No Arabic abstract
The observational coverage with HESS of the Carina region in VHE gamma-rays benefits from deep exposure (40 h) of the neighboring open cluster Westerlund 2. The observations have revealed a new extended region of VHE gamma-ray emission. The new VHE source HESS J1018-589 shows a bright, point-like emission region positionally coincident with SNR G284.3-1.8 and 1FGL J1018.6 - 5856 and a diffuse extension towards the direction of PSR J1016-5857. A soft Gamma=2.7+-0.5 photon index, with a differential flux at 1TeV of N0=(4.2+-1.1)10^-13 TeV^-1 cm^-2 s^-1 is found for the point-like source, whereas the total emission region including the diffuse emission region is well fit by a power-law function with spectral index Gamma=2.9+-0.4 and differential flux at 1TeV of N0=(6.8+-1.6) 10^-13 TeV^-1 cm^-2 s^-1. This H.E.S.S. detection motivated follow-up X-ray observations with the XMM-Newton satellite to investigate the origin of the VHE emission. The analysis of the XMM-Newton data resulted in the discovery of a bright, non-thermal point-like source (XMMU J101855.4-58564) with a photon index of Gamma=1.65+-0.08 in the center of SNRG284.3-1.8, and a thermal, extended emission region coincident with its bright northern filament. The characteristics of this thermal emission are used to estimate the plasma density in the region as n~0.5 cm^-3(2.9kpc/d)^2. The position of XMMUJ101855.4-58564 is compatible with the position reported by the Fermi-LAT collaboration for the binary system 1FGL J1018.6-5856 and the variable Swift XRT source identified with it. The new X-ray data are used alongside archival multi-wavelength data to investigate the relationship between the VHE gamma-ray emission from HESSJ1018-589 and the various potential counterparts in the Carina arm region.
The W49 region hosts two bright radio sources: the star forming region W49A and the supernova remnant W49B. The 10^6 M_odot Giant Molecular Cloud W49A is one of the most luminous giant radio HII regions in our Galaxy and hosts several active, high-mass star formation sites. The mixed-morphology supernova remnant W49B has one of the highest surface brightness in radio of all the SNRs of this class in our Galaxy and is one of the brightest ejecta-dominated SNRs in X-rays. Infrared observations evidenced that W49B is interacting with molecular clouds and Fermi recently reported the detection of a coincident bright, high-energy gamma-ray source. Observations by the H.E.S.S. telescope array resulted in the significant detection of VHE gamma-ray emission from the W49 region, compatible with VHE emission from the SNR W49B. The results, the morphology and the origin of the VHE emission are presented in the multi-wavelength context and the implications on the origin of the signal are discussed.
A new TeV source, HESS J1641-463, has been serendipitously discovered in the Galactic plane by the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) at a significance level of 8.6 standard deviations. The observations of HESS J1641-463 were performed between 2004 and 2011 and the source has a moderate flux level of 1.7% of the Crab Nebula flux at E > 1 TeV. HESS J1641-463 has a rather hard photon index of 1.99 +- 0.13_stat +- 0.20_sys. HESS J1641-463 is positionally coincident with the radio supernova remnant SNR G338.5+0.1, but no clear X-ray counterpart has been found in archival Chandra observations of the region. Different possible VHE production scenarios will be discussed in this contribution.
Supernova remnants (SNRs) have emerged as one of the largest source classes in very-high-energy (VHE; E>0.1,TeV) astronomy. Many of the now known VHE gamma-ray emitting SNRs have been discovered by the H.E.S.S. imaging Cherenkov telescope array, thanks to its unique access to the inner galaxy. Statistically-significant emission of VHE gamma rays has now been detected from the direction of the supernova remnant G15.4+0.1. While the centroids of the H.E.S.S. source and the shell-type SNR are compatible, the VHE morphology suggests a center-dominated source at TeV energies, something which is at odds with the shell-like morphology observed at radio frequencies. This suggests that H.E.S.S. may be observing TeV emission from a previously unknown pulsar wind nebula (PWN) located within the boundaries of the radio shell. If this interpretation is correct, G15.4+0.1 would in fact be a composite SNR, the first case in which an SNR is identified as a composite on the basis of VHE gamma-ray observations. Archival data from MAGPIS gives exciting hints that there is radio emission from the central parts of the remnant, giving support to this hypothesis. Unfortunately, image artefacts from a nearby strong radio source produce considerable uncertainties in the radio analysis. Additional observations in both the radio and X-ray are needed to confirm the composite nature of G15.4+0.1 suggested by H.E.S.S.
Aims. Previous observations with the H.E.S.S. telescope array revealed the existence of extended very-high-energy (VHE; E>100 GeV) {gamma}-ray emission, HESS J1023-575, coincident with the young stellar cluster Westerlund 2. At the time of discovery, the origin of the observed emission was not unambiguously identified, and follow-up observations have been performed to further investigate the nature of this {gamma}-ray source. Methods. The Carina region towards the open cluster Westerlund 2 has been re-observed, increasing the total exposure to 45.9 h. The combined dataset includes 33 h of new data and now permits a search for energy-dependent morphology and detailed spectroscopy. Results. A new, hard spectrum VHE {gamma}-ray source, HESSJ1026-582, was discovered with a statistical significance of 7{sigma}. It is positionally coincident with the Fermi LAT pulsar PSR J1028-5819. The positional coincidence and radio/{gamma}-ray characteristics of the LAT pulsar favors a scenario where the TeV emission originates from a pulsar wind nebula. The nature of HESS J1023-575 is discussed in light of the deep H.E.S.S. observations and recent multi-wavelength discoveries, including the Fermi LAT pulsar PSRJ1022-5746 and giant molecular clouds in the region. Despite the improved VHE dataset, a clear identification of the object responsible for the VHE emission from HESS J1023-575 is not yet possible, and contribution from the nearby high-energy pulsar and/or the open cluster remains a possibility.
This letter reports the discovery of a remarkably hard spectrum source, HESS J1641-463, by the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) in the very-high energy (VHE) domain. HESS J1641-463 remained unnoticed by the usual analysis techniques due to confusion with the bright nearby source HESS J1640-465. It emerged at a significance level of 8.5 standard deviations after restricting the analysis to events with energies above 4 TeV. It shows a moderate flux level of F(E > 1 TeV) = (3.64 +/- 0.44_stat +/- 0.73_sys) x 10^-13 cm^-2s-1, corresponding to 1.8% of the Crab Nebula flux above the same energy, and a hard spectrum with a photon index of Gamma = 2.07 +/- 0.11_stat +/- 0.20_sys. It is a point-like source, although an extension up to Gaussian width of sigma = 3 arcmin cannot be discounted due to uncertainties in the H.E.S.S. PSF. The VHE gamma-ray flux of HESS J1641-463 is found to be constant over the observed period when checking time binnings from year-by-year to the 28 min exposures timescales. HESS J1641-463 is positionally coincident with the radio supernova remnant SNR G338.5+0.1. No X-ray candidate stands out as a clear association, however Chandra and XMM-Newton data reveal some potential weak counterparts. Various VHE gamma-ray production scenarios are discussed. If the emission from HESS J1641-463 is produced by cosmic ray protons colliding with the ambient gas, then their spectrum must extend close to 1 PeV. This object may represent a source population contributing significantly to the galactic cosmic ray flux around the knee.