The high frequency peaked BL Lac object PG 1553+113 underwent a flaring event in 2012. The High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) observed this source for two consecutive nights at very high energies (VHE, $E>$100~GeV). The data show an increase
of a factor of three of the flux with respect to archival measurements with the same instrument and hints of intra-night variability. The data set has been used to put constraints on possible Lorentz invariance violation (LIV), manifesting itself as an energy dependence of the velocity of light in vacuum, and to set limits on the energy scale at which Quantum Gravity effects causing LIV may arise. With a new method to combine H.E.S.S. and Fermi large area telescope data, the previously poorly known redshift of PG 1555+113 has been determined to be close to the value derived from optical measurements.
Diffuse gamma-ray emission has long been established as the most prominent feature in the GeV sky. Although the imaging atmospheric Cherenkov technique has been successful in revealing a large population of discrete TeV gamma-ray sources, a thorough
investigation of diffuse emission at TeV energies is still pending. Data from the Galactic Plane Survey (GPS) obtained by the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) have now achieved a sensitivity and coverage adequate for probing signatures of diffuse emission in the energy range of ~100 GeV to a few TeV. Gamma-rays are produced in cosmic-ray interactions with the interstellar medium (aka sea of cosmic rays) and in inverse Compton scattering on cosmic photon fields. This inevitably leads to guaranteed gamma-ray emission related to the gas content along the line-of-sight. Further contributions relate to those gamma-ray sources that fall below the current detection threshold and the aforementioned inverse Compton emission. Based on the H.E.S.S. GPS, we present the first observational assessment of diffuse TeV gamma-ray emission. The observation is compared with corresponding flux predictions based on the HI (LAB data) and CO (as a tracer of H2, NANTEN data) gas distributions. Consequences for unresolved source contributions and the anticipated level of inverse Compton emission are discussed.
Very-high-energy (VHE, E>100 GeV) gamma-rays provide a unique view of the non-thermal universe, tracing the most violent and energetic phenomena at work inside our Galaxy and beyond. The latest results of the H.E.S.S. Galactic Plane Survey (HGPS) und
ertaken by the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.), an array of four imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes located in Namibia, are described here. The HGPS aims at the detection of cosmic accelerators with environments suitable for the production of photons at the highest energies and has led to the discovery of an unexpectedly large and diverse population of over 60 sources of TeV gamma rays within its current range of l = 250 to 65 degrees in longitude and |b|<3.5 degrees in latitude. The data set of the HGPS comprises 2800 hours of high-quality data, taken in the years 2004 to 2013. The sensitivity for the detection of point-like sources, assuming a power-law spectrum with a spectral index of 2.3 at a statistical significance of 5 sigma, is now at the level of 2% Crab or better in the core HGPS region. The latest maps of the inner Galaxy at TeV energies are shown alongside an introduction to the first H.E.S.S. Galactic Plane Survey catalog. Finally, in addition to an overview of the H.E.S.S. Galactic source population a few remarkable, recently discovered sources will be highlighted.
The H.E.S.S. Galactic Plane Survey (HGPS), the first comprehensive survey of the inner Galaxy at TeV energies, has led to the discovery of an unexpectedly large and diverse population of over 60 sources of TeV gamma rays within its current range of l
= 250 to 65 degrees in longitude and |b| < 3.5 degrees in latitude. The data set of the HGPS comprises 2800 hours of high-quality data, taken in the years 2004 to 2013. The sensitivity for the detection of point-like sources is at the level of 2% Crab or better in the HGPS region. The population of TeV gamma-ray emitters is dominated by the pulsar wind nebula and supernova remnant source classes, although nearly a third of the sources remain unidentified or ambiguous. We are presenting the latest HGPS significance and sensitivity maps, as well as a work on the HGPS source catalog, based on a uniform re-analysis of the full data set collected in the last decade. We will also give a brief overview of the H.E.S.S. Galactic source population.
Globular clusters are old stellar systems which exhibit very-high stellar densities in their cores. The globular cluster Terzan 5 is characterized by a high stellar encounter rate and hosts the largest detected population of millisecond pulsars. It a
lso features bright GeV gamma-ray emission and extended X-ray radiation. However, no globular clusters have been detected in very-high-energy gamma rays (VHE, E> 100 GeV) so far. In order to investigate this possibility Terzan 5 has been observed with the H.E.S.S. telescope array in this energy band. The discovery of a source of VHE gamma rays from the direction of this globular cluster will be reported. The results of the VHE analysis and a multi-wavelength view of Terzan 5 will be presented in this contribution. No counterpart or model can fully explain the observed morphology of the detected VHE gamma-ray source.
