Capability of Cherenkov telescopes to observe ultra-fast optical flares

Deil C, Domainko W, Hermann G, Clapson AC, Foerster A, van Eldik C, Hofmann W (2009)

Publication Status: Published

Publication Type: Journal article, Original article

Publication year: 2009

Journal

Astroparticle Physics Elsevier

Publisher: Elsevier

Book Volume: 31

Pages Range: 156-162

Journal Issue: 2

DOI: 10.1016/j.astropartphys.2008.12.008

Abstract

The large optical reflector (∼100 m) of a H.E.S.S. Cherenkov telescope was used to search for very fast optical transients of astrophysical origin. Forty-three hours of observations targeting stellar-mass black holes and neutron stars were obtained using a dedicated photometer with microsecond time-resolution. The photometer consists of seven photomultiplier tube pixels: a central one to monitor the target and a surrounding ring of six pixels to veto background events. The light curves of all pixels were recorded continuously and were searched offline with a matched-filtering technique for flares with a duration of 2 μs-100 ms. As expected, many unresolved (<3 μs) and many long (>500 μs) background events originating in the earth's atmosphere were detected. In the time range 3-500 μs the measurement is essentially background-free, with only eight events detected in 43 h; five from lightning and three presumably from a piece of space debris. The detection of flashes of brightness ∼0.1 Jy and only 20 μs duration from the space debris shows the potential of this setup to find rare optical flares on timescales of tens of microseconds. This timescale corresponds to the light crossing time of stellar-mass black holes and neutron stars. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Authors with CRIS profile

Christopher van Eldik Professur für Experimentalphysik

Involved external institutions

Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik (MPIK) / Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics DE Germany (DE)

How to cite

APA:

Deil, C., Domainko, W., Hermann, G., Clapson, A.C., Foerster, A., van Eldik, C., & Hofmann, W. (2009). Capability of Cherenkov telescopes to observe ultra-fast optical flares. Astroparticle Physics, 31(2), 156-162. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.astropartphys.2008.12.008

MLA:

Deil, C., et al. "Capability of Cherenkov telescopes to observe ultra-fast optical flares." Astroparticle Physics 31.2 (2009): 156-162.

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