The H.E.S.S. central data acquisition system

The High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) is a system of Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs) located in the Khomas Highland in Namibia. It measures cosmic gamma rays of very high energies (VHE; >100 GeV) using the Earth’s atmosphere as a calorimeter. The H.E.S.S. Array entered Phase II in September 2012 with the inauguration of a fifth telescope that is larger and more complex than the other four. This paper will give an overview of the current H.E.S.S. central data acquisition (DAQ) system with particular emphasis on the upgrades made to integrate the fifth telescope into the array. At first, the various requirements for the central DAQ are discussed then the general design principles employed to fulfil these requirements are described. Finally, the performance, stability and reliability of the H.E.S.S. central DAQ are presented. One of the major accomplishments is that less than 0.8% of observation time has been lost due to central DAQ problems since 2009.     

Imaging very high energy gamma-ray telescopes

The technique of γ-ray astronomy at very high energies (VHE:>?100 GeV) with ground-based imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes is described, the H.E.S.S. array in Namibia serving as example. Mainly a discussion of the physical principles of the atmospheric Cherenkov technique is given, emphasizing its rapid development during the last decade. The present status is illustrated by two examples: the spectral and morphological characterization in VHE γ-rays of a shell-type supernova remnant together with its theoretical interpretation, and the results of a survey of the Galactic Plane that shows a large variety of non-thermal sources. The final part is devoted to an overview of the ongoing and future instrumental developments.     

Associations of very high energy gamma-ray sources discovered by H.E.S.S. with pulsar wind nebulae

The H.E.S.S. array of imaging Cherenkov telescopes has discovered a number of previously unknown γ-ray sources in the very high energy (VHE) domain above 100 GeV. The good angular resolution of H.E.S.S. (∼0.1° per event), as well as its sensitivity (a few percent of the Crab Nebula flux) and wide 5° field of view, allow a much better constrained search for counterparts in comparison to previous instruments. In several cases, the association of the VHE sources revealed by H.E.S.S. with pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe) is supported by a combination of positional and morphological evidence, multi-wavelength observations, and plausible PWN model parameters. These include the plerions in the composite supernova remnants G 0.9+0.1 and MSH 15–52, the recently discovered Vela X nebula, two new sources in the Kookaburra complex, and the association of HESS J1825–137 with PSR B1823–13. The properties of these better-established associations are reviewed. A number of other sources discovered by H.E.S.S. are located near high spin-down power pulsars, but the evidence for association is less complete. These possible associations are also discussed, in the context of the available multi-wavelength data and plausible PWN scenarios. For the H.E.S.S. Collaboration     

A low density of the extragalactic background light revealed by the H.E.S.S. spectra of the BL Lac objects 1ES 1101-232 and H 2356-309

The study of the TeV emission from extragalactic sources is hindered by the uncertainties on the diffuse Extragalactic Background Light (EBL). The recent H.E.S.S. results on the blazars 1ES 1101-232 and H 2356-309 represent a breakthrough on this issue. Their unexpectedly hard spectra allow an upper limit to be derived on the EBL in the optical/near-infrared range, which is very close to the lower limit given by the resolved galaxy counts. This result seems to exclude a large contribution to the EBL from other sources (e.g. Population III stars) and indicates that the intergalactic space is more transparent to γ-rays than previously thought. A discussion of EBL absorption effects and further observational tests with Cherenkov telescopes are presented. For the H.E.S.S. collaboration.     

Status of identification of VHE γ-ray sources

With the recent advances made by Cherenkov telescopes such as H.E.S.S. the field of very high-energy (VHE) γ-ray astronomy has recently entered a new era in which for the first time populations of Galactic sources such as e.g. Pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe) or Supernova remnants (SNRs) can be studied. However, while some of the new sources can be associated by positional coincidence as well as by consistent multi-wavelength data to a known counterpart at other wavelengths, most of the sources remain not finally identified. In the following, the population of Galactic H.E.S.S. sources will be used to demonstrate the status of the identifications, to classify them into categories according to this status and to point out outstanding problems.     

Morphological and spectral studies of the shell-type supernova remnants RX J1713.7–3946 and RX J0852.0–4622 with H.E.S.S.

In 2004 and 2005, the shell-type supernova remnants RX J1713.7–3946 and RX J0852.0–4622 were observed and detected with the complete H.E.S.S. array, a system of four Imaging Cherenkov Telescopes located in Namibia and dedicated to the observations of γ-rays above 100 GeV. The energy spectra of these two sources have been measured over a wide energy range and revealed an integral flux above 1 TeV similar to that of the Crab Nebula. Their morphologies were resolved with high accuracy with H.E.S.S. and exhibit a striking correlation with the X-ray images, thereby pioneering a technique of unambiguously identifying spatially extended γ-ray sources. The results of the observations will be presented. Similarities and differences between these two sources will be pointed out as well as possible implications. M. Lemoine-Goumard, F. Aharonian, D. Berge, B. Degrange, D. Hauser, N. Komin, O. Reimer, U. Schwanke for the H.E.S.S. Collaboration     

A Monte Carlo template based analysis for air-Cherenkov arrays

We present a high-performance event reconstruction algorithm: an Image Pixel-wise fit for Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (ImPACT). The reconstruction algorithm is based around the likelihood fitting of camera pixel amplitudes to an expected image template. A maximum likelihood fit is performed to find the best-fit shower parameters. A related reconstruction algorithm has already been shown to provide significant improvements over traditional reconstruction for both the CAT and H.E.S.S. experiments. We demonstrate a significant improvement to the template generation step of the procedure, by the use of a full Monte Carlo air shower simulation in combination with a ray-tracing optics simulation to more accurately model the expected camera images. This reconstruction step is combined with an MVA-based background rejection.Examples are shown of the performance of the ImPACT analysis on both simulated and measured (from a strong VHE source) gamma-ray data from the H.E.S.S. array, demonstrating an improvement in sensitivity of more than a factor two in observation time over traditional image moments-fitting methods, with comparable performance to previous likelihood fitting analyses. ImPACT is a particularly promising approach for future large arrays such as the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) due to its improved high-energy performance and suitability for arrays of mixed telescope types.     

Demystifying an unidentified EGRET source by VHE gamma-ray observations

In a novel approach in observational high-energy gamma-ray astronomy, observations carried out by imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes provide necessary templates to pinpoint the nature of intriguing, yet unidentified EGRET gamma-ray sources. Using GeV-photons detected by EGRET and taking advantage of high spatial resolution images from H.E.S.S. observations, we were able to shed new light on the EGRET observed gamma-ray emission in the Kookaburra complex, whose previous coverage in the literature is somewhat contradictory. 3EG J1420–6038 very likely accounts for two GeV gamma-ray sources (E>1 GeV), both in positional coincidence with the recently reported pulsar wind nebulae (PWN) by HESS in the Kookaburra/Rabbit complex. PWN associations at VHE energies, supported by accumulating evidence from observations in the radio and X-ray band, are indicative for the PSR/plerionic origin of spatially coincident, but still unidentified Galactic gamma-ray sources from EGRET. This not only supports the already suggested connection between variable, but unidentified low-latitude gamma-ray sources with pulsar wind nebulae (3EG J1420–6038 has been suggested as PWN candidate previously), it also documents the ability of resolving apparently confused EGRET sources by connecting the GeV emission as measured from a large-aperture space-based gamma-ray instrument with narrow field-of-view but superior spatial resolution observations by ground-based atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes, a very promising identification technique for achieving convincing individual source identifications in the era of GLAST-LAT.      

Image and non-image parameters of atmospheric Cherenkov events: a comparative study of their γ-ray/hadron classification potential in ultrahigh energy regime

In this exploratory simulation study, we compare the event-progenitor classification potential of a variety of measurable parameters of atmospheric Cherenkov pulses which are produced by ultrahigh energy γ-ray and hadron progenitors and are likely to be recorded by the TACTIC (TeV atmospheric Cherenkov telescope with imaging camera) array of atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes. The parameters derived from Cherenkov images include Hillas, fractal and wavelet moments, while those obtained from non-image Cherenkov data consist of pulse profile rise time and base width and the relative ultraviolet to visible light content of the Cherenkov event. It is shown by a neural-net approach that these parameters, when used in suitable combinations, can bring about a proper segregation of the two event types, even with modest sized data samples of progenitor particles.     

Upgrading and testing the 3D reconstruction of gamma-ray air showers as observed with an array of Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes

Stereoscopic arrays of Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes allow to reconstruct gamma-ray-induced showers in three dimensions, which offers several advantages: direct access to the shower parameters in space and straightforward calorimetric measurement of the incident energy. In addition, correlations between the different images of the same shower are taken into account. An analysis method based on a simple 3D-model of electromagnetic showers was recently implemented in the framework of the H.E.S.S. experiment. In the present article, the method is completed by an additional quality criterion, which reduces the background contamination by a factor of about 2 in the case of extended sources, while keeping gamma-ray efficiency at a high level. On the other hand, the dramatic flares of the blazar PKS 2155-304 in July 2006, which provided H.E.S.S. data with an almost pure gamma-ray sample, offered the unique opportunity of a precision test of the 3D-reconstruction method as well as of the H.E.S.S. simulations used in its calibration. An agreement at a few percent level is found between data and simulations for the distributions of all 3D shower parameters.     

Total ozone measurements derived from T.O.V.S. radiances

A new method of total ozone retrieval from i.r. satellite data(NOAA6) is presented. It uses ozone transmittance as a predictor of total ozone. Ozone transmittance at 9.6 μm(TR) is deduced from radiance at 9.6 μm(R9), surface temperature (TS) measured at 11 μm, and ozone mean temperature (TE) estimated from several channels (among them 9.6 μm) by the radiative transfer equation : R9 = B(TS) × TR + (1?TR) × B(TE) where B is the Planck function.A statistical analysis of the retrieved ozone field and a comparison with ground based measurements show that the S.E. is less than 5% for the considered data set.     

Upgrading and testing the 3D reconstruction of gamma-ray air showers as observed with an array of Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes

Stereoscopic arrays of Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes allow to reconstruct gamma-ray-induced showers in three dimensions, which offers several advantages: direct access to the shower parameters in space and straightforward calorimetric measurement of the incident energy. In addition, correlations between the different images of the same shower are taken into account. An analysis method based on a simple 3D-model of electromagnetic showers was recently implemented in the framework of the H.E.S.S. experiment. In the present article, the method is completed by an additional quality criterion, which reduces the background contamination by a factor of about 2 in the case of extended sources, while keeping gamma-ray efficiency at a high level. On the other hand, the dramatic flares of the blazar PKS 2155-304 in July 2006, which provided H.E.S.S. data with an almost pure gamma-ray sample, offered the unique opportunity of a precision test of the 3D-reconstruction method as well as of the H.E.S.S. simulations used in its calibration. An agreement at a few percent level is found between data and simulations for the distributions of all 3D shower parameters.     

A multivariate analysis approach for the imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes system H.E.S.S.

A multivariate particle classification approach is proposed and applied to the analysis of the data from H.E.S.S. (High Energy Stereoscopic System). The combination of results from the three shower reconstruction methods: Hillas, model and 3D-model, leads to a substantial gain in the discrimination power between photons and hadrons. The construction and use of a combined effective estimator improves by several factors the signal-to-background ratio which is extremely important in case of studies of the faint and extended sources. The results of this approach are presented for a typical set of sources. The consequent gain in the sensitivity is shown through a comparison to the H.E.S.S. published results.     

Impact of atmospheric parameters on the atmospheric Cherenkov technique

Atmospheric density profiles as well as several light absorption and scattering processes depend on geographic position and are generally time-variable. Their impact on the atmospheric Cherenkov technique in general (imaging or non-imaging) is investigated. Different density profiles lead to differences in Cherenkov light density of up to 60%. Seasonal variations at mid-latitude sites are of the order of 15–20%. The quest for improved energy calibration of Cherenkov experiments also shows the need for improved transmission calculations, taking all relevant processes into account and using realistic profiles of absorbers. Simulations including the scattering mechanisms also reveal the relevance of Rayleigh and Mie scattering for atmospheric Cherenkov experiments. Refraction and the differences between treating the atmosphere in plane-parallel or spherical geometry are also investigated.     

Simulation studies of MACE-I: Trigger rates and energy thresholds

The MACE (Major Atmospheric Cherenkov Experiment) is an upcoming Very High Energy (VHE) γ-ray telescope, based on imaging atmospheric Cherenkov technique, being installed at Hanle, a high altitude astronomical site in Ladakh, India. Here we present Monte Carlo simulation studies of trigger rates and threshold energies of MACE in the zenith angle range of 0°–60° for on-axis γ-ray coming from point source and various cosmic ray species. We have simulated the telescope’s response to γ-rays, proton, electron and alpha initiated atmospheric Extensive Air Showers (EAS) in the broad energy range of 5 GeV to 20 TeV. For γ-rays we consider power law and log parabolic spectra while other particles are simulated with their respective cosmic ray spectrum. Trigger rates and threshold energies are estimated for the trigger configuration of 4 Close Cluster Nearest Neighbour(CCNN) pixels as implemented in MACE hardware, in combination with single channel discriminator threshold ranging from 6–10 photo electrons (pe). We find that MACE can achieve the γ-ray trigger energy threshold of ∼ 17 GeV (4 CCNN, 9 pe) at 0° zenith angle for power law spectrum. The total trigger rate at 0° zenith is expected to be ∼650 Hz, with protons contributing ∼ 80% to it. For the zenith range of 0°-40° we find that the telescope can achieve γ-ray trigger threshold energies of ∼22 GeV at 20° zenith angle and ∼40 GeV at 40° zenith angle. Integral rates are also almost constant for this zenith angle range. At zenith angle of 60°, trigger energy threshold increases to ∼173 GeV and total integral rate falls down to ∼305 Hz.     

Multi-component study of extended sources with a likelihood method

The spectral and morphological analysis for gamma-ray sources with multiple emission components remains a major challenge for Cherenkov telescopes due to background emission from diffuse gamma rays. Current methods of background suppression, usually based on the bin-by-bin subtraction of OFF-source data do not allow an analysis of the various background components. As an alternative, we present an approach based on an event-by-event likelihood fit of ON-source data, using a combined spectral model for the source emission as well as for the gamma-like background obtained from fits of the OFF-source data. Multiple emission components are separated by successive fits in different energy regimes and spectral variations inside the extended source is derived. The performance of this approach is evaluated with toy Monte-Carlo studies. For the application to real data, two well-studied H.E.S.S. sources are re-examined: the extragalactic point-source PKS 2155-304 and the extended pulsar wind nebula HESS J1825-137. For the latter, radial variation of the emission spectral index was evaluated, confirming earlier findings by the H.E.S.S. collaboration.     

Remote sensing of clouds and aerosols with cosmic rays

Remote sensing of atmosphere is conventionally done via a study of extinction/scattering of light from natural (Sun, Moon) or artificial (laser) sources. Cherenkov emission from extensive air showers generated by cosmic rays provides one more natural light source distributed throughout the atmosphere. We show that Cherenkov light carries information on three-dimensional distribution of clouds and aerosols in the atmosphere and on the size distribution and scattering phase function of cloud/aerosol particles. Therefore, it could be used for the atmospheric sounding. The new atmospheric sounding method could be implemented via an adjustment of technique of imaging Cherenkov telescopes. The atmospheric sounding data collected in this way could be used both for atmospheric science and for the improvement of the quality of astronomical gamma-ray observations.     

H.E.S.S. observations of LS 5039

Recent observations of the binary system LS 5039 with the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) revealed that its Very High Energy (VHE) γ-ray emission is modulated at the 3.9 days orbital period of the system. The bulk of the emission is largely confined to half of the orbit, peaking around the inferior conjunction epoch of the compact object. The flux modulation provides the first indication of γ-ray absorption by pair production on the intense stellar photon field. This implies that the production region size must be not significantly greater than the gamma-gamma photosphere size (∼1 AU), thus excluding the large scale collimated outflows or jets (extending out to ∼1000 AU). A hardening of the spectrum is also observed at the same epoch between 0.2 and a few TeV which is unexpected under a pure absorption scenario and could rather arise from variation with phase in the maximum electron energy and/or the dominant VHE γ-ray production mechanism. This first-time observation of modulated γ-ray emission allows precise tests of the acceleration and emission models in binary systems. Mathieu de Naurois for the H.E.S.S. Collaboration.