Discovery of very high energy γ-ray emission from the BL Lacertae object H 2356-309 with the HESS Cherenkov telescopes

van Eldik C (2006)


Publication Type: Journal article, Original article

Publication year: 2006

Journal

Book Volume: 455

Pages Range: 461-466

Journal Issue: 2

DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:20054732

Abstract

The extreme synchrotron BL Lac object H 2356-309, located at a redshift of z = 0.165, was observed from June to December 2004 with a total exposure of ≈40 h live-time with the HESS (High Energy Stereoscopic System) array of atmospheric-Cherenkov telescopes (ACTs). Analysis of this data set yields, for the first time, a strong excess of 453 γ-rays (10 standard deviations above background) from H 2356-309, corresponding to an observed integral flux above 200 GeV of I(>200 GeV) = (4.1 ±0.5) × 10 cm s (statistical error only). The differential energy spectrum of the source between 200 GeV and 1.3TeV is well-described by a power law with a normalisation (at 1 TeV) of N = (3.00 ±0.80 ± 0.31 )× 10 cm s TeV and a photon index of γ = 3.09 ± 0.24 ± 0.10 . H 2356-309 is one of the most distant BL Lac objects detected at very-high-energy γ-rays so far. Results from simultaneous observations from ROTSE-III (optical), RXTE (X-rays) and NRT (radio) are also included and used together with the HESS data to constrain a single-zone homogeneous synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) model. This model provides an adequate fit to the HESS data when using a reasonable set of model parameters. © ESO 2006.

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How to cite

APA:

van Eldik, C. (2006). Discovery of very high energy γ-ray emission from the BL Lacertae object H 2356-309 with the HESS Cherenkov telescopes. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 455(2), 461-466. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20054732

MLA:

van Eldik, Christopher. "Discovery of very high energy γ-ray emission from the BL Lacertae object H 2356-309 with the HESS Cherenkov telescopes." Astronomy & Astrophysics 455.2 (2006): 461-466.

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