Issue |
A&A
Volume 430, Number 3, February II 2005
|
|
---|---|---|
Page(s) | 865 - 875 | |
Section | Extragalactic astronomy | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20041853 | |
Published online | 26 January 2005 |
H.E.S.S. observations of PKS 2155-304
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
The high-frequency peaked BL Lac
PKS 2155-304 at redshift has been detected with high
significance (~45σ) 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
.
An improved
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 (~2σ).
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
© ESO, 2005
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