TY - JOUR A1 - Haeffner, Stephanie A1 - Stegmann, Christian A1 - Jung-Richardt, Ira T1 - Systematic search for molecular clouds near supernova remnants as sources of very-high-energy gamma-ray emission JF - Astroparticle physics N2 - Supernova remnants accelerate particles up to energies of at least 100 TeV as established by observations in very-high-energy gamma-ray astronomy. Molecular clouds in their vicinity provide an increased amount of target material for proton-proton interaction and subsequent neutral pion decay into gamma-rays of accelerated hadrons escaping the remnant. Therefore, these molecular clouds are potential gamma-ray sources. The gamma-ray emission from these clouds provides a unique environment to derive information on the propagation of very-high-nergy particles through the interstellar medium as well as on the acceleration of hadrons in supernova remnants. Current Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescope systems are suitable to explore a large parameter space of the propagation properties depending on the age of the supernova remnant and the distance between the remnant and the nearby molecular cloud. In this paper we present our strategy and results of a systematic search for gamma-ray emitting molecular clouds near supernova remnants which are potentially detectable with current experiments in the TeV energy range and explore the prospects of future experiments. KW - VHE gamma-ray astronomy KW - Supernova remnants KW - Molecular clouds KW - Cosmic rays KW - Galactic Ring Survey KW - HESS Galactic Plane Survey Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.astropartphys.2015.05.004 SN - 0927-6505 SN - 1873-2852 VL - 71 SP - 36 EP - 44 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Abdalla, Hassan E. A1 - Abramowski, Attila A1 - Aharonian, Felix A. A1 - Benkhali, Faiçal Ait A1 - Akhperjanian, A. G. A1 - Angüner, Ekrem Oǧuzhan A1 - Arrieta, M. A1 - Aubert, Pierre A1 - Backes, Michael A1 - Balzer, Arnim A1 - Barnard, Michelle A1 - Becherini, Yvonne A1 - Tjus, Julia Becker A1 - Berge, David A1 - Bernhard, Sabrina A1 - Bernlöhr, K. A1 - Birsin, E. A1 - Blackwell, R. A1 - Bottcher, Markus A1 - Boisson, Catherine A1 - Bolmont, J. A1 - Bordas, Pol A1 - Bregeon, Johan A1 - Brun, Francois A1 - Brun, Pierre A1 - Bryan, Mark A1 - Bulik, Tomasz A1 - Capasso, M. A1 - Carr, John A1 - Casanova, Sabrina A1 - Chakraborty, N. A1 - Chalme-Calvet, R. A1 - Chaves, Ryan C. G. A1 - Chen, Andrew A1 - Chevalier, J. A1 - Chretien, M. A1 - Colafrancesco, Sergio A1 - Cologna, Gabriele A1 - Condon, B. A1 - Conrad, Jan A1 - Couturier, C. A1 - Cui, Y. A1 - Davids, I. D. A1 - Degrange, B. A1 - Deil, Christoph A1 - deWilt, P. A1 - Djannati-Atai, Arache A1 - Domainko, Wilfried A1 - Donath, Axel A1 - Dubus, Guillaume A1 - Dutson, Kate A1 - Dyks, J. A1 - Dyrda, M. A1 - Edwards, T. A1 - Egberts, Kathrin A1 - Eger, P. A1 - Ernenwein, J. -P. A1 - Eschbach, S. A1 - Farnier, C. A1 - Fegan, Stuart A1 - Fernandes, M. V. A1 - Fiasson, A. A1 - Fontaine, G. A1 - Foerster, A. A1 - Funk, S. A1 - Füßling, Matthias A1 - Gabici, Stefano A1 - Gajdus, M. A1 - Gallant, Y. A. A1 - Garrigoux, T. A1 - Giavitto, Gianluca A1 - Giebels, B. A1 - Glicenstein, J. F. A1 - Gottschall, Daniel A1 - Goyal, A. A1 - Grondin, M. -H. A1 - Grudzinska, M. A1 - Hadasch, Daniela A1 - Hahn, J. A1 - Hawkes, J. A1 - Heinzelmann, G. A1 - Henri, Gilles A1 - Hermann, G. A1 - Hervet, Olivier A1 - Hillert, A. A1 - Hinton, James Anthony A1 - Hofmann, Werner A1 - Hoischen, Clemens A1 - Holler, M. A1 - Horns, D. A1 - Ivascenko, Alex A1 - Jacholkowska, A. A1 - Jamrozy, Marek A1 - Janiak, M. A1 - Jankowsky, D. A1 - Jankowsky, Felix A1 - Jingo, M. A1 - Jogler, Tobias A1 - Jouvin, Lea A1 - Jung-Richardt, Ira A1 - Kastendieck, M. A. A1 - Katarzynski, Krzysztof A1 - Katz, Uli A1 - Kerszberg, D. A1 - Khelifi, B. A1 - Kieffer, M. A1 - King, J. A1 - Klepser, S. A1 - Klochkov, Dmitry A1 - Kluzniak, W. A1 - Kolitzus, D. A1 - Komin, Nu. A1 - Kosack, K. A1 - Krakau, S. A1 - Kraus, Michael A1 - Krayzel, F. A1 - Kruger, P. P. A1 - Laffon, H. A1 - Lamanna, G. A1 - Lau, Jeanie A1 - Lees, J. -P. A1 - Lefaucheur, J. A1 - Lefranc, V. A1 - Lemiere, A. A1 - Lemoine-Goumard, M. A1 - Lenain, J. -P. A1 - Leser, Eva A1 - Lohse, Thomas A1 - Lorentz, M. A1 - Lui, R. A1 - Lypova, Iryna A1 - Marandon, Vincent A1 - Marcowith, Alexandre A1 - Mariaud, C. A1 - Marx, R. A1 - Maurin, G. A1 - Maxted, N. A1 - Mayer, Michael A1 - Meintjes, Petrus Johannes A1 - Menzler, U. A1 - Meyer, Manuel A1 - Mitchell, A. M. W. A1 - Moderski, R. A1 - Mohamed, M. A1 - Mora, K. A1 - Moulin, Emmanuel A1 - Murach, T. A1 - de Naurois, Mathieu A1 - Niederwanger, F. A1 - Niemiec, J. A1 - Oakes, L. A1 - Odaka, Hirokazu A1 - Ohm, Stefan A1 - Oettl, S. A1 - Ostrowski, M. A1 - Oya, I. A1 - Padovani, Marco A1 - Panter, M. A1 - Parsons, R. D. A1 - Arribas, M. Paz A1 - Pekeur, N. W. A1 - Pelletier, G. A1 - Petrucci, P. -O. A1 - Peyaud, B. A1 - Pita, S. A1 - Poon, Helen A1 - Prokhorov, Dmitry A1 - Prokoph, Heike A1 - Puehlhofer, Gerd A1 - Punch, Michael A1 - Quirrenbach, Andreas A1 - Raab, S. A1 - Reimer, Anita A1 - Reimer, Olaf A1 - Renaud, M. A1 - de los Reyes, R. A1 - Rieger, Frank A1 - Romoli, Carlo A1 - Rosier-Lees, S. A1 - Rowell, G. A1 - Rudak, B. A1 - Rulten, C. B. A1 - Sahakian, V. A1 - Salek, David A1 - Sanchez, David A. A1 - Santangelo, Andrea A1 - Sasaki, Manami A1 - Schlickeiser, Reinhard A1 - Schussler, F. A1 - Schulz, Andreas A1 - Schwanke, U. A1 - Schwemmer, S. A1 - Seyffert, A. S. A1 - Shafi, N. A1 - Simoni, R. A1 - Sol, H. A1 - Spanier, Felix A1 - Spengler, G. A1 - Spiess, F. A1 - Stawarz, Lukasz A1 - Steenkamp, R. A1 - Stegmann, Christian A1 - Stinzing, F. A1 - Stycz, K. A1 - Sushch, Iurii A1 - Tavernet, J. -P. A1 - Tavernier, T. A1 - Taylor, A. M. A1 - Terrier, R. A1 - Tluczykont, Martin A1 - Trichard, C. A1 - Tuffs, R. A1 - van der Walt, Johan A1 - van Eldik, Christopher A1 - van Soelen, Brian A1 - Vasileiadis, Georges A1 - Veh, J. A1 - Venter, C. A1 - Viana, A. A1 - Vincent, P. A1 - Vink, Jacco A1 - Voisin, F. A1 - Voelk, Heinrich J. A1 - Vuillaume, Thomas A1 - Wadiasingh, Z. A1 - Wagner, Stefan J. A1 - Wagner, P. A1 - Wagner, R. M. A1 - White, R. A1 - Wierzcholska, Alicja A1 - Willmann, P. A1 - Woernlein, A. A1 - Wouters, Denis A1 - Yang, R. A1 - Zabalza, Victor A1 - Zaborov, D. A1 - Zacharias, M. A1 - Zdziarski, A. A. A1 - Zech, Andreas A1 - Zefi, F. A1 - Ziegler, A. A1 - Zywucka, Natalia T1 - Search for Dark Matter Annihilations towards the Inner Galactic Halo from 10 Years of Observations with HESS JF - Physical review letters N2 - The inner region of the Milky Way halo harbors a large amount of dark matter (DM). Given its proximity, it is one of the most promising targets to look for DM. We report on a search for the annihilations of DM particles using gamma-ray observations towards the inner 300 pc of the Milky Way, with the H.E.S.S. array of ground-based Cherenkov telescopes. The analysis is based on a 2D maximum likelihood method using Galactic Center (GC) data accumulated by H.E.S.S. over the last 10 years (2004-2014), and does not show any significant gamma-ray signal above background. Assuming Einasto and Navarro-Frenk-White DM density profiles at the GC, we derive upper limits on the annihilation cross section . These constraints are the strongest obtained so far in the TeV DM mass range and improve upon previous limits by a factor 5. For the Einasto profile, the constraints reach values of 6 x 10(-26) cm(3) s(-1) in the W+W- channel for a DM particle mass of 1.5 TeV, and 2 x 10(-26) cm(3) s(-1) in the tau(+)tau(-) channel for a 1 TeV mass. For the first time, ground-based gamma-ray observations have reached sufficient sensitivity to probe values expected from the thermal relic density for TeV DM particles. Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.111301 SN - 0031-9007 SN - 1079-7114 VL - 117 PB - American Physical Society CY - College Park ER -