Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
Apr 2002
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2002aps..apru11010k&link_type=abstract
American Physical Society, April Meeting, Jointly Sponsored with the High Energy Astrophysics Division (HEAD) of the American As
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Scientific paper
H.E.S.S. (High Energy Stereoscopic System) is a next generation instrument for very high energy (VHE) gamma-ray astronomy. It will expand towards low energies -- below 100 GeV -- the concept of a stereoscopic system of imaging atmospheric Čerenkov telescopes (IACTs), proven by the currently operating HEGRA system of 5 IACTs in observations of gamma-rays above 1 TeV. H.E.S.S. is being built in the Khomas Highland (1.8 km above sea level) of Namibia, at about 100 km distance from the Namibian capital, Windhoek. The site for H.E.S.S. has a mild climate and a high optical quality documented over decades. It allows access to the Southern Hemisphere sky and fully complements a similar project in the Northern Hemisphere, VERITAS, which is planned to be built in Montosa Canyon, Arizona. In its first phase, H.E.S.S. comprises four 12 m-diameter telescopes arranged in the corners of a square whose sides are 120 m. The telescopes will be equipped with 960-channel high resolution cameras. Given the focal length of 15 m, each channel (PMT) will have 0.16^circ angular size and the entire camera will cover a large field of view of 5^circ. The telescope design provides very accurate pointing with a precision of a few arc-seconds. Performance studies resulted in estimating the energy threshold in the range of 50-100 GeV, an angular resolution for individual photons of 0.1^circ, and an energy resolution better than 20%. For a 50 hrs exposure H.E.S.S. (phase I) will be able to detect point gamma-ray sources at a flux level of 10 mCrab, with a corresponding energy flux of ~ 10-12 erg cm-2s-1 and ~ 10-13 erg cm-2s-1 at 100 GeV and 1 TeV, respectively. The diverse scientific program of H.E.S.S. is generally aimed at exploring the nonthermal Universe. It includes the observations of Galactic gamma-ray sources, e.g. Pulsars/Pulsar Nebulae, as well as variety of extra-galactic objects, e.g. Blazar AGNs at red shifts up to z = 0.5. H.E.S.S. is expected to contribute to a number of long-standing astrophysical problems, namely direct identification of the sources of the nucleonic cosmic rays, understanding the physics of AGN jets, resolving the diffuse infra red background, detecting the carriers of Dark Matter (WIMPS), etc. According to the current status of the project, the first H.E.S.S. telescope will be operational in early 2002. The array of four telescope (phase I) is due 2003. The design of the H.E.S.S. project in its final stage (phase II) is not finished yet. At present two possible alternatives, i.e. to expand the system by constructing 4 (5) additional telescopes of the same type, or to add fewer, but somewhat larger telescopes, are being considered. The name H.E.S.S. commemorates Victor Hess, who in 1936 received the Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of cosmic radiation.
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