239 research outputs found
Reanalysis of Data Taken by the CANGAROO 3.8 Meter Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescope: PSR B1706-44, SN 1006, and Vela
We have reanalyzed data from observations of PSR B1706-44, SN 1006, and the
Vela pulsar region made with the CANGAROO 3.8 m imaging atmospheric Cherenkov
telescope between 1993 and 1998 in response to the results reported for these
sources by the H.E.S.S. collaboration. In our reanalysis, in which gamma-ray
selection criteria have been determined exclusively using gamma-ray simulations
and OFF-source data as background samples, no significant TeV gamma-ray signals
have been detected from compact regions around PSR B1706-44 or within the
northeast rim of SN 1006. We discuss reasons why the original analyses gave the
source detections. The reanalysis did result in a TeV gamma-ray signal from the
Vela pulsar region at the 4.5 sigma level using 1993, 1994, and 1995 data. The
excess was located at the same position, 0.13 deg. to the southeast of the Vela
pulsar, as that reported in the original analysis. We have investigated the
effect of the acceptance distribution in the field of view of the 3.8 m
telescope, which rapidly decreases toward the edge of the field of the camera,
on the detected gamma-ray morphology. The expected excess distribution for the
3.8 m telescope has been obtained by reweighting the distribution of HESS
J0835-455 measured by H.E.S.S. with the acceptance of the 3.8 m telescope. The
result is morphologically comparable to the CANGAROO excess distribution,
although the profile of the acceptance-reweighted H.E.S.S. distribution is more
diffuse than that of CANGAROO. The integral gamma-ray flux from HESS J0835-455
has been estimated for the same region as defined by H.E.S.S. from the
1993-1995 data of CANGAROO to be F(> 4.0 +/- 1.6 TeV) = (3.28 +/- 0.92) x
10^{-12} photons cm^{-2} s^{-1}, which is statistically consistent with the
integral flux obtained by H.E.S.S.Comment: Published in ApJ, minor improvement
Simulating Cherenkov Telescope Array observation of RX J1713.7-3946
We perform simulations of Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) observations of a
young supernova remnant RX J1713.7-3946. This target is not only one of the
brightest sources ever discovered in very high-energy gamma rays but also well
observed in other wavebands. In X-rays, the emission is dominated by
synchrotron radiation, which links directly to the existence of high-energy
electrons. Radio observations of CO and HI gas have revealed a highly
inhomogeneous medium surrounding the SNR, such as clumpy molecular clouds.
Therefore gamma rays from hadronic interactions are naturally expected.
However, the spectrum in GeV energy range measured by Fermi/LAT indicates more
typical of leptonic emission from accelerated electrons. Despite lots of
multi-wavelength information, the competing interpretations have led to much
uncertainty in the quest of unraveling the true origin of the gamma-ray
emission from RX~J1713.7--3946. CTA will achieve highest performance ever in
sensitivity, angular resolution, and energy resolution. We estimate CTA
capability to examine the emission mechanisms of the gamma rays through
simulated spatial distribution, spectra, and their time variation.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures. In Proceedings of the 34th International Cosmic
Ray Conference (ICRC2015), The Hague, The Netherlands. All CTA contributions
at arXiv:1508.0589
Design Study of CANGAROO-III, Stereoscopic Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes for sub-TeV Gamma-ray
CANGAROO-III is an Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescope (IACT) array of
four 10 m telescopes for very high energy (sub-TeV) gamma-ray astronomy. A
design study of the CANGAROO-III telescope system was carried out using the
Monte Carlo technique in order to optimize the pixel size and the telescope
spacing. Studies were also made of observations at low elevation angles.Comment: 17pages, 13 figures, elsart, to appear in Astro. Part. Phy
TeV observations of Centaurus A
We have searched for TeV gamma-rays from Centaurus A and surrounding region
out to +/- 1.0 deg using the CANGAROO 3.8m telescope. No evidence for TeV
gamma-ray emission was observed from the search region, which includes a number
of interesting features located away from the tracking centre of our data. The
3 sigma upper limit to the flux of gamma-rays above 1.5 TeV from an extended
source of radius 14' centred on Centaurus A is 1.28e-11 photons cm^-2 s^-1.Comment: 4 pages. Astroparticle Physics, accepted for publication. Some upper
limits overestimated by factor 2-4 in original version astro-ph/9901316. Now
correcte
Observations of the supernova remnant W28 at TeV energies
The atmospheric Cerenkov imaging technique has been used to search for
point-like and diffuse TeV gamma-ray emission from the southern supernova
remnant, W28, and surrounding region. The search, made with the CANGAROO 3.8m
telescope, encompasses a number of interesting features, the supernova remnant
itself, the EGRET source 3EG J1800-2338, the pulsar PSR J1801-23, strong 1720
MHz OH masers and molecular clouds on the north and east boundaries of the
remnant. An analysis tailored to extended and off-axis point sources was used,
and no evidence for TeV gamma-ray emission from any of the features described
above was found in data taken over the 1994 and 1995 seasons. Our upper limit
(E>1.5 TeV) for a diffuse source of radius 0.25deg encompassing both molecular
clouds was calculated at 6.64e-12 photons cm^-2 s^-1 (from 1994 data), and
interpreted within the framework of a model predicting TeV gamma-rays from
shocked-accelerated hadrons. Our upper limit suggests the need for some cutoff
in the parent spectrum of accelerated hadrons and/or slightly steeper parent
spectra than that used here (-2.1). As to the nature of 3EG J1800-2338, it
possibly does not result entirely from pi-zero decay, a conclusion also
consistent with its location in relation to W28.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy and
Astrophysic
Evidence for TeV gamma-ray emission from the shell type SNR RXJ1713.7-3946
We report the results of TeV gamma-ray observations of the shell type SNR
RXJ1713.7-3946 (G347.3-0.5). The discovery of strong non-thermal X-ray emission
from the northwest part of the remnant strongly suggests the existence of
electrons with energies up to 100 TeV in the remnant, making the SNR a good
candidate TeV gamma-ray source. We observed RXJ1713.7-3946 from May to August
1998 with the CANGAROO 3.8m atmospheric imaging Cerenkov telescope and obtained
evidence for TeV gamma-ray emission from the NW rim of the remnant with the
significance of 5.6 sigma. The observed TeV gamma-ray flux from the NW rim
region was estimated to be (5.3 +/- 0.9[statistical] +/- 1.6[systematic]) *
10^{-12} photons cm^{-2} s^{-1} at energies >= 1.8 +/- 0.9 TeV. The data
indicate that the emitting region is much broader than the point spread
function of our telescope. The extent of the emission is consistent with that
of hard X-rays observed by ASCA. This TeV gamma-ray emission can be attributed
to the Inverse Compton scattering of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation
by shock accelerated ultra-relativistic electrons. Under this assumption, a
rather low magnetic field of 11 micro gauss is deduced for the remnant from our
observation.Comment: Accepted for publication by Astronomy and Astrophysics (5 pages, 2
figures
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