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Register a new userVery High Energy Gamma-Ray Observations with H.E.S.S
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Christopher van Eldik
Publication date
2006
fields
Physics
and research's language is
English
Authors
Christopher van Eldik
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The H.E.S.S. Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescope Array is currently the most sensitive instrument for Very High Energy (VHE) gamma-ray observations in the energy range of about 0.1-10 TeV. During more than two years of operation with the complete 4-telescope array, many galactic and extragalactic VHE gamma-ray sources have been discovered. With its superior sensitivity and its large field-of-view camera, H.E.S.S. is particularly suited for surveys and detailed studies of extended sources. A selection of recent H.E.S.S. results is presented in this proceeding.
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Globular clusters (GCs) are established emitters of high-energy (HE, 100 MeV<E<100 GeV) gamma-ray radiation which could originate from the cumulative emission of the numerous millisecond pulsars (msPSRs) in the clusters cores or from inverse Compton (IC) scattering of relativistic leptons accelerated in the GC environment. GCs could also constitute a new class of sources in the very-high-energy (VHE, E>100 GeV) gamma-ray regime, judging from the recent detection of emission from the direction of Terzan 5 with the H.E.S.S. telescope array. To search for VHE gamma-ray sources associated with other GCs, and to put constraints on leptonic emission models, we systematically analyzed the observations towards 15 GCs taken with H.E.S.S. We searched for individual sources of VHE gamma-rays from each GC in our sample and also performed a stacking analysis combining the data from all GCs to investigate the hypothesis of a population of faint emitters. Assuming IC emission as the source of emission from Terzan 5, we calculated the expected gamma-ray flux for each of the 15 GCs, based on their number of millisecond pulsars, their optical brightness and the energy density of background photon fields. We did not detect significant emission from any of the 15 GCs. The obtained flux upper limits allow to rule out the simple IC/msPSR scaling model for NGC 6388 and NGC 7078. The upper limits derived from the stacking analyses are factors between 2 and 50 below the flux predicted by the simple leptonic model, depending on the assumed source extent and the dominant target photon fields. Therefore, Terzan 5 still remains exceptional among all GCs, as the VHE gamma-ray emission either arises from extra-ordinarily efficient leptonic processes, or from a recent catastrophic event, or is even unrelated to the GC itself.
Globular clusters (GCs) are established emitters of high-energy (HE, 100 MeV<E<100 GeV) gamma-ray radiation which could originate from the cumulative emission of the numerous millisecond pulsars (msPSRs) in the clusters cores or from inverse Compton (IC) scattering of relativistic leptons accelerated in the GC environment. These stellar clusters could also constitute a new class of sources in the very-high-energy (VHE, E>100 GeV) gamma-ray regime, judging from the recent detection of a signal from the direction of Terzan 5 with the H.E.S.S. telescope array. We searched for point-like and extended VHE gamma-ray emission from 15 GCs serendipitously covered by H.E.S.S observations and also performed a stacking analysis combining the data from all GCs to investigate the hypothesis of a population of faint emitters. Assuming IC emission as the origin of the VHE gamma-ray signal from the direction of Terzan 5, we calculated the expected gamma-ray flux from each of the 15 GCs, based on their number of millisecond pulsars, their optical brightness and the energy density of background photon fields. We did not detect significant VHE gamma-ray emission from any of the 15 GCs in either of the two analyses. Given the uncertainties related to the parameter determinations, the obtained flux upper limits allow to rule out the simple IC/msPSR scaling model for NGC 6388 and NGC 7078. The upper limits derived from the stacking analyses are factors between 2 and 50 below the flux predicted by the simple leptonic scaling model, depending on the assumed source extent and the dominant target photon fields. Therefore, Terzan 5 still remains exceptional among all GCs, as the VHE gamma-ray emission either arises from extra-ordinarily efficient leptonic processes, or from a recent catastrophic event, or is even unrelated to the GC itself.
Blazars are the most abundant class of known extragalactic very-high-energy (VHE, E>100 GeV) gamma-ray sources. However, one of the biggest difficulties in investigating their VHE emission resides in their limited number, since less than 60 of them are known by now. In this contribution we report on H.E.S.S. observations of the BL Lac object PKS 1440-389. This source has been selected as target for H.E.S.S. based on its high-energy gamma-ray properties measured by Fermi-LAT. The extrapolation of this bright, hard-spectrum gamma-ray blazar into the VHE regime made a detection on a relatively short time scale very likely, despite its uncertain redshift. H.E.S.S. observations were carried out with the 4-telescope array from February to May 2012 and resulted in a clear detection of the source. Contemporaneous multi-wavelength data are used to construct the spectral energy distribution of PKS 1440-389 which can be described by a simple one-zone synchrotron-self Compton model.
PKS 0625-354 (z=0.055) was observed with the four H.E.S.S. telescopes in 2012 during 5.5 hours. The source was detected above an energy threshold of 200 GeV at a significance level of 6.1$sigma$. No significant variability is found in these observations. The source is well described with a power-law spectrum with photon index $Gamma =2.84 pm 0.50_{stat} pm 0.10_{syst}$ and normalization (at $E_0$=1.0 TeV) $N_0(E_0)=(0.58 pm 0.22_{stat} pm 0.12_{syst})times10^{-12}$ TeV$^{-1}$cm$^{-2}$s$^{-1}$. Multi-wavelength data collected with Fermi-LAT, Swift-XRT, Swift-UVOT, ATOM and WISE are also analysed. Significant variability is observed only in the Fermi-LAT $gamma$-ray and Swift-XRT X-ray energy bands. Having a good multi-wavelength coverage from radio to very high energy, we performed a broadband modelling from two types of emission scenarios. The results from a one zone lepto-hadronic, and a multi-zone leptonic models are compared and discussed. On the grounds of energetics, our analysis favours a leptonic multi-zone model. Models associated to the X-ray variability constraint supports previous results suggesting a BL Lac nature of PKS 0625-354, with, however, a large-scale jet structure typical of a radio galaxy.
Very-high-energy (VHE, E > 100 GeV) gamma radiation has already been detected from several supernova remnants (SNRs). These objects, which are well-studied in radio, optical and X-ray wavelengths, constitute one of the most intriguing source classes in VHE astronomy. H.E.S.S., an array of four imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes in Namibia, has recorded an extensive dataset of VHE gamma-ray observations covering the central region of the Milky Way, both from pointed observations as well as from the Galactic Plane Survey conducted in the inner region of the Galaxy. From radio observations, several hundred SNRs are known in the Milky Way, but until now only few of them have been identified as VHE gamma-ray emitters. Using the H.E.S.S. dataset and a large ensemble of radio SNRs localized in the inner region of the Galaxy, the standard framework that links the origin of cosmic rays to the gamma-ray visibility of SNRs can now be tested. Here we present the ensemble of investigated SNRs and discuss constraints on the parameter space used within a theoretical model of hadronic VHE gamma-ray production.
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