A search for very high energy γ-ray emission from the starburst galaxy NGC 253 with HESS

Free access article

Issue		A&A Volume 442, Number 1, October IV 2005


Page(s)		177 - 183
Section		Extragalactic astronomy
DOI		http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20053521

A&A 442, 177-183 (2005)
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:20053521

A search for very high energy $\gamma$ -ray emission from the starburst galaxy NGC 253 with HESS $\,$

F. Aharonian¹, A. G. Akhperjanian², A. R. Bazer-Bachi³, M. Beilicke⁴, W. Benbow¹, D. Berge¹, K. Bernlöhr^{1, 5}, C. Boisson⁶, O. Bolz¹, V. Borrel³, I. Braun¹, F. Breitling⁵, A. M. Brown⁷, P. M. Chadwick⁷, L.-M. Chounet⁸, R. Cornils⁴, L. Costamante^{1, 9}, B. Degrange⁸, H. J. Dickinson⁷, A. Djannati-Ataï¹⁰, L. O'C. Drury¹¹, G. Dubus⁸, D. Emmanoulopoulos¹², P. Espigat¹⁰, F. Feinstein¹³, G. Fontaine⁸, Y. Fuchs¹⁴, S. Funk¹, Y. A. Gallant¹³, B. Giebels⁸, S. Gillessen¹, J. F. Glicenstein¹⁵, P. Goret¹⁵, C. Hadjichristidis⁷, M. Hauser¹², G. Heinzelmann⁴, G. Henri¹⁴, G. Hermann¹, J. A. Hinton¹, W. Hofmann¹, M. Holleran¹⁶, D. Horns¹, A. Jacholkowska¹³, O. C. de Jager¹⁶, B. Khélifi¹, Nu. Komin⁵, A. Konopelko^{1, 5}, I. J. Latham⁷, R. Le Gallou⁷, A. Lemière¹⁰, M. Lemoine-Goumard⁸, N. Leroy⁸, T. Lohse⁵, J. M. Martin⁶, O. Martineau-Huynh¹⁷, A. Marcowith³, C. Masterson^{1, 9}, T. J. L. McComb⁷, M. de Naurois¹⁷, S. J. Nolan⁷, A. Noutsos⁷, K. J. Orford⁷, J. L. Osborne⁷, M. Ouchrif^{17, 9}, M. Panter¹, G. Pelletier¹⁴, S. Pita¹⁰, G. Pühlhofer^{1, 12}, M. Punch¹⁰, B. C. Raubenheimer¹⁶, M. Raue⁴, J. Raux¹⁷, S. M. Rayner⁷, A. Reimer¹⁸, O. Reimer¹⁸, J. Ripken⁴, L. Rob¹⁹, L. Rolland¹⁷, G. Rowell¹, V. Sahakian², L. Saugé¹⁴, S. Schlenker⁵, R. Schlickeiser¹⁸, C. Schuster¹⁸, U. Schwanke⁵, M. Siewert¹⁸, H. Sol⁶, D. Spangler⁷, R. Steenkamp²⁰, C. Stegmann⁵, J.-P. Tavernet¹⁷, R. Terrier¹⁰, C. G. Théoret¹⁰, M. Tluczykont^{8, 9}, G. Vasileiadis¹³, C. Venter¹⁶, P. Vincent¹⁷, H. J. Völk¹ and S. J. Wagner¹²

¹ Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Heidelberg, Germany
e-mail: Jim.Hinton@mpi-hd.mpg.de
² Yerevan Physics Institute, Armenia
³ Centre d'Étude Spatiale des Rayonnements, CNRS/UPS, Toulouse, France
⁴ Universität Hamburg, Institut für Experimentalphysik, Germany
⁵ Institut für Physik, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany
⁶ LUTH, UMR 8102 du CNRS, Observatoire de Paris, Section de Meudon, France
⁷ University of Durham, Department of Physics, UK
⁸ Laboratoire Leprince-Ringuet, IN2P3/CNRS, École Polytechnique, Palaiseau, France
⁹ European Associated Laboratory for Gamma-Ray Astronomy, jointly supported by CNRS and MPG
¹⁰ APC, Paris, France (UMR 7164, CNRS, Université Paris VII, CEA, Observatoire de Paris)
¹¹ Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, Ireland
¹² Landessternwarte, Königstuhl, Heidelberg, Germany
¹³ Laboratoire de Physique Théorique et Astroparticules, IN2P3/CNRS, Université Montpellier II, France
¹⁴ Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Grenoble, INSU/CNRS, Université Joseph Fourier, France
¹⁵ DAPNIA/DSM/CEA, CE Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, Cedex, France
¹⁶ Unit for Space Physics, North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa
¹⁷ Laboratoire de Physique Nucléaire et de Hautes Énergies, IN2P3/CNRS, Universités Paris VI & VII, Paris, France
¹⁸ Institut für Theoretische Physik, Lehrstuhl IV: Weltraum und Astrophysik, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany
¹⁹ Institute of Particle and Nuclear Physics, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
²⁰ University of Namibia, Windhoek, Namibia

(Received 26 May 2005 / Accepted 12 July 2005 )

Abstract
We present the result of 28 h of observations of the nearby starburst galaxy NGC 253 with the HESS $\,$ detector in 2003. We find no evidence for very high energy $\gamma$ -ray emission from this object. Gamma-ray emission above 400 GeV from NGC 253 had been reported by the CANGAROO collaboration in 2002. From the HESS $\,$ data we derive upper limits on the flux above 300 GeV of $1.9\,\times\,10^{-12}$ photons cm^-2 s^-1 for a point-like source and $6.3\,\times\,10^{-12}$ photons cm^-2 s^-1 for a source of radius 0.5 $^{\circ}$ as reported by CANGAROO, both at a confidence level of 99%. These upper limits are inconsistent with the spectrum reported by CANGAROO. The expected very high energy $\gamma$ -ray emission from this object is discussed in the framework of a galactic wind propagation model.

Key words: gamma-rays: observations -- galaxies: starburst -- galaxies: individual objects: NGC 253

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A search for very high energy -ray emission from the starburst galaxy NGC 253 with HESS

A search for very high energy $\gamma$ -ray emission from the starburst galaxy NGC 253 with HESS $\,$