Crab flare observations with H.E.S.S. phase II

The H.E.S.S. array is a third generation Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescope (IACT) array. It is located in the Khomas Highland in Namibia, and measures very high energy (VHE) gamma-rays. In Phase I, the array started data taking in 2004 with its four identical 13 m telescopes. Since then, H.E.S.S. has emerged as the most successful IACT experiment to date. Among the almost 150 sources of VHE gamma-ray radiation found so far, even the oldest detection, the Crab Nebula, keeps surprising the scientific community with unexplained phenomena such as the recently discovered very energetic flares of high energy gamma-ray radiation. During its most recent flare, which was detected by the Fermi satellite in March 2013, the Crab Nebula was simultaneously observed with the H.E.S.S. array for six nights. The results of the observations will be discussed in detail during the course of this work. During the nights of the flare, the new 24 m × 32 m H.E.S.S. II telescope was still being commissioned, but participated in the data taking for one night. To be able to reconstruct and analyze the data of the H.E.S.S. Phase II array, the algorithms and software used by the H.E.S.S. Phase I array had to be adapted. The most prominent advanced shower reconstruction technique developed by de Naurois and Rolland, the template-based model analysis, compares real shower images taken by the Cherenkov telescope cameras with shower templates obtained using a semi-analytical model. To find the best fitting image, and, therefore, the relevant parameters that describe the air shower best, a pixel-wise log-likelihood fit is done. The adaptation of this advanced shower reconstruction technique to the heterogeneous H.E.S.S. Phase II array for stereo events (i.e. air showers seen by at least two telescopes of any kind), its performance using MonteCarlo simulations as well as its application to real data will be described.

Level thesis:degree_level

thesis.doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher

Universität Potsdam

Year

2014

Author dc:creator

• Balzer, Arnim

Contributors dc:contributor

• Stegmann, Christian

• Gammastrahlungsastronomie
• Rekonstruktionsmethoden
• Datenanalyse
• Krebsnebel
• gamma-ray astronomy
• reconstruction methods
• data analysis
• Crab Nebula

Statement dc:rights

• CC-BY - Namensnennung 4.0 International

Repository record source_url

https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/7007

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:kobv.de-opus4-uni-potsdam:7007