Evidence for TeV gamma ray emission from Cassiopeia A

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2001

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Aharonian, F.
Akhperjanian, A.
Barrio, J.
Bernlohr, K.
Borst, H.
Bojahr, H.
Bolz, O.
Contreras, J.
Contina, J.
Denninghoff, S.

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Astronomy and Astrophysics (A & A), 2001; 370(1):112-120

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F. Aharonian,...G. P. Rowell,...et al.

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Abstract

232 hours of data were accumulated from 1997 to 1999, using the HEGRA Stereoscopic Cherenkov Telescope System to observe the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A. TeV γ-ray emission was detected at the 5 σ level, and a flux of (5.8 ± 1.2<inf>stat</inf> ± 1.2<inf>syst</inf>) 10<sup>-9</sup> ph m<sup>-2</sup> s<sup>-1</sup> above 1 TeV was derived. The spectral distribution is consistent with a power law with a differential spectral index of -2.5 ± 0.4<inf>stat</inf> ± 0.1<inf>syst</inf> between 1 and 10TeV. As this is the first report of the detection of a TeV γ-ray source on the "centi-Crab" scale, we present the analysis in some detail. Implications for the acceleration of cosmic rays depend on the details of the source modeling. We discuss some important aspects in this paper.

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© The European Southern Observatory 2001

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