Related papers: The HEGRA Experiment - Status and Recent Results
The physics of the non-thermal Universe provides information on the acceleration mechanisms in extreme environments, such as black holes and relativistic jets, neutron stars, supernovae or clusters of galaxies. In the presence of magnetic…
A model for high-energy (>10^14 eV) cosmic rays (HECRs) from galactic and extragalactic gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) is summarized. Relativistic outflows in GRBs are assumed to inject power-law distributions of CR protons and ions to the highest…
During the last decade, imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes (IACTs) have proven themselves as astronomical detectors in the very-high-energy (VHE; E>0.1 TeV) regime. The IACT technique observes the VHE photons indirectly, using the…
Progress in the Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Technique has enabled first sensitive observations of the innermost few 100 pc of the Milky Way in Very High Energy (VHE; >100 GeV) gamma rays. Observations by the H.E.S.S. instrument deliver…
The scientific discoveries made by H.E.S.S. during its first year of operation encourage a reexamination of the open problems in high energy astrophysics and of the capabilities of the atmospheric Cherenkov technique, which could be…
Gamma-ray observations give us a direct view into the most extreme environments of the universe. They help us to study astronomical particle accelerators as supernovae remnants, pulsars, active galaxies or gamma-ray bursts and help us to…
Stereoscopic viewing of TeV gamma-ray air showers with systems of Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs) allows to reconstruct the origin of individual primary particles with an accuracy of 0.1 degree or better. The shower impact…
The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) represents the next generation of ground-based instruments for very-high-energy (VHE) gamma-ray astronomy, aimed at improving on the sensitivity of current-generation experiments by an order of magnitude…
Recent results of GeV and TeV observations of gamma-rays from the Universe are briefly reviewed. Topics include observational technique, diffuse gamma-rays, pulsars, unidentified sources, plerions, supernova remnants and AGNs.
The observation of cosmic gamma-rays from the ground is based upon the detection of gamma-ray initiated air showers. At energies between approximately $10^{11}$ eV and $10^{13}$ eV, the imaging air Cherenkov technique is a particularly…
Great advances have been made in the study of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECR) in the past two decades. These include the discovery of the spectral cut-off near 5 x 10^19 eV and complex structure at lower energies, as well as…
Latest precise cosmic-ray (CR) measurements and present gamma-ray observations have started challenging our understanding of CR transport and interaction in the Galaxy. Moreover, because the density of CRs is similar to the density of the…
The detection by the HESS atmospheric Cherenkov telescope of fifteen new sources from the Galactic plane makes it possible to estimate the contribution of unresolved point sources like those detected by HESS to the diffuse Galactic emission…
The field of TeV gamma-ray astronomy is reviewed with emphasis on its relation to the origin of cosmic rays. The discovery of TeV photons from supernova remnants and active galaxies has provided the first direct observational link between…
The Very High Energy Gamma Ray Astronomy (VHE) is a rapidly evolving branch of modern astronomy, which covers the range from about 50 GeV to several tens of TeV from the ground. In the past years, the second generation instruments firmly…
The Major Atmospheric Gamma-ray Imaging Cherenkov (MAGIC) experiment is an array of two 17-meter telescopes located in the Canary Island of La Palma that observes the very-high energy (VHE) gamma-ray sky in stereoscopic mode since 2009.…
Imaging Air Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs) detect very high energetic (VHE) gamma rays. They observe the Cherenkov light emitted in electromagnetic shower cascades that gamma rays induce in the atmosphere. A precise reconstruction of the…
Many of the basic problems in the astrophysics of charged Cosmic Rays remain on principle unresolved by in situ observations in the Solar System due to the chaotic nature of the propagation of these particles in Interstellar space. This…
The VERITAS gamma ray observatory (Amado, AZ, veritas.sao.arizona.edu) uses the Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Technique (IACT) to study sources of Very High Energy (VHE: E > 100 GeV) gamma rays. Key science results from the first three…
The gamma-ray pulsar PSR B1509-58 and its surrounding nebulae have been observed with the CANGAROO 3.8m imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescope. The observations were performed from 1996 to 1998 in Woomera, South Australia, under different…