Photon reconstruction for H.E.S.S. using a semi-analytical shower model

M. Holler, A. Balzer, R. Chalmé-Calvet, M. De Naurois, D. Zaborov

Research output: Contribution to journalConference articlepeer-review

Abstract

The High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) is an array of five Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs) designed to detect cosmogenic gamma-rays with very high energies. Originally consisting of just four identical IACTs (CT1-4) with an effective mirror diameter of 12m each, it was expanded with a fifth IACT (CT5) with a mirror diameter of 28m in 2012. Being the largest IACT worldwide, CT5 allows to lower the energy threshold of H.E.S.S., making the array sensitive at energies where space-based detectors run out of statistics. Events can be analysed either monoscopically (i.e. using only information of CT5) or stereoscopically (requiring at least two triggered telescopes per event). To achieve a good performance, a sophisticated event reconstruction and analysis framework is indispensable. This is particularly important for H.E.S.S. since it is now the first IACT array that consists of different telescope types. An advanced reconstruction method is based on a semi-analytical model of electromagnetic particle showers in the atmosphere ('model analysis'). The properties of the primary particle are reconstructed by comparing the image recorded by each triggered telescope with the Cherenkov emission from the shower model using a log-likelihood maximisation. Due to its performance, this method has become one of the standard analysis techniques applied to CT1-4 data. Now it has been modified for use with the five-telescope array. We present the adapted model analysis and its performance in both monoscopic and stereoscopic analysis mode.

Original languageEnglish
Article number980
JournalProceedings of Science
Volume30-July-2015
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2015
Externally publishedYes
Event34th International Cosmic Ray Conference, ICRC 2015 - The Hague, Netherlands
Duration: 30 Jul 20156 Aug 2015

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