632 research outputs found
Discovery of Very High Energy gamma - ray emission from the extreme BL Lac object H2356-309 with H.E.S.S
The understanding of acceleration mechanisms in active galactic nuclei (AGN)
jets and the measurement of the extragalactic-background-light (EBL) density
are closely linked and require the detection of a large sample of
very-high-energy (VHE) emitting extragalactic objects at varying redshifts. We
report here on the discovery with the H.E.S.S. (High Energy Stereoscopic
System) atmospheric-Cherenkov telescopes of the VHE Gamma-ray emission from
H2356 - 309, an extreme BL Lac object located at a redshift of 0.165. The
observations of this object, which was previously proposed as a
southern-hemisphere VHE candidate source, were performed between June and
December 2004. The total exposure is 38.9 hours live time, after data quality
selection, which yields the detection of a signal at the level of 9.0
(standard deviations) .Comment: To appear on proceeding of 29th International Cosmic Ray Conference
(ICRC 2005
The H.E.S.S. extragalactic sky
The H.E.S.S. Cherenkov telescope array, located on the southern hemisphere in
Namibia, studies very high energy (VHE; E>100 GeV) gamma-ray emission from
astrophysical objects. During its successful operations since 2002 more than 80
galactic and extra-galactic gamma-ray sources have been discovered. H.E.S.S.
devotes over 400 hours of observation time per year to the observation of
extra-galactic sources resulting in the discovery of several new sources,
mostly AGNs, and in exciting physics results e.g. the discovery of very rapid
variability during extreme flux outbursts of PKS 2155-304, stringent limits on
the density of the extragalactic background light (EBL) in the near-infrared
derived from the energy spectra of distant sources, or the discovery of
short-term variability in the VHE emission from the radio galaxy M 87. With the
recent launch of the Fermi satellite in 2008 new insights into the physics of
AGNs at GeV energies emerged, leading to the discovery of several new
extragalactic VHE sources. Multi-wavelength observations prove to be a powerful
tool to investigate the production mechanism for VHE emission in AGNs. Here,
new results from H.E.S.S. observations of extragalactic sources will be
presented and their implications for the physics of these sources will be
discussed.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, invited review talk, in the proceedings of the
"International Workshop on Beamed and Unbeamed Gamma-Rays from Galaxies"
11-15 April 2011, Lapland Hotel Olos, Muonio, Finland, Journal of Physics:
Conference Series Volume 355, 201
Detection of the Crab Nebula using a Random Forest Analysis of the first TAIGA IACT Data
The Tunka Advanced Instrument for Gamma- and cosmic-ray Astronomy (TAIGA) is
a multicomponent experiment for the measurement of TeV to PeV gamma- and cosmic
rays. Our goal is to establish a novel hybrid direct air shower technique,
sufficient to access the energy domain of the long-sought Pevatrons. The hybrid
air Cherenkov light detection technique combines the strengths of the HiSCORE
shower front sampling array, and two 4 m class, 9.6 deg field
of view Imaging Air Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs). The HiSCORE array provides
good angular and shower core position resolution, while the IACTs provide the
image shape and orientation for gamma-hadron separation. In future, an
additional muon detector will be used for hadron tagging at 100 TeV
energies. Here, only data from the first IACT of the TAIGA experiment are used.
A random forest algorithm was trained using Monte Carlo (MC) simulations and
real data, and applied to 85 h of selected observational data tracking the Crab
Nebula at a mean zenith angle of 33.5 deg, resulting in a threshold energy of 6
TeV for this dataset. The analysis was performed using the gammapy package. A
total of 163.5 excess events were detected, with a statistical significance of
8.5 sigma. The observed spectrum of the Crab Nebula is best fit with a power
law above 6 TeV with a flux normalisation of at a reference energy of 13 TeV and a spectral index
of .Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures, accepted by MNRA
Selection and 3D-Reconstruction of Gamma-Ray-induced Air Showers with a Stereoscopic System of Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes
A simple 3D-reconstruction method for gamma-ray induced air showers is
presented, which takes full advantage of the assets of a system of Atmospheric
Cherenkov Telescopes combining stereoscopy and fine-grain imaging like the High
Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.). The rich information collected by the
cameras allows to select electromagnetic showers on the basis of their
rotational symmetry with respect to the incident direction, as well as of their
relatively small lateral spread. In the framework of a 3D-model of the shower,
its main parameters -- incident direction, shower core position on the ground,
slant depth of shower maximum, average lateral spread of Cherenkov photon
origins (or ``photosphere 3D-width'') and primary energy -- are fitted to the
pixel contents of the different images. For gamma-ray showers, the photosphere
3D-width is found to scale with the slant depth of shower maximum, an effect
related to the variation of the Cherenkov threshold with the altitude; this
property allows to define a dimensionless quantity omega (the ``reduced
3D-width''), which turns out to be an efficient and robust variable to
discriminate gamma-rays from primary hadrons. In addition, the omega
distribution varies only slowly with the gamma-ray energy and is practically
independent of the zenith angle. The performance of the method as applied to
H.E.S.S. is presented. Depending on the requirements imposed to reconstructed
showers, the angular resolution at zenith varies from 0.04 to 0.1 degrees and
the spectral resolution in the same conditions from 15% to 20%.Comment: 32 pages including 38 figures. Accepted by AstroParticle Physic
The optical system of the H.E.S.S. imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes, Part II: mirror alignment and point spread function
Mirror facets of the H.E.S.S. imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes are
aligned using stars imaged onto the closed lid of the PMT camera, viewed by a
CCD camera. The alignment procedure works reliably and includes the automatic
analysis of CCD images and control of the facet alignment actuators. On-axis,
80% of the reflected light is contained in a circle of less than 1 mrad
diameter. The spot widens with increasing angle to the telescope axis. In
accordance with simulations, the spot size has roughly doubled at an angle of
1.4 degr. from the axis. The expected variation of spot size with elevation due
to deformations of the support structure is visible, but is completely
non-critical over the usual working range. Overall, the optical quality of the
telescope exceeds the specifications.Comment: 23 pages, 13 figure
The unidentified TeV source (TeVJ2032+4130) and surrounding field: Final HEGRA IACT-System results
The unidentified TeV source in Cygnus is now confirmed by follow-up
observations from 2002 with the HEGRA stereoscopic system of Cherenkov
Telescopes. Using all data (1999 to 2002) we confirm this new source as steady
in flux over the four years of data taking, extended with radius 6.2 arcmin
(+-1.2 arcmin (stat) +-0.9 arcmin (sys)) and exhibiting a hard spectrum with
photon index -1.9. It is located in the direction of the dense OB stellar
association, Cygnus OB2. Its integral flux above energies E>1 TeV amounts to
\~5% of the Crab assuming a Gaussian profile for the intrinsic source
morphology. There is no obvious counterpart at radio, optical nor X-ray
energies, leaving TeVJ2032+4130 presently unidentified. Observational
parameters of this source are updated here and some astrophysical discussion is
provided. Also included are upper limits for a number of other interesting
sources in the FoV, including the famous microquasar Cygnus X-3.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy &
Astrophysic
Simultaneous X-Ray and TeV Gamma-Ray Observations of the TeV Blazar Markarian 421 during February and May 2000
In this paper we present the results of simultaneous observations of the TeV
blazar Markarian 421 (Mrk 421) at X-ray and TeV Gamma-ray energies with the
Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) and the stereoscopic Cherenkov Telescope
system of the HEGRA (High Energy Gamma Ray Astronomy) experiment, respectively.
The source was monitored from February 2nd to February 16th and from May 3rd to
May 8th, 2000. We discuss in detail the temporal and spectral properties of the
source. Remarkably, the TeV observations of February 7th/8th showed
statistically significant evidence for substantial TeV flux variability on 30
min time scale. We show the results of modeling the data with a time dependent
homogeneous Synchrotron Self-Compton (SSC) model. The X-ray and TeV gamma-ray
emission strengths and energy spectra together with the rapid flux variability
strongly suggest that the emission volume is approaching the observer with a
Doppler factor of 50 or higher. The different flux variability time scales
observed at X-rays and TeV Gamma-rays indicate that a more detailed analysis
will require inhomogeneous models with several emission zones.Comment: Accepted for Publication in ApJ, 21 Pages, 5 Figure
The TeV Energy Spectrum of Mkn 501 Measured with the Stereoscopic Telescope System of HEGRA during 1998 and 1999
During 1997, the BL Lac object Mkn 501 went into an extraordinary state of
high X-ray and TeV gamma-ray activity, lasting more than 6 months. In this
paper we report on the TeV emission characteristics of the source in the
subsequent years of 1998 and 1999 as measured with the Stereoscopic Cherenkov
Telescope System of HEGRA (La Palma, Canary Islands). Our observations reveal a
1998-1999 mean emission level at 1 TeV of 1/3 of the flux of the Crab Nebula, a
factor of 10 lower than during the year of 1997. A dataset of 122 observations
hours with the HEGRA telescope system makes it possible to assess for the first
time the Mkn 501 TeV energy spectrum for a mean flux level substantially below
that of the Crab Nebula with reasonable statistical accuracy. Excluding the
data of a strong flare, we find evidence that the 1998--1999 low-flux spectrum
is substantially softer (by 0.44+-0.1(stat) in spectral index) than the 1997
time averaged spectrum. The 500 GeV to 10 TeV energy spectrum can well be
described by a power law model with exponential cutoff: dN/dE ~ E^(-alpha)
exp(-E/E0) with alpha=2.31+-0.22(stat), and E0=5.1 (-2.3+7.8)(stat) TeV. Within
statistical accuracy, also a pure power law model gives an acceptable fit to
the data: dN/dE ~ E^(-Gamma) with Gamma=2.76+-0.08(stat). After presenting the
1998-1999 TeV characteristics of the source we discuss the implications of the
results.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal, Part 1, on
August 4th, 200
- …