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Issue A&A
Volume 430, Number 3, February II 2005
Page(s) 865 - 875
Section Extragalactic astronomy
DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20041853



A&A 430, 865-875 (2005)
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:20041853

H.E.S.S. observations of PKS 2155-304

F. Aharonian1, A. G. Akhperjanian2, K.-M. Aye3, A. R. Bazer-Bachi4, M. Beilicke5, W. Benbow1, D. Berge1, P. Berghaus6, K. Bernlöhr1, 7, O. Bolz1, C. Boisson8, C. Borgmeier7, F. Breitling7, A. M. Brown3, J. Bussons Gordo9, P. M. Chadwick3, V. R. Chitnis10, 11, L.-M. Chounet12, R. Cornils5, L. Costamante1, 11, B. Degrange12, A. Djannati-Ataï6, L.O'C. Drury13, T. Ergin7, P. Espigat6, F. Feinstein9, P. Fleury12, G. Fontaine12, S. Funk1, Y. A. Gallant9, B. Giebels12, S. Gillessen1, P. Goret14, J. Guy10, C. Hadjichristidis3, M. Hauser15, G. Heinzelmann5, G. Henri16, G. Hermann1, J. A. Hinton1, W. Hofmann1, M. Holleran17, D. Horns1, O. C. de Jager17, I. Jung1, 15, B. Khélifi1, Nu. Komin7, A. Konopelko1, 7, I. J. Latham3, R. Le Gallou3, M. Lemoine12, A. Lemière6, N. Leroy12, T. Lohse7, A. Marcowith4, C. Masterson1, 11, T. J. L. McComb3, M. de Naurois10, S. J. Nolan3, A. Noutsos3, K. J. Orford3, J. L. Osborne3, M. Ouchrif10, 11, M. Panter1, G. Pelletier16, S. Pita6, M. Pohl18, G. Pühlhofer1, 15, M. Punch6, B. C. Raubenheimer17, M. Raue5, J. Raux10, S. M. Rayner3, I. Redondo12, 11, A. Reimer18, O. Reimer18, J. Ripken5, M. Rivoal10, L. Rob19, L. Rolland10, G. Rowell1, V. Sahakian2, L. Saugé16, S. Schlenker7, R. Schlickeiser18, C. Schuster18, U. Schwanke7, M. Siewert18, H. Sol8, R. Steenkamp20, C. Stegmann7, J.-P. Tavernet10, C. G. Théoret6, M. Tluczykont12, 11, D. J. van der Walt17, G. Vasileiadis9, P. Vincent10, B. Visser17, H. J. Völk1 and S. J. Wagner15

1  Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Heidelberg, Germany
    e-mail: wystan.benbow@mpi-hd.mpg.de
2  Yerevan Physics Institute, Armenia
3  University of Durham, Department of Physics, UK
4  Centre d'Etude Spatiale des Rayonnements, CNRS/UPS, Toulouse, France
5  Universität Hamburg, Institut für Experimentalphysik, Germany
6  Physique Corpusculaire et Cosmologie, IN2P3/CNRS, Collège de France, Paris, France
7  Institut für Physik, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany
8  LUTH, UMR 8102 du CNRS, Observatoire de Paris, Section de Meudon, France
9  Groupe d'Astroparticules de Montpellier, IN2P3/CNRS, Université Montpellier II, France
10  Laboratoire de Physique Nucléaire et de Hautes Énergies, IN2P3/CNRS, Universités Paris VI & VII, France
11  European Associated Laboratory for Gamma-Ray Astronomy, jointly supported by CNRS and MPG
12  Laboratoire Leprince-Ringuet, IN2P3/CNRS, École Polytechnique, Palaiseau, France
13  Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, Ireland
14  Service d'Astrophysique, DAPNIA/DSM/CEA, CE Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
15  Landessternwarte, Königstuhl, Heidelberg, Germany
16  Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Grenoble, INSU/CNRS, Université Joseph Fourier, France
17  Unit for Space Physics, North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa
18  Institut für Theoretische Physik, Lehrstuhl IV, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany
19  Institute of Particle and Nuclear Physics, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
20  University of Namibia, Windhoek, Namibia

(Received 17 August 2004 / Accepted 27 September 2004)

Abstract
The high-frequency peaked BL Lac PKS 2155-304 at redshift z=0.117 has been detected with high significance (~45 $\sigma$) at energies greater than 160 GeV, using the H.E.S.S. stereoscopic array of imaging air-Cherenkov telescopes in Namibia. A strong signal is found in each of the data sets corresponding to the dark periods of July and October, 2002, and June-September, 2003. The observed flux of VHE gamma rays shows variability on time scales of months, days, and hours. The monthly-averaged integral flux above 300 GeV varies between 10% and 60% of the flux observed from the Crab Nebula. Energy spectra are measured for these individual periods of data taking and are characterized by a steep power law with a time-averaged photon index of $\Gamma=3.32\pm0.06$. An improved $\chi^2$ per degree of freedom is found when either a power law with an exponential cutoff energy or a broken power law are fit to the time-averaged energy spectrum. However, the significance of the improvement is marginal (~2 $\sigma$). The suggested presence of features in the energy spectrum may be intrinsic to the emission from the blazar, or an indication of absorption of TeV gamma rays by the extragalactic infrared background light.


Key words: galaxies: active -- galaxies: BL Lacertae objects: individual: PKS 2155-304 -- gamma rays: observations

SIMBAD Objects



© ESO 2005


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