2010/02/15 by The VERITAS Collaboration, V. A. Acciari, E. Aliu +89 · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Cassiopeia A #Cherenkov radiation #Crab Nebula #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #Flux (metallurgy) #Gamma ray #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #Near-Earth supernova #Optics #Photon #Physics #Supernova #Supernova remnant #Telescope #astro-ph.GA #astro-ph.HE
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/0004-637x/714/1/163
published as Astrophys.J.714:163-169,2010 · 27 pages, 2 figures; Accepted for publication in ApJ
arxiv created 2010/02/15 · openalex publication_date 2010/04/08 · arxiv updated 2010/04/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We report on observations of very high energy γ rays from the shell-type supernova remnant (SNR) Cassiopeia A with the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System stereoscopic array of four imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes in Arizona. The total exposure time for these observations is 22 hr, accumulated between September and November of 2007. The γ-ray source associated with the SNR Cassiopeia A was detected above 200 GeV with a statistical significance of 8.3σ. The estimated integral flux for this γ-ray source is about 3% of the Crab-Nebula flux. The photon spectrum is compatible with a power law dN / dE ∝ E −Γ with an index Γ = 2.61 ± 0.24 stat ± 0.2 sys . The data are consistent with a point-like source. We provide a detailed description of the analysis results and discuss physical mechanisms that may be responsible for the observed γ-ray emission.