Background Modelling in Very-High-Energy gamma-ray Astronomy

Abstract

Ground based Cherenkov telescope systems measure astrophysical gamma-ray emission against a background of cosmic-ray induced air showers. The subtraction of this background is a major challenge for the extraction of spectra and morphology of gamma-ray sources. The unprecedented sensitivity of the new generation of ground based very-high-energy gamma-ray experiments such as H.E.S.S. has lead to the discovery of many previously unknown extended sources. The analysis of such sources requires a range of different background modelling techniques. Here we describe some of the techniques that have been applied to data from the H.E.S.S. instrument and compare their performance. Each background model is introduced and discussed in terms of suitability for image generation or spectral analysis and possible caveats are mentioned. We show that there is not a single multi-purpose model, different models are appropriate for different tasks. To keep systematic uncertainties under control it is important to apply several models to the same data set and compare the results.

13 pages, 10 figures, submitted to A&A

References in corpus (1)

• Observations of the Crab Nebula with H.E.S.S

Cited by in corpus (111)

• A very-high-energy component deep in the Gamma-ray Burst afterglow
• A connection between star formation activity and cosmic rays in the starburst galaxy M 82
• New constraints on the Mid-IR EBL from the HESS discovery of VHE gamma rays from 1ES 0229+200
• Search for TeV Gamma-ray Emission from GRB 100621A, an extremely bright GRB in X-rays, with H.E.S.S
• HESS VHE Gamma-Ray Sources Without Identified Counterparts
• Revealing x-ray and gamma ray temporal and spectral similarities in the GRB 190829A afterglow
• First detection of VHE gamma-rays from SN 1006 by H.E.S.S
• Gamma-Hadron Separation in Very-High-Energy gamma-ray astronomy using a multivariate analysis method
• VERITAS Observations of the gamma-Ray Binary LS I +61 303
• Search for dark matter annihilation signatures in H.E.S.S. observations of Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies
• Gammapy: A Python package for gamma-ray astronomy
• Time-resolved hadronic particle acceleration in the recurrent Nova RS Ophiuchi
• Observations of the shell-type SNR Cassiopeia A at TeV energies with VERITAS
• Exploring a SNR/Molecular Cloud Association Within HESS J1745-303
• Towards open and reproducible multi-instrument analysis in gamma-ray astronomy
• The 2014 TeV Gamma-ray Flare of Mrk 501 Seen with H.E.S.S.: Temporal and Spectral Constraints on Lorentz Invariance Violation
• TeV gamma-ray observations of the binary neutron star merger GW170817 with H.E.S.S
• Resolving acceleration to very high energies along the Jet of Centaurus A
• Improved $\gamma$/hadron separation for the detection of faint gamma-ray sources using boosted decision trees
• H.E.S.S. observations of gamma-ray bursts in 2003-2007
• Search for dark matter signals towards a selection of recently-detected DES dwarf galaxy satellites of the Milky Way with H.E.S.S
• The most powerful flaring activity from the NLSy1 PMN J0948+0022
• Discovery of the hard spectrum VHE gamma-ray source HESS J1641-463
• Investigating Broadband Variability of the TeV Blazar 1ES 1959+650
• Investigating the TeV Morphology of MGRO J1908+06 with VERITAS
• Upper Limits from HESS AGN Observations in 2005-2007
• Identification of HESS J1303-631 as a Pulsar Wind Nebula through gamma-ray, X-ray and radio observations
• Validation of open-source science tools and background model construction in $\gamma$-ray astronomy
• A search for spectral hysteresis and energy-dependent time lags from X-ray and TeV gamma-ray observations of Mrk 421
• Broadband Multi-wavelength Properties of M87 during the 2018 EHT Campaign including a Very High Energy Flaring Episode
• H.E.S.S. Observations of the Prompt and Afterglow Phases of GRB 060602B
• The high-energy $\gamma$-ray emission of AP Librae
• H.E.S.S. and Suzaku observations of the Vela X pulsar wind nebula
• Probing Quantum Gravity with Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes
• The GeV-TeV Connection in Galactic gamma-ray sources
• H.E.S.S. detection of TeV emission from the interaction region between the supernova remnant G349.7+0.2 and a molecular cloud
• Probing the gamma-ray emission from HESS J1834-087 using H.E.S.S. and Fermi LAT observations
• Very-high energy observations of the Galactic center region by VERITAS in 2010-2012
• H.E.S.S. follow-up observations of GRB221009A
• Detection of extended gamma-ray emission around the Geminga pulsar with H.E.S.S
• Discovery of gamma-ray emission from the extragalactic pulsar wind nebula N157B with the High Energy Stereoscopic System
• H.E.S.S. detection of very-high-energy gamma-ray emission from the quasar PKS 0736+017
• TeV emission of Galactic plane sources with HAWC and H.E.S.S
• Search for Gamma-ray Spectral Lines from Dark Matter Annihilation up to 100 TeV towards the Galactic Center with MAGIC
• The throughput calibration of the VERITAS telescopes
• H.E.S.S. and Fermi-LAT observations of PSR B1259-63/LS 2883 during its 2014 and 2017 periastron passages
• Evidence of 100 TeV $\gamma$-ray emission from HESS J1702-420: A new PeVatron candidate
• Observation of the gamma-ray binary HESS J0632+057 with the H.E.S.S., MAGIC, and VERITAS telescopes
• Gamma-ray Observations Under Bright Moonlight with VERITAS
• Deep learning with photosensor timing information as a background rejection method for the Cherenkov Telescope Array
• Multi-wavelength study of the galactic PeVatron candidate LHAASO J2108+5157
• HESS J1809$-$193: a halo of escaped electrons around a pulsar wind nebula?
• Spectrum and extension of the inverse-Compton emission of the Crab Nebula from a combined Fermi-LAT and H.E.S.S. analysis
• TeV γ-ray observations of the young synchrotron-dominated SNRs G1.9+0.3 and G330.2+1.0 with H.E.S.S
• VERITAS Discovery of VHE Emission from the Radio Galaxy 3C 264: A Multi-Wavelength Study
• Analysis of the Very Inner Milky Way Dark Matter Distribution and Gamma-Ray Signals
• Upper Limits on Very-High-Energy Gamma-ray Emission from Core-Collapse Supernovae Observed with H.E.S.S
• The H.E.S.S. transients follow-up system
• A Search for TeV Gamma-ray Emission from Pulsar Tails by VERITAS
• Probing the galactic cosmic-ray density with current and future $\gamma$-ray instruments
• Discovery of Very High Energy Gamma Rays from 1ES 1440+122
• H.E.S.S. follow-up observations of Binary Black Hole Coalescence events during the second and third Gravitational Waves observing runs of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo
• Curvature in the very-high energy gamma-ray spectrum of M87
• Handling Systematic Uncertainties and Combined Source Analyses for Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes
• LMC N132D: A mature supernova remnant with a power-law gamma-ray spectrum extending beyond 8 TeV
• A MeerKAT, e-MERLIN, H.E.S.S. and Swift search for persistent and transient emission associated with three localised FRBs
• Searching for TeV gamma-ray emission from SGR\,1935+2154 during its 2020 X-ray and radio bursting phase
• Multiwavelength constraints on the unidentified Galactic TeV sources HESS J1427$-$608, HESS J1458$-$608, and new VHE $\gamma$-ray source candidates
• Detection prospects of very and ultra high-energy gamma rays from extended sources with ASTRI, CTA, and LHAASO
• First limits on the very-high energy gamma-ray afterglow emission of a fast radio burst: H.E.S.S. observations of FRB 150418
• On the faintest solar coronal hard X-rays observed with FOXSI
• Constraining the cosmic-ray pressure in the inner Virgo Cluster using H.E.S.S. observations of M 87
• VERITAS discovery of very high energy gamma-ray emission from S3 1227+25 and multiwavelength observations
• Significance in Gamma Ray Astronomy with Systematic Errors
• Analysis methods to search for transient events in ground-based Very High Energy gamma-ray astronomy
• Evidence for gamma-ray emission from the remnant of Kepler's supernova based on deep H.E.S.S. observations
• Statistical Tools for Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes
• H.E.S.S. observations of the flaring gravitationally lensed galaxy PKS 1830-211
• The Making of Catalogues of Very-High-Energy γ-ray Sources
• Muons as a tool for background rejection in Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescope arrays
• Modeling the Galactic center gamma-ray emission with more realistic cosmic-ray dynamics
• Exploring the high energy frontiers of the Milky Way with ground-based gamma-ray astronomy: PeVatrons and the quest for the origin of Galactic cosmic-rays
• Combined dark matter search towards dwarf spheroidal galaxies with Fermi-LAT, HAWC, H.E.S.S., MAGIC, and VERITAS
• Search for Very High-Energy Emission from the millisecond pulsar PSR J0218+4232
• Background rejection using image residuals from large telescopes in imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescope arrays
• A new method of reconstructing very-high-energy gamma-ray spectra: the Template Background Spectrum
• Multi-wavelength study of OT 081: broadband modelling of a transitional blazar
• Improvements to monoscopic analysis for imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes: Application to H.E.S.S
• Prospects for gamma-ray emission from magnetar regions in CTAO observations
• VERITAS and multiwavelength observations of the Blazar B3 2247+381 in response to an IceCube neutrino alert
• Constraints on Axion-Like Particles from VERITAS Observations of a Flaring Radio Galaxy in the Perseus Cluster
• An Archival Search for Neutron-Star Mergers in Gravitational Waves and Very-High-Energy Gamma Rays
• Detection of very-high-energy gamma-ray emission from Eta Carinae during its 2020 periastron passage
• The H.E.S.S. extragalactic sky survey with the first decade of observations
• H.E.S.S. detection and multi-wavelength study of the $z\sim$ 1 blazar PKS 0346$-$27
• Analysis Methods for Gamma-ray Astronomy
• H.E.S.S.: The High Energy Stereoscopic System
• Nonparametric signal separation in very-high-energy gamma ray observations with probabilistic neural networks
• H.E.S.S. programme searching for VHE gamma rays associated with FRBs
• Observation of the Crab Nebula with the Single-Mirror Small-Size Telescope stereoscopic system at low altitude
• On Integral Upper Limits Assuming Power Law Spectra and the Sensitivity in High-Energy Astronomy
• Search for long-term variability of HESS J1745-290
• Constraints on the VHE counterpart of two binary black hole mergers observed by the MAGIC and CTAO LST-1 telescopes
• Event types in H.E.S.S.: a combined analysis for different telescope types and energy ranges
• Probing a cosmogenic origin of astrophysical neutrinos and cosmic rays using gamma-ray observations of TXS 0506+056
• LMC N132D: a mature supernova remnant with a youthful gamma-ray spectrum
• The second H.E.S.S. gamma-ray burst catalogue: 15 years of observations with the H.E.S.S. telescopes
• Investigation of the Microquasar SS 433 with VERITAS
• Search for enhanced TeV gamma-ray emission from Giant Molecular Clouds using H.E.S.S
• Observation of burst activity from SGR1935+2154 associated to first galactic FRB with H.E.S.S
• Standardised formats and open-source analysis tools for the MAGIC telescopes data