posted on 2018-05-17, 15:10authored byClemens Hoischen, Arnim Balzer, Elisabetta Bissaldi, Matthias Füßling, Tania Garrigoux, Daniel Gottschall, Markus Holler, Alison Mitchell, Paul O'Brien, Robert Parsons, Gerd Pühlhofer, Gavin Rowell, Fabian Schüssler, P. H. Thomas Tam, Stefan Wagner, H.E.S.S. Collaboration
The High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) has been searching for counterparts of Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) for many years. In 2012 the system was upgraded with a fifth 28 m diameter telescope (CT5) which is equipped with faster motors for rapid repointing, marking the start of the second phase of H.E.S.S. operation (H.E.S.S. II). CT5s large light collection area of 600m 2 improves the sensitivity to low-energy gamma-rays and even extends the energy range below 100 GeV. The search for counterparts continues now in the energy range of tens of GeV to tens of TeV. A detection in this energy range would open a new window to the part of the spectrum of these highly energetic explosions which Fermi-LAT has only successfully detected in a reduced subset of events, with rather limited statistics. In the past years, H.E.S.S. has performed follow-up observations based on GRB detections by Swift-BAT and Fermi-GBM/-LAT. This Target of Opportunity observation program was carried out with a generalised Target of Opportunity Alert system. This contribution will highlight key features of the Target of Opportunity Alert system, present follow-up statistics of GRBs as well as detailed results of promising follow-up observations.
Funding
The support of the Namibian authorities and of the University of Namibia in facilitating the
construction and operation of H.E.S.S. is gratefully acknowledged, as is the support by the German
Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF), the Max Planck Society, the German Research
Foundation (DFG), the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft,
the French Ministry for Research, the CNRS-IN2P3 and the Astroparticle Interdisciplinary
Programme of the CNRS, the U.K. Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), the IPNP
of the Charles University, the Czech Science Foundation, the Polish National Science Centre, the
South African Department of Science and Technology and National Research Foundation, the University
of Namibia, the National Commission on Research, Science & Technology of Namibia
(NCRST), the Innsbruck University, the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), and the Austrian Federal
Ministry for Science, Research and Economy, the University of Adelaide and the Australian Research
Council, the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and by the University of Amsterdam.
We appreciate the excellent work of the technical support staff in Berlin, Durham, Hamburg,
Heidelberg, Palaiseau, Paris, Saclay, and in Namibia in the construction and operation of the equipment.
This work benefited from services provided by the H.E.S.S. Virtual Organisation, supported
by the national resource providers of the EGI Federation.
History
Citation
Proceedings of Science, 2017
Author affiliation
/Organisation/COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING/Department of Physics and Astronomy
Source
35th International Cosmic Ray Conference — ICRC2017, Bexco, Busan, Korea