suited for analysis of fields with multiple overlapping sources, diffuse background components, and combining data from multiple observatories. Such methods also offer an alternative approach to estimating the IACT cosmic-ray background and consequently an enhanced sensitivity to largely extended sources. In this proceeding, we report on the current status and performance of a maximum likelihood technique for the IACT VERITAS. In particular, we focus on how our method's framework employs a dimension for gamma-hadron separation parameters in order to improve sensitivity on extended sources.",
author = "{The VERITAS Collaboration} and Alisha Chromey and Adams, {C. B.} and A. Archer and W. Benbow and A. Brill and Buckley, {J. H.} and M. Capasso and Christiansen, {J. L.} and M. Errando and A. Falcone and Farrell, {K. A.} and Q. Feng and Foote, {G. M.} and L. Fortson and A. Furniss and A. Gent and Gillanders, {G. H.} and C. Giuri and O. Gueta and D. Hanna and O. Hervet and J. Holder and B. Hona and Humensky, {T. B.} and W. Jin and P. Kaaret and M. Kertzman and Kleiner, {T. K.} and S. Kumar and Lang, {M. J.} and M. Lundy and G. Maier and McGrath, {C. E.} and P. Moriarty and R. Mukherjee and D. Nieto and M. Nievas-Rosillo and S. O'Brien and Ong, {R. A.} and Otte, {A. N.} and Patel, {S. R.} and S. Patel and K. Pfrang and M. Pohl and Prado, {R. R.} and E. Pueschel and J. Quinn and K. Ragan and Reynolds, {P. T.} and D. Ribeiro",
note = "Funding Information: This research is supported by grants from the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science, the U.S. National Science Foundation and the Smithsonian Institution, and by NSERC in Canada. This research used resources provided by the Open Science Grid, supported by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy{\textquoteright}s Office of Science, and resources of the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC), a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science User Facility operated under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231. We acknowledge the excellent work of the technical support staff at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory and at the collaborating institutions in the construction and operation of the instrument. Dr. Amanda Weinstein and Alisha Chromey acknowledge the support from grant NSF-PHY 1555161. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} Copyright owned by the author(s) under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0); 37th International Cosmic Ray Conference, ICRC 2021 ; Conference date: 12-07-2021 Through 23-07-2021",
year = "2022",
month = mar,
day = "18",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "395",
journal = "Proceedings of Science",
issn = "1824-8039",
publisher = "Sissa Medialab Srl",
}