Exploiting the time of arrival of Cherenkov photons at the 28 m H.E.S.S. telescope for background rejection: Methods and performance

In 2012, the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) was expanded by a fifth telescope (CT5). With an effective mirror diameter of 28m, CT5 is able to detect the Cherenkov light of very faint gamma-ray air showers, thereby significantly lowering the energy threshold of this telescope compared to the other four telescopes. Extracting as much information as possible from the recorded shower image is crucial for background rejection and to reach an energy threshold of a few tens of GeV. The camera of CT5 is conceived to register the time of the charge pulse maximum with respect to the beginning of the 16 ns integration window of each pixel. This information can be utilised to improve the event reconstruction. It also helps to reduce the background contamination at low energies. We present new techniques for background rejection based on CT5 timing information and evaluate their performance

Étalonnage du cinquième télescope de l'expérience H.E.S.S. et observation du Centre Galactique au delà de 30 GeV

The phase II of the H.E.S.S. experiment (High Energy Stereoscopic System) consists of five imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes to study the southern astrophysical sources above 30 GeV. This thesis present the detector as well as the analysis chain, with a deep look on the fifth telescope commissioned on July 2012. The calibration method are described in detail. Then, an analysis based on a semi-analytical model of the electromagnetic shower development in the atmosphere is explained. A tool to reconstruct the energy spectrum of the very high energy gamma ray sources is presented. The methods of gamma ray selection among the hadron background are studied. Especially, the development of a new variable using the temporal data of the fifth telescope for the background rejection is shown. A systematic study of the analysis performances and of the selection cuts is accomplished, in order to reach the lowest energy threshold while keeping control of the background subtraction. The Galactic Centre has long been observed by H.E.S.S., which has detected a bright and punctual source at very-high energy as well as a diffuse emission along the Galactic plan. The Galactic Centre observations performed by the phase II of H.E.S.S. during the year 2014 are presented. A spectral reconstruction of the central source is performed.La phase II de l’expérience H.E.S.S. (High Energy Stereoscopic System) est constituée de cinq télescopes à imagerie Cherenkov dédiés à l’observation de sources astrophysiques de l’hémisphère sud émettant des photons au-delà de 30 GeV. Cette thèse présente le fonctionnement de cet instrument ainsi que toute la chaîne d’analyse associée avec une attention particulière sur le cinquième télescope mis en opération en juillet 2012. Les méthodes d’étalonnage du système sont détaillées. Ensuite, une méthode d’analyse des données, basée sur un modèle semi-analytique de développement des gerbes électromagnétiques dans l’atmosphère, est expliquée. Une méthode de reconstruction du spectre en énergie des sources de photon gamma de haute énergie est présentée. Les méthodes de sélection des photons gamma parmi le bruit de fond de hadrons sont étudiées. En particulier, le développement d’une nouvelle variable de rejet du bruit de fond utilisant les données temporelles du cinquième télescope est exposé. Une étude systématique des performances de l’analyse ainsi que des coupures de sélection des photons gamma est effectuée dans le but d’atteindre le plus bas seuil en énergie possible en contrôlant la soustraction du bruit de fond. Le Centre Galactique a longuement été observé par H.E.S.S., qui a mis à jour une source ponctuelle très brillante à très haute énergie ainsi qu’une une émission diffuse le long du plan Galactique. Les observations du Centre Galactique par la phase II de H.E.S.S. au cours de l’année 2014 sont présentées. Une reconstruction spectrale de la source centrale est effectuée

Toward an Enhanced Mutual Awareness in Asymmetric CVE

International audience—Collaborative Virtual Environments (CVEs) aim at providing several users with a consistent shared virtual world. In this work, we focus on the lack of mutual awareness that may appear in many situations and we evaluate different ways to present the distant user and his actions in the Virtual Environment (VE) in order to understand his perception and cognitive process. Indeed, an efficient collaboration involves not only the good perception of some objects but their meaning too. This second criterion introduces the concept of distant analysis that could be a great help in improving the understanding of distant activities. For this work, we focus on a common case consisting in estimating accurately the time at which a distant user analyzed the meaning of a remotely pointed object. Thus, we conduct some experiments to evaluate the concept and compare different techniques for implementing this new awareness feature in a CVE. Amongst others, results show that expertise of the users influences on how they estimate the distant activity and the type of applied strategies

Design: One, but in different forms

This overview paper defends an augmented cognitively oriented generic-design hypothesis: there are both significant similarities between the design activities implemented in different situations and crucial differences between these and other cognitive activities; yet, characteristics of a design situation (related to the design process, the designers, and the artefact) introduce specificities in the corresponding cognitive activities and structures that are used, and in the resulting designs. We thus augment the classical generic-design hypothesis with that of different forms of designing. We review the data available in the cognitive design research literature and propose a series of candidates underlying such forms of design, outlining a number of directions requiring further elaboration

Calibration of the fifth telescope of the H.E.S.S. experiment and observation of the Galactic Centre above 30 GeV

La phase II de l’expérience H.E.S.S. (High Energy Stereoscopic System) est constituée de cinq télescopes à imagerie Cherenkov dédiés à l’observation de sources astrophysiques de l’hémisphère sud émettant des photons au-delà de 30 GeV. Cette thèse présente le fonctionnement de cet instrument ainsi que toute la chaîne d’analyse associée avec une attention particulière sur le cinquième télescope mis en opération en juillet 2012. Les méthodes d’étalonnage du système sont détaillées. Ensuite, une méthode d’analyse des données, basée sur un modèle semi-analytique de développement des gerbes électromagnétiques dans l’atmosphère, est expliquée. Une méthode de reconstruction du spectre en énergie des sources de photon gamma de haute énergie est présentée. Les méthodes de sélection des photons gamma parmi le bruit de fond de hadrons sont étudiées. En particulier, le développement d’une nouvelle variable de rejet du bruit de fond utilisant les données temporelles du cinquième télescope est exposé. Une étude systématique des performances de l’analyse ainsi que des coupures de sélection des photons gamma est effectuée dans le but d’atteindre le plus bas seuil en énergie possible en contrôlant la soustraction du bruit de fond. Le Centre Galactique a longuement été observé par H.E.S.S., qui a mis à jour une source ponctuelle très brillante à très haute énergie ainsi qu’une une émission diffuse le long du plan Galactique. Les observations du Centre Galactique par la phase II de H.E.S.S. au cours de l’année 2014 sont présentées. Une reconstruction spectrale de la source centrale est effectuée.The phase II of the H.E.S.S. experiment (High Energy Stereoscopic System) consists of five imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes to study the southern astrophysical sources above 30 GeV. This thesis present the detector as well as the analysis chain, with a deep look on the fifth telescope commissioned on July 2012. The calibration method are described in detail. Then, an analysis based on a semi-analytical model of the electromagnetic shower development in the atmosphere is explained. A tool to reconstruct the energy spectrum of the very high energy gamma ray sources is presented. The methods of gamma ray selection among the hadron background are studied. Especially, the development of a new variable using the temporal data of the fifth telescope for the background rejection is shown. A systematic study of the analysis performances and of the selection cuts is accomplished, in order to reach the lowest energy threshold while keeping control of the background subtraction. The Galactic Centre has long been observed by H.E.S.S., which has detected a bright and punctual source at very-high energy as well as a diffuse emission along the Galactic plan. The Galactic Centre observations performed by the phase II of H.E.S.S. during the year 2014 are presented. A spectral reconstruction of the central source is performed

Photon Reconstruction for H.E.S.S. Using a Semi-Analytical Model

International audienceThe High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) is an array of five Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs) designed to detect cosmogenic gamma-rays with very high energies. Originally consisting of just four identical IACTs (CT1-4) with an effective mirror diameter of 12$\,$m each, it was expanded with a fifth IACT (CT5) with a mirror diameter of 28$\,$m in 2012. Being the largest IACT worldwide, CT5 allows to lower the energy threshold of H.E.S.S., making the array sensitive at energies where space-based detectors run out of statistics. Events can be analysed either monoscopically (i.e. using only information of CT5) or stereoscopically (requiring at least two triggered telescopes per event). To achieve a good performance, a sophisticated event reconstruction and analysis framework is indispensable. This is particularly important for H.E.S.S. since it is now the first IACT array that consists of different telescope types. An advanced reconstruction method is based on a semi-analytical model of electromagnetic particle showers in the atmosphere (model analysis). The properties of the primary particle are reconstructed by comparing the image recorded by each triggered telescope with the Cherenkov emission from the shower model using a log-likelihood maximisation. Due to its performance, this method has become one of the standard analysis techniques applied to CT1-4 data. Now it has been modified for use with the five-telescope array. We present the adapted model analysis and its performance in both monoscopic and stereoscopic analysis mode

Dealing with Frame Cancellation for Stereoscopic Displays in 3D User Interfaces

International audienceThis paper aims at reducing the ocular discomfort created by stereoscopy due to the effect called "frame cancellation", for movies and interactive applications. This effect appears when a virtual object in negative parallax (front of the screen) is clipped by the screen edges; stereopsis cue lets observers perceive the object popping-out from the screen while occlusion cue provides observers with an opposite signal. Such a situation is not possible in the real world. This explains some visual discomfort for observers and leads to a poor depth perception of the scene. This issue is directly linked to the physical limitations of the display size that may not cover the entire field of view of the observer. To deal with these physical constraints we introduce two new methods in the context of interactive applications. The first method consists in two new rendering effects based on progressive transparency that aim to preserve the popping-out effect of the stereo. The second method focuses on adapting the interaction of the user, not allowing him to place virtual objects in an area subject to frame cancellation. Both methods have been evaluated and have shown a good efficiency in comparison to the state of the art approaches