M. V. Fonseca

Is the Giant Radio Galaxy M 87 a TeV Gamma-Ray Emitter?

For the first time an excess of photons above an energy threshold of 730 GeV from the giant radio galaxy M 87 has been measured at a significance level above 4 σ. The data have been taken during the years 1998 and 1999 with the HEGRA stereoscopic system of 5 imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes. The excess of 107.4 ± 26.8 events above 730 GeV corresponds to an integral flux of 3.3% of the Crab flux or Nγ(E > 730 GeV) = (0.96 ± 0.23) × 10 −12 phot cm −2 s −1 . M 87 is located at the center of the Virgo cluster of galaxies at a relatively small redshift of z = 0.00436 and is a promising candidate among the class of giant radio galaxies for the emission of TeV γ-radiation. The detection of TeV γ-rays from M 87 - if confirmed - would establish a new class of extragalactic source in this energy regime since all other AGN detected to date at TeV energies are BL Lac type objects.

Detection of TeV gamma-rays from the BL Lac 1ES 1959+650 in its low states and during a major outburst in 2002

TeV γ-rays from the BL Lac object 1ES 1959+650 have been measured during the years 2000 and 2001 with a significance of 5.2 σ at a value of 5.3% of the Crab flux and in May 2002 during strong outbursts with >23 σ at a flux level of up to 2.2 Crab, making 1ES 1959+650 the TeV Blazar with the third best event statistics. The deep observation of 197.4 h has been performed with the HEGRA stereoscopic system of 5 imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes (IACT system). 1ES 1959+650 is located at a redshift of z = 0.047, providing an intermediate distance between the nearby Blazars Mkn 421 and Mkn 501, and the much more distant object H1426+428. This makes 1ES 1959+650 an important member of the class of TeV Blazars in view of the absorption of TeV photons by the diffuse extragalactic background radiation (DEBRA). The differential energy spectrum of 1ES 1959+650 during the flares can be fitted by a power law with a spectral index of 2.83 ± 0.14stat ± 0.08sys or by a power law with an exponential cut-off at (4.2 +0.8 −0.6 stat ± 0.9sys) TeV and a spectral index of 1.83 ± 0.15stat ± 0.08sys. The low state differential energy spectrum obtained with lower statistics can be described by a pure power law with a spectral index of 3.18 ± 0.17stat ± 0.08sys.

Design, modelling and testing of electro-optical transmitters for the central pixel of the MAGIC telescope camera.

In this work we have built an electro-optical system for the transmission of low frequency analogue signals through optical fibre. The main goal was to achieve minimum pulse distortion with maximum dynamic range. The system has been used in the framework of the MAGIC telescope experiment for the transmission of the analogue output from a photo-multiplier dedicated to optical observation of astrophysical objects, in particular pulsars. The received signal polarizes an infrared LED (λ=850 nm), which converts the pulse into an optical analogue pulse. The electro-optical pulse is transmitted by means of a multi-mode optic fibre and finally amplified and filtered by the optical receiver. The whole system has been tested using a pulse generator resembling the type of pulsed signal we expect from pulsars, that is with period of about tens of milli-seconds and few milli-seconds wide. The system was calibrated in order to: a) obtain a fixed relation between the received pulse and the final data and b) enhance the dynamic range and low distortion. In what follows, we show the behaviour of the optical transmitter under different pulse shapes, amplitude and frequencies up to several hundred Hz. The electro-optical system has been mounted on the MAGIC telescope and tested successfully with the observation of the pulsed optical signal from the Crab pulsar.

Observation of the Monoceros Loop SNR region with the HEGRA system of IACTs

The array of 5 imaging atmospheric y Cerenkov telescopes (IACTs) deployed at La Palma (Canary Islands), and operated by the HEGRA (High Energy Gamma Ray Astronomy) collaboration, was used for observations of the Monoceros Loop SNR region for a total of about 120 hrs and 20 hrs in ON-source and OFF-source mode, respectively. The giant molecular cloud Rosette Nebula appears in the sky region, close to the south-east part of the SNR rim. Using the HEGRA system of IACTs of rather large field of view (4.3 degree in diameter), we have mapped the extended sky region of 3 ◦ × 3 ◦ associated with the Monoceros SNR/Rosette Nebula, which is centered towards the hard spectrum X-ray point source SAX J0635+533. The EGRET unidentified source of diffuse γ-ray emission (3EG J0634+0521) observed in the energy range between 100 MeV-10 GeV, was effectively in the field of view of our present observations. Also, the GeV source GeV J0633+0645 was within the available field of view. The performance of the IACTs array reveals an energy threshold of 500 GeV and an angular resolution of 0.1 ◦ for γ-rays. In what follows, we present the result of the data analysis and its physical interpretation.

A simple blue light pulse generator with GaN/SiC light emitting diodes for the time response testing of PMTs

A simple and cost-effective integrated synthesizer of fast light pulses has been designed, analyzed and tested for the characterization of the time response of photo-multipliers (PMT). This synthesizer consists of an integrated pulse generator based on Schmidt Trigger Inverters, a broadband matching network and a high speed LED. It enables the generation of pulses as short as less than 10 ns with variable pulse width, amplitude and repetition frequency. In order to accurately know the shape of the pulses applied to the PMT under test, a circuital model of the LED has been developed and verified at frequencies up to 2 GHz. This model accounts for the nonlinear behavior of the LED capacitance as well as the package parasitics. The influence of the mismatch at the different frequency components of the synthesized pulse has been investigated. The pulse transmitter has been used to test the time response of MAGIC telescope pixels.