English

First Results on the Performance of the HEGRA IACT Array

Astrophysics 2007-05-23 v1

Abstract

First results concerning the performance characteristics of the HEGRA IACT array are given, based on stereoscopic observations of the Crab Nebula with four telescopes. The system provides a gamma-ray energy threshold around 0.5 TeV. The Crab signal demonstrates an angular resolution of about 0.1 deg. Shape cuts allow to suppress cosmic ray background by almost a factor 100, while maintaining 40% efficiency for gamma-rays. The Crab signal is essentially background free. For longer observation times of order 100 h, the system in its present form provides sensitivity to point sources at a level of 3% of the Crab flux. Performance is expected to improve further with the inclusion of the fifth telescope and the implementation of advanced algorithms for shower reconstruction.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.astro-ph/9704098,
  title  = {First Results on the Performance of the HEGRA IACT Array},
  author = {HEGRA Collaboration and A. Daum et al},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/9704098},
  year   = {2007}
}

Comments

19 Pages, 11 figures, Latex, uses epsf, elsart.sty

R2 v1 2026-07-22T09:33:10.560Z