2009ApJ...695L..40A

Query : 2009ApJ...695L..40A

2009ApJ...695L..40A - Astrophys. J., 695, L40-L44 (2009/April-2)

Discovery of very high energy γ-ray emission from Centaurus A with H.E.S.S.

AHARONIAN F., AKHPERJANIAN A.G., ANTON G., BARRES DE ALMEIDA U., BAZER-BACHI A.R., BECHERINI Y., BEHERA B., BENBOW W., BERNLOHR K., BOISSON C., BOCHOW A., BORREL V., BRION E., BRUCKER J., BRUN P., BUHLER R., BULIK T., BUSCHING I., BOUTELIER T., CHADWICK P.M., CHARBONNIER A., CHAVES R.C.G., CHEESEBROUGH A., CHOUNET L.-M., CLAPSON A.C., COIGNET G., DALTON M., DANIEL M.K., DAVIDS I.D., DEGRANGE B., DEIL C., DICKINSON H.J., DJANNATI-ATAI A., DOMAINKO W., DRURY L.O'C., DUBOIS F., DUBUS G., DYKS J., DYRDA M., EGBERTS K., EMMANOULOPOULOS D., ESPIGAT P., FARNIER C., FEINSTEIN F., FIASSON A., FORSTER A., FONTAINE G., FUSSLING M., GABICI S., GALLANT Y.A., GERARD L., GIEBELS B., GLICENSTEIN J.-F., GLUCK B., GORET P., GOHRING D., HAUSER D., HAUSER M., HEINZ S., HEINZELMANN G., HENRI G., HERMANN G., HINTON J.A., HOFFMANN A., HOFMANN W., HOLLERAN M., HOPPE S., HORNS D., JACHOLKOWSKA A., DE JAGER O.C., JAHN C., JUNG I., KATARZYNSKI K., KATZ U., KAUFMANN S., KENDZIORRA E., KERSCHHAGGL M., KHANGULYAN D., KHELIFI B., KEOGH D., KLUXNIAK W., KNEISKE T., KOMIN N., KOSACK K., LAMANNA G., LATHAM I.J., LENAIN J.-P., LOHSE T., MARANDON V., MARTIN J.M., MARTINEAU-HUYNH O., MARCOWITH A., MAURIN D., McCOMB T.J.L., MEDINA M.C., MODERSKI R., MOULIN E., NAUMANN-GODO M., DE NAUROIS M., NEDBAL D., NEKRASSOV D., NIEMIEC J., NOLAN S.J., OHM S., OLIVE J.-F., DE ONA WILHELMI E., ORFORD K.J., OSTROWSKI M., PANTER M., PAZ ARRIBAS M., PEDALETTI G., PELLETIER G., PETRUCCI P.-O., PITA S., PUHLHOFER G., PUNCH M., QUIRRENBACH A., RAUBENHEIMER B.C., RAUE M., RAYNER S.M., RENAUD M., RIEGER F., RIPKEN J., ROB L., ROSIER-LEES S., ROWELL G., RUDAK B., RULTEN C.B., RUPPEL J., SAHAKIAN V., SANTANGELO A., SCHLICKEISER R., SCHOCK F.M., SCHRODER R., SCHWANKE U., SCHWARZBURG S., SCHWEMMER S., SHALCHI A., SIKORA M., SKILTON J.L., SOL H., SPANGLER D., STAWARZ L., STEENKAMP R., STEGMANN C., SUPERINA G., SZOSTEK A., TAM P.H., TAVERNET J.-P., TERRIER R., TIBOLLA O., TLUCZYKONT M., VAN ELDIK C., VASILEIADIS G., VENTER C., VENTER L., VIALLE J.P., VINCENT P., VINK J., VIVIER M., VOLK H.J., VOLPE F., WAGNER S.J., WARD M., ZDZIARSKI A.A. and ZECH A.

Abstract (from CDS):

We report the discovery of faint very high energy (VHE; E > 100 GeV) γ-ray emission from the radio galaxy Centaurus A in observations performed with the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) experiment, an imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescope array consisting of four telescopes located in Namibia. Centaurus A has been observed for more than 120 hr. A signal with a statistical significance of 5.0σ is detected from the region including the radio core and the inner kpc jets. The integral flux above an energy threshold of ∼250 GeV is measured to be 0.8% of the flux of the Crab Nebula (apparent luminosity: L(>250 GeV) ~2.6x10³⁹ erg/s, adopting a distance of 3.8 Mpc). The spectrum can be described by a power law with a photon index of 2.7±0.5_stat± 0.2_sys. No significant flux variability is detected in the data set. However, the low flux only allows detection of variability on the timescale of days to flux increments above a factor of ∼15-20 (3σ and 4σ, respectively). The discovery of VHE γ-ray emission from Centaurus A reveals particle acceleration in the source to >TeV energies and, together with M 87, establishes radio galaxies as a class of VHE emitters.

Abstract Copyright: ∼

Journal keyword(s): galaxies: active - galaxies: individual: Cen A - gamma rays: observations

Simbad objects: 5

Full paper

View the references in ADS

Number of rows : 5

N	Identifier	Otype	ICRS (J2000) RA	ICRS (J2000) DEC	Mag U	Mag B	Mag V	Mag R	Mag I	Sp type	#ref 1850 - 2026	#notes
1	3C 66A	BLL	02 22 39.6114771888	+43 02 07.799534304		15.71	15.21	14.5		~	942	2
2	Z 538-57	Sy1	02 23 11.41124925	+42 59 31.3853324		15.71	14.81			~	582	2
3	M 1	SNR	05 34 31.8	+22 01 03						~	6516	1
4	M 87	AGN	12 30 49.42338414	+12 23 28.0436859	10.16	9.59	8.63		7.49	~	7815	3
5	NAME Centaurus A	BLL	13 25 27.61521044	-43 01 08.8050291		8.18	6.84	6.66		~	4774	3

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