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

被引:52
作者
Pühlhofer, G
Bolz, O
Götting, N
Heusler, A
Horns, D
Kohnle, A
Lampeitl, H
Panter, M
Tluczykont, M
Aharonian, F
Akhperjanian, A
Beilicke, M
Bernlöhr, K
Börst, H
Bojahr, H
Coarasa, T
Contreras, JL
Cortina, J
Denninghoff, S
Fonseca, MV
Girma, M
Heinzelmann, G
Hermann, G
Hofmann, W
Jung, I
Kankanyan, R
Kestel, M
Konopelko, A
Kornmeyer, H
Kranich, D
Lopez, M
Lorenz, E
Lucarelli, F
Mang, O
Meyer, H
Mirzoyan, R
Moralejo, A
Ona-Wilhelmi, E
Plyasheshnikov, A
de los Reyes, R
Rhode, W
Ripken, J
Rowell, G
Sahakian, V
Samorski, M
Schilling, M
Siems, M
Sobzynska, D
Stamm, W
Vitale, V
机构
[1] Max Planck Inst Kernphys, D-69029 Heidelberg, Germany
[2] Univ Hamburg, Inst Expt Phys, D-22761 Hamburg, Germany
[3] Yerevan Phys Inst, Yerevan 375036, Armenia
[4] Univ Kiel, Inst Expt & Angew Phys, D-24118 Kiel, Germany
[5] Univ Wuppertal, Fachbereich Phys, D-42097 Wuppertal, Germany
[6] Max Planck Inst Phys & Astrophys, D-80805 Munich, Germany
[7] Univ Complutense, Fac Ciencias Fis, E-28040 Madrid, Spain
[8] Univ Lodz, Home Inst, PL-90131 Lodz, Poland
关键词
imaging air Cherenkov technique; very high energy gamma ray astronomy;
D O I
10.1016/j.astropartphys.2003.06.001
中图分类号
P1 [天文学];
学科分类号
0704 ;
摘要
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.
引用
收藏
页码:267 / 291
页数:25
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