@article{BenbowBirdBrilletal.2019, author = {Benbow, W. and Bird, R. and Brill, A. and Brose, Robert and Chromey, A. J. and Daniel, M. K. and Feng, Q. and Finley, J. P. and Fortson, L. and Furniss, A. and Gillanders, G. H. and Giuri, C. and Gueta, O. and Hanna, D. and Halpern, J. P. and Hassan, Tarek and Holder, J. and Hughes, G. and Humensky, T. B. and Joyce, Amy M. and Kaaret, P. and Kar, P. and Kelley-Hoskins, N. and Kertzman, M. and Kieda, D. and Krause, M. and Lang, M. J. and Lin, T. T. Y. and Maier, Gernot and Matthews, N. and Moriarty, P. and Mukherjee, R. and Nieto, D. and Nievas-Rosillos, M. and Ong, R. A. and Park, N. and Petrashyk, A. and Pohl, Martin and Pueschel, Elisa and Quinn, John and Ragan, K. and Reynolds, P. T. and Richards, G. T. and Roache, E. and Rulten, C. and Sadeh, Iftach and Santander, M. and Sembroski, G. H. and Shahinyan, K. and Sushch, Iurii and Wakely, S. P. and Wells, R. M. and Wilcox, P. and Wilhelm, Alina and Williams, David A. and Williamson, T. J.}, title = {Direct measurement of stellar angular diameters by the VERITAS Cherenkov telescopes}, series = {Nature astronomy}, volume = {3}, journal = {Nature astronomy}, number = {6}, publisher = {Nature Publ. Group}, address = {London}, issn = {2397-3366}, doi = {10.1038/s41550-019-0741-z}, pages = {511 -- 516}, year = {2019}, abstract = {The angular size of a star is a critical factor in determining its basic properties1. Direct measurement of stellar angular diameters is difficult: at interstellar distances stars are generally too small to resolve by any individual imaging telescope. This fundamental limitation can be overcome by studying the diffraction pattern in the shadow cast when an asteroid occults a star2, but only when the photometric uncertainty is smaller than the noise added by atmospheric scintillation3. Atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes used for particle astrophysics observations have not generally been exploited for optical astronomy due to the modest optical quality of the mirror surface. However, their large mirror area makes them well suited for such high-time-resolution precision photometry measurements4. Here we report two occultations of stars observed by the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS)5 Cherenkov telescopes with millisecond sampling, from which we are able to provide a direct measurement of the occulted stars' angular diameter at the ≤0.1 mas scale. This is a resolution never achieved before with optical measurements and represents an order of magnitude improvement over the equivalent lunar occultation method6. We compare the resulting stellar radius with empirically derived estimates from temperature and brightness measurements, confirming the latter can be biased for stars with ambiguous stellar classifications.}, language = {en} } @article{AbdallaAdamAharonianetal.2020, author = {Abdalla, H. and Adam, R. and Aharonian, Felix A. and Benkhali, F. Ait and Ang{\"u}ner, Ekrem Oǧuzhan and Arcaro, C. and Armand, C. and Armstrong, T. and Ashkar, H. and Backes, M. and Baghmanyan, V. and Martins, V. Barbosa and Barnacka, A. and Barnard, M. and Becherini, Y. and Berge, D. and Bernlohr, K. and Bi, B. and Bottcher, M. and Boisson, C. and Bolmont, J. and de Lavergne, M. de Bony and Bordas, Pol and Breuhaus, M. and Brun, F. and Brun, P. and Bryan, M. and Buchele, M. and Bulik, T. and Bylund, T. and Caroff, S. and Carosi, A. and Casanova, Sabrina and Chand, T. and Chandra, S. and Chen, A. and Cotter, G. and Curylo, M. and Mbarubucyeye, J. Damascene and Davids, I. D. and Davies, J. and Deil, C. and Devin, J. and deWilt, P. and Dirson, L. and Djannati-Atai, A. and Dmytriiev, A. and Donath, A. and Doroshenko, V. and Duffy, C. and Dyks, J. and Egberts, Kathrin and Eichhorn, F. and Einecke, S. and Emery, G. and Ernenwein, J. -P. and Feijen, K. and Fegan, S. and Fiasson, A. and de Clairfontaine, G. Fichet and Fontaine, G. and Funk, S. and Fussling, Matthias and Gabici, S. and Gallant, Y. A. and Giavitto, G. and Giunti, L. and Glawion, D. and Glicenstein, J. F. and Gottschall, D. and Grondin, M. -H. and Hahn, J. and Haupt, M. and Hermann, G. and Hinton, J. A. and Hofmann, W. and Hoischen, Clemens and Holch, T. L. and Holler, M. and Horbe, M. and Horns, D. and Huber, D. and Jamrozy, M. and Jankowsky, D. and Jankowsky, F. and Jardin-Blicq, A. and Joshi, V. and Jung-Richardt, I. and Kasai, E. and Kastendieck, M. A. and Katarzynski, K. and Katz, U. and Khangulyan, D. and Khelifi, B. and Klepser, S. and Kluzniak, W. and Komin, Nu. and Konno, R. and Kosack, K. and Kostunin, D. and Kreter, M. and Lamanna, G. and Lemiere, A. and Lemoine-Goumard, M. and Lenain, J. -P. and Levy, C. and Lohse, T. and Lypova, I. and Mackey, J. and Majumdar, J. and Malyshev, D. and Malyshev, D. and Marandon, V. and Marchegiani, P. and Marcowith, Alexandre and Mares, A. and Marti-Devesa, G. and Marx, R. and Maurin, G. and Meintjes, P. J. and Meyer, M. and Mitchell, A. and Moderski, R. and Mohamed, M. and Mohrmann, L. and Montanari, A. and Moore, C. and Morris, P. and Moulin, Emmanuel and Muller, J. and Murach, T. and Nakashima, K. and Nayerhoda, A. and de Naurois, M. and Ndiyavala, H. and Niederwanger, F. and Niemiec, J. and Oakes, L. and O'Brien, Patrick and Odaka, H. and Ohm, S. and Olivera-Nieto, L. and Wilhelmi, E. de Ona and Ostrowski, M. and Oya, I. and Panter, M. and Panny, S. and Parsons, R. D. and Peron, G. and Peyaud, B. and Piel, Q. and Pita, S. and Poireau, V. and Noel, A. Priyana and Prokhorov, D. A. and Prokoph, H. and Puhlhofer, G. and Punch, M. and Quirrenbach, A. and Raab, S. and Rauth, R. and Reichherzer, P. and Reimer, A. and Reimer, O. and Remy, Q. and Renaud, M. and Rieger, F. and Rinchiuso, L. and Romoli, C. and Rowell, G. and Rudak, B. and Ruiz-Velasco, E. and Sahakian, V. and Sailer, S. and Sanchez, D. A. and Santangelo, A. and Sasaki, M. and Scalici, M. and Schussler, F. and Schutte, H. M. and Schwanke, U. and Schwemmer, S. and Seglar-Arroyo, M. and Senniappan, M. and Seyffert, A. S. and Shafi, N. and Shiningayamwe, K. and Simoni, R. and Sinha, A. and Sol, H. and Specovius, A. and Spencer, S. and Spir-Jacob, M. and Stawarz, L. and Sun, L. and Steenkamp, R. and Stegmann, C. and Steinmassl, S. and Steppa, C. and Takahashi, T. and Tavernier, T. and Taylor, A. M. and Terrier, R. and Tiziani, D. and Tluczykont, M. and Tomankova, L. and Trichard, C. and Tsirou, M. and Tuffs, R. and Uchiyama, Y. and van der Walt, D. J. and van Eldik, C. and van Rensburg, C. and van Soelen, B. and Vasileiadis, G. and Veh, J. and Venter, C. and Vincent, P. and Vink, J. and Volk, H. J. and Vuillaume, T. and Wadiasingh, Z. and Wagner, S. J. and Watson, J. and Werner, F. and White, R. and Wierzcholska, A. and Wong, Yu Wun and Yusafzai, A. and Zacharias, M. and Zanin, R. and Zargaryan, D. and Zdziarski, A. A. and Zech, Alraune and Zhu, S. J. and Ziegler, A. and Zorn, J. and Zouari, S. and Zywucka, N.}, title = {An extreme particle accelerator in the Galactic plane}, series = {Astronomy and astrophysics : an international weekly journal}, volume = {644}, journal = {Astronomy and astrophysics : an international weekly journal}, publisher = {EDP Sciences}, address = {Les Ulis}, organization = {HESS Collaboration}, issn = {0004-6361}, doi = {10.1051/0004-6361/202038851}, pages = {8}, year = {2020}, abstract = {The unidentified very-high-energy (VHE; E > 0.1 TeV) gamma -ray source, HESS J1826-130, was discovered with the High Energy Stereoscopic System (HESS) in the Galactic plane. The analysis of 215 h of HESS data has revealed a steady gamma -ray flux from HESS J1826-130, which appears extended with a half-width of 0.21 degrees +/- 0.02
(stat)degrees
stat degrees +/- 0.05
(sys)degrees sys degrees . The source spectrum is best fit with either a power-law function with a spectral index Gamma = 1.78 +/- 0.10(stat) +/- 0.20(sys) and an exponential cut-off at 15.2
(+5.5)(-3.2) -3.2+5.5 TeV, or a broken power-law with Gamma (1) = 1.96 +/- 0.06(stat) +/- 0.20(sys), Gamma (2) = 3.59 +/- 0.69(stat) +/- 0.20(sys) for energies below and above E-br = 11.2 +/- 2.7 TeV, respectively. The VHE flux from HESS J1826-130 is contaminated by the extended emission of the bright, nearby pulsar wind nebula, HESS J1825-137, particularly at the low end of the energy spectrum. Leptonic scenarios for the origin of HESS J1826-130 VHE emission related to PSR J1826-1256 are confronted by our spectral and morphological analysis. In a hadronic framework, taking into account the properties of dense gas regions surrounding HESS J1826-130, the source spectrum would imply an astrophysical object capable of accelerating the parent particle population up to greater than or similar to 200 TeV. Our results are also discussed in a multiwavelength context, accounting for both the presence of nearby supernova remnants, molecular clouds, and counterparts detected in radio, X-rays, and TeV energies.}, language = {en} }