| 1. |
- Aliu, E., et al.
(författare)
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Long-term TeV and X-ray Observations of the Gamma-ray Binary HESS J0632+057
- 2014
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Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal. - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 780:2
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- HESS J0632+057 is the only gamma-ray binary known so far whose position in the sky allows observations with ground-based observatories in both thenorthern and southern hemispheres. Here we report on long-term observations of HESS J0632+057 conducted with the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System and High Energy Stereoscopic System Cherenkov telescopes and the X-ray satellite Swift, spanning a time range from 2004 to 2012 and covering most of the system's orbit. The very-high-energy (VHE) emission is found to be variable and is correlated with that at X-ray energies. An orbital period of 315(-4)(+6) days is derived from the X-ray data set, which is compatible with previous results, P = (321 +/- 5) days. The VHE light curve shows a distinct maximum at orbital phases close to 0.3, or about 100 days after periastron passage, which coincides with the periodic enhancement of the X-rayemission. Furthermore, the analysis of the TeV data shows for the first time a statistically significant (> 6.5 sigma) detection at orbital phases 0.6-0.9. Theobtained gamma-ray and X-ray light curves and the correlation of the source emission at these two energy bands are discussed in the context of the recent ephemeris obtained for the system. Our results are compared to those reported for other gamma-ray binaries.
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| 2. |
- Abramowski, A., et al.
(författare)
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DISCOVERY OF THE HARD SPECTRUM VHE gamma-RAY SOURCE HESS J1641-463
- 2014
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Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal Letters. - 2041-8205 .- 2041-8213. ; 794:1, s. L1-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- 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 phi(E > 1TeV) = (3.64 +/- 0.44(stat)+/- 0.73(sys)) x 10(-13) cm(-2) s(-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 a Gaussian width of sigma = 3 arcmin cannot be discounted due to uncertainties in the H.E.S.S. point-spread function. The VHE gamma-ray flux of HESS J1641-463 is found to be constant over the observed period when checking time binnings from the year-by-year to the 28 minute exposure 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.
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| 3. |
- Abramowski, A., et al.
(författare)
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Discovery of the Hard Spectrum VHE γ-Ray Source HESS J1641–463
- 2014
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Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal Letters. - 2041-8205 .- 2041-8213. ; 794:1, s. Article ID: L1-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- 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 phi(E > 1TeV) = (3.64 +/- 0.44(stat)+/- 0.73(sys)) x 10(-13) cm(-2) s(-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 a Gaussian width of sigma = 3 arcmin cannot be discounted due to uncertainties in the H.E.S.S. point-spread function. The VHE gamma-ray flux of HESS J1641-463 is found to be constant over the observed period when checking time binnings from the year-by-year to the 28 minute exposure 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.
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| 4. |
- Abramowski, A., et al.
(författare)
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Diffuse Galactic gamma-ray emission with HESS
- 2014
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Ingår i: Physical Review D. - 1550-7998 .- 1550-2368. ; 90:12, s. Article ID: 122007-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Diffuse gamma-ray emission is the most prominent observable signature of celestial cosmic-ray interactions at high energies. While already being investigated at GeVenergies over several decades, assessments of diffuse gamma-ray emission at TeVenergies remain sparse. After completion of the systematic survey of the inner Galaxy, the H.E.S.S. experiment is in a prime position to observe large-scale diffuse emission at TeVenergies. Data of the H.E.S.S. Galactic Plane Survey are investigated in regions off known gamma-ray sources. Corresponding gamma-ray flux measurements were made over an extensive grid of celestial locations. Longitudinal and latitudinal profiles of the observed gamma-ray fluxes show characteristic excess emission not attributable to known gamma-ray sources. For the first time large-scale gamma-ray emission along the Galactic plane using imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes has been observed. While the background subtraction technique limits the ability to recover modest variation on the scale of the H.E.S.S. field of view or larger, which is characteristic of the inverse Compton scatter-induced Galactic diffuse emission, contributions of neutral pion decay as well as emission from unresolved gamma-ray sources can be recovered in the observed signal to a large fraction. Calculations show that the minimum gamma-ray emission from pi(0) decay represents a significant contribution to the total signal. This detection is interpreted as a mix of diffuse Galactic gamma-ray emission and unresolved sources.
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| 5. |
- Abramowski, A., et al.
(författare)
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H.E.S.S. reveals a lack of TeV emission from the supernova remnant Puppis A : (Research Note)
- 2015
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 575
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context. Puppis A is an interesting similar to 4 kyr-old supernova remnant (SNR) that shows strong evidence of interaction between the forward shock and a molecular cloud. It has been studied in detail from radio frequencies to high-energy (HE, 0.1-100 GeV) gamma-rays. An analysis of the Fermi-LAT data has shown extended HE gamma-ray emission with a 0.2-100 GeV spectrum exhibiting no significant deviation from a power law, unlike most of the GeV-emitting SNRs known to be interacting with molecular clouds. This makes it a promising target for imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes (IACTs) to probe the gamma-ray emission above 100 GeV.Aims. Very-high-energy (VHE, E >= 0.1 TeV) gamma-ray emission from Puppis A has been, for the first time, searched for with the High Energy Stereoscopic System (HESS.).Methods. Stereoscopic imaging of Cherenkov radiation from extensive air showers is used to reconstruct the direction and energy of the incident gamma-rays in order to produce sky images and source spectra. The profile likelihood method is applied to find constraints on the existence of a potential break or cutoff in the photon spectrum.Results. The analysis of the HESS. data does not reveal any significant emission towards Puppis A. The derived upper limits on the differential photon flux imply that its broadband gamma-ray spectrum must exhibit a spectral break or cutoff. By combining Fermi-LAT and HESS. measurements, the 99% confidence-level upper limits on such a cutoff are found to be 450 and 280 GeV, assuming a power law with a simple exponential and a sub-exponential cutoff, respectively. It is concluded that none of the standard limitations (age, size, radiative losses) on the particle acceleration mechanism, assumed to be continuing at present, can explain the lack of VHE signal. The scenario in which particle acceleration has ceased some time ago is considered as an alternative explanation. The HE/VHE spectrum of Puppis A could then exhibit a break of non-radiative origin (as observed in several other interacting SNRs, albeit at somewhat higher energies), owing to the interaction with dense and neutral material, in particular towards the NE region.
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| 6. |
- Abramowski, A., et al.
(författare)
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Long-term monitoring of PKS2155-304 with ATOM and HESS:investigation of optical/gamma-ray correlations in different spectral states
- 2014
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 571
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this paper we report on the analysis of all the available optical and very high-energy gamma-ray (> 200 GeV) data for the BL Lac object PKS 2155-304, collected simultaneously with the ATOM and H.E.S.S. telescopes from 2007 until 2009. This study also includes X-ray (RXTE, Swift) and high-energy gamma-ray (Fermi-LAT) data. During the period analysed, the source was transitioning from its flaring to quiescent optical states, and was characterized by only moderate flux changes at different wavelengths on the timescales of days and months. A flattening of the optical continuum with an increasing optical flux can be noted in the collected dataset, but only occasionally and only at higher flux levels. We did not find any universal relation between the very high-energy gamma-ray and optical flux changes on the timescales from days and weeks up to several years. On the other hand, we noted that at higher flux levels the source can follow two distinct tracks in the optical flux-colour diagrams, which seem to be related to distinct gamma-ray states of the blazar. The obtained results therefore indicate a complex scaling between the optical and gamma-ray emission of PKS 2155 304, with different correlation patterns holding at different epochs, and a gamma-ray flux depending on the combination of an optical flux and colour rather than a flux alone.
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| 7. |
- Abramowski, A., et al.
(författare)
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Search for dark matter annihilation signatures in HESS observations of dwarf spheroidal galaxies
- 2014
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Ingår i: Physical Review D. - 1550-7998 .- 1550-2368. ; 90:11, s. 112012-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Dwarf spheroidal galaxies of the Local Group are close satellites of the Milky Way characterized by a large mass-to-light ratio and are not expected to be the site of nonthermal high-energy gamma-ray emission or intense star formation. Therefore they are among the most promising candidates for indirect dark matter searches. During the last years the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) of imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes observed five of these dwarf galaxies for more than 140 hours in total, searching for TeV gamma-ray emission from annihilation of dark matter particles. The new results of the deep exposure of the Sagittarius dwarf spheroidal galaxy, the first observations of the Coma Berenices and Fornax dwarves and the reanalysis of two more dwarf spheroidal galaxies already published by the H.E.S.S. Collaboration, Carina and Sculptor, are presented. In the absence of a significant signal new constraints on the annihilation cross section applicable to weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) are derived by combining the observations of the five dwarf galaxies. The combined exclusion limit depends on the WIMP mass and the best constraint is reached at 1-2 TeV masses with a cross-section upper bound of similar to 3.9 x 10(-24) cm(3) s(-1) at a 95% confidence level.
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| 8. |
- Abramowski, A., et al.
(författare)
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The exceptionally powerful TeV gamma-ray emitters in the Large Magellanic Cloud
- 2015
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Ingår i: Science. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 0036-8075 .- 1095-9203. ; 347:6220, s. 406-412
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, has been observed with the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) above an energy of 100 billion electron volts for a deep exposure of 210 hours. Three sources of different types were detected: the pulsar wind nebula of the most energetic pulsar known, N 157B; the radio-loud supernova remnant N 132D; and the largest nonthermal x-ray shell, the superbubble 30 Dor C. The unique object SN 1987A is, unexpectedly, not detected, which constrains the theoretical framework of particle acceleration in very young supernova remnants. These detections reveal the most energetic tip of a g-ray source population in an external galaxy and provide via 30 Dor C the unambiguous detection of g-ray emission from a superbubble.
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| 9. |
- Collaboration, H. E. S. S., et al.
(författare)
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HESS observations of the Crab during its March 2013 GeV gamma-ray flare
- 2014
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 562, s. Article ID: UNSP L4-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context. On March 4, 2013 the Fermi-EAT and AGILE reported a flare from the direction of the Crab nebula in which the high-energy (HE; E > 100 MeV) flux was six times above its quiescent level. Simultaneous observations in other energy bands give us hints about the emission processes during the flare episode and the physics of pulsar wind nebulae in general. Aims. We search for variability in the emission of the Crab nebula at very-high energies (VHF,; E > 100 GeV), using contemporaneous data taken with the H.E.S.S. array of Cherenkov telescopes. Methods. Observational data taken with the H.E.S.S. instrument on five consecutive days during the flare were analysed for the flux and spectral shape of the emission from the Crab nebula. Night-wise light curves are presented with energy thresholds of 1 TeV and 5 TeV. Results. The observations conducted with H.E.S.S. on March 6 to March 10, 2013 show no significant changes in the flux. They limit the variation in the integral flux above 1 TeV to less than 63% and the integral flux above 5 TeV to less than 78% at a 95% confidence level.
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| 10. |
- Abramowski, A., et al.
(författare)
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Discovery of TeV gamma-ray emission from PKS 0447-439 and derivation of an upper limit on its redshift
- 2013
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 552, s. A118-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Very high-energy gamma-ray emission from PKS 0447-439 was detected with the H. E. S. S. Cherenkov telescope array in December 2009. This blazar is one of the brightest extragalactic objects in the Fermi bright source list and has a hard spectrum in the MeV to GeV range. In the TeV range, a photon index of 3.89 +/- 0.37 (stat) +/- 0.22 (sys) and a flux normalisation at 1 TeV, phi(1) (TeV) = (3.5 +/- 1.1(stat) +/- 0.9(sys)) x 10(-13) cm(-2) s(-1) TeV-1 were found. The detection with H. E. S. S. triggered observations in the X-ray band with the Swift and RXTE telescopes. Simultaneous UV and optical data from Swift UVOT and data from the optical telescopes ATOM and ROTSE are also available. The spectrum and light curve measured with H. E. S. S. are presented and compared to the multi-wavelength data at lower energies. A rapid flare is seen in the Swift XRT and RXTE data, together with a flux variation in the UV band, at a time scale of the order of one day. A firm upper limit of z < 0.59 on the redshift of PKS 0447-439 is derived from the combined Fermi-LAT and H. E. S. S. data, given the assumptions that there is no upturn in the intrinsic spectrum above the Fermi-LAT energy range and that absorption on the extragalactic background light (EBL) is not weaker than the lower limit provided by current models. The spectral energy distribution is well described by a simple one-zone synchrotron self-Compton scenario, if the redshift of the source is less than z less than or similar to 0.4.
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