The technical performance of the HEGRA system of imaging air Cherenkov telescopes

Between early 1997 and late 2002, the HEGRA collaboration operated a stereoscopic system of four (later five) imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes. In this paper we present the calibration schemes which were developed for the system, and report on the performance of the detector over the years. In general, the telescope system was very well understood, regarding both the absolute calibration and the slight changes in performance over the years. The system had an energy threshold of 500 GeV for observations at zenith and under optimum detector conditions. With the corresponding calibration schemes, a systematic accuracy of 15% on the absolute energy scale has been achieved. The continuous sensitivity monitoring provided a relative accuracy of a few percent, and showed that the threshold did not exceed 600 GeV throughout the entire operation time. The readout electronics and the imaging quality of the dishes were well monitored and stable. The absolute pointing had an accuracy of at least 25"; this number was guaranteed throughout the whole lifetime of the experiment. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.