Explore the vast range of titles available.

The well-known Crab Nebula is at the center of the SN1054 supernova remnant. It consists of a rotationally powered pulsar interacting with a surrounding nebula through a relativistic particle wind. The emissions originating from the pulsar and nebula have been considered to be essentially stable. Here, we report the detection of strong gamma-ray (100 mega-electron volts to 10 giga-electron volts) flares observed by the AGILE satellite in September 2010 and October 2007. In both cases, the total gamma-ray flux increased by a factor of three compared with the non-flaring flux. The flare luminosity and short time scale favor an origin near the pulsar, and we discuss Chandra Observatory x-ray and Hubble Space Telescope optical follow-up observations of the nebula. Our observations challenge standard models of nebular emission and require power-law acceleration by shock-driven plasma wave turbulence within an approximately 1-day time scale.

The propagation of very energetic gamma-rays at GeV–TeV energies over cosmological distances is mainly affected by pair-production on the soft background photon field. The resulting energy dependent absorption is sensitive to the level of background photon field present along the line of sight as well as to possible modifications of the pair-production process. In this study, we focus on the latter aspect by fixing the absorption to the guaranteed level by invoking a minimum model for the background photon field. The result of the study suggests (at the level of 4.2 standard deviations) that the intrinsic spectra (after correction for absorption) show a significant upturn at the transition from optically thin to optically thick. The observation is not explained by known systematic effects related to the instrument (e.g. energy scale, spectral bias). By construction, neither the intrinsic source spectra nor the background photon field can be responsible for the observed effect unless either an un-realistic fine-tuning of the sources or a substantially lower level of the background light below the guaranteed level is realized in nature. We conclude, that the origin of the observed effect is most likely related to an anomaly of the pair-production process similar to the effect predicted in the case of a pseudo-scalar (axion-like) field.

We present the current status of high-energy cosmic-ray physics and gamma-ray astronomy at the Tunka Astrophysical Center (AC). This complex is located in the Tunka Valley, about 50 km from Lake Baikal. Present efforts are focused on the construction of the first stage of the gamma-ray observatory TAIGA - the TAIGA prototype. TAIGA (Tunka Advanced Instrument for cosmic ray physics and Gamma Astronomy) is designed for the study of gamma rays and charged cosmic rays in the energy range 1013 eV–1018 eV. The array includes a network of wide angle timing Cherenkov stations (TAIGA-HiSCORE), each with a FOV = 0.6 sr, plus up to 16 IACTs (FOV - 10∘× 10∘). This part covers an area of 5 km2. Additional muon detectors (TAIGA-Muon), with a total coverage of 2000 m2, are distributed over an area of 1 km2.

Observations of gamma rays up to several 100 TeV are particularly important to spectrally resolve the cutoff regime of the long-sought Pevatrons, the cosmic-ray PeV accelerators. One component of the TAIGA hybrid detector is the TAIGA-HiSCORE timing array, which currently consists of 28 wide angle (0.6 sr) air Cherenkov timing stations distributed on an area of 0.25 km2. The HiSCORE concept is based on (non-imaging) air shower front sampling with Cherenkov light. First results are presented.

The extensive air shower Cherenkov light array Tunka-133 collected data during 7 winter seasons from 2009 to 2017. From 2175 hours of data taking, we derived the differential energy spectrum of cosmic rays in the energy range 6 · 10 15 2 · 10 18 eV. The TAIGA-HiSCORE array is in the process of continuous expansion and modernization. Here we present the results obtained with 28 stations of the first HiSCORE stage from 35 clear moonless nights in the winter of 2017-2018. The combined spectrum of two arrays covers a range of 2 · 10 14 – 2 · 10 18 eV.

In this talk, we describe the status and the perspectives of the hybrid Air Shower Array TAIGA (Tunka Advanced Instrument for cosmic rays and Gamma Astronomy) which is currently under construction in the Tunka Valley close to Lake Baikal and is taking data in its initial configurations. TAIGA is designed for the study of gamma rays and charged cosmic rays in the energy range of 10 13 eV - 10 18 eV. It has the potential to play an important role in the search for Galactic Pevatrons and within a multi-messenger approach to explore the high-energy sky.

The physics motivations and advantages of the new TAIGA (Tunka Advanced Instrument for cosmic ray physics and Gamma Astronomy) detector are presented. TAIGA aims at gamma-ray astronomy at energies from a few TeV to several PeV, as well as cosmic ray physics from 100 TeV to several EeV. For the energy range 30 – 200 TeV the sensitivity of 10 km 2 area TAIGA array for the detection of local sources is expected to be 5 × 10 -14 erg cm -2 sec -1 for 300 h of observations. Reconstruction of the given EAS energy, incoming direction and its core position, based on the timing TAIGA-HiSCORE data, allows one to increase a distance between the IACTs up to 600-1000 m. The low investments together with the high sensitivity for energies ≥ 30-50 TeV make this pioneering technique very attractive for exploring the galactic PeVatrons and cosmic rays. At present the TAIGA first stage has been constructed in Tunka valley, 50 km West from the Lake Baikal. The first experimental results of the TAIGA first stage are presented.

The H.E.S.S. (High Energy Stereoscopic System) experiment has been in operation in its current set-up since the beginning of 2004. The construction of the extension of H.E.S.S. (\"Phase II\") has started: A telescope with a mirror surface of 600 m2 in the center of the four existing H.E.S.S. Phase I telescopes This \"Large Cherenkov Telescope\" (LCT) will operate stand-alone as well as in coincidence together with the Phase I telescopes. The LCT will start triggering on gamma-ray initiated air showers at an energy of 20 GeV. In this contribution, a status of the existing installation and plan for the future will be given.

The Tunka-HISCORE wide-angle Cherenkov array, one part of the planned TAIGA integrated gamma observatory intended for investigations in the field of high-energy (>30 TeV) gamma-ray astronomy and cosmic-ray physics, is deployed in the Tunka Valley (Buryat Republic). The first results from operating a prototype array composed of nine stations spread over an area of ∼0.1 square kilometers during the winter of 2013–2014 are presented. Data processing techniques are described, along with data on the accuracy of reconstructing the position of a shower’s axis, energy, and angle of arrival. The differential spectrum of all cosmic-ray particles in a shower in the energy range of 2 × 10 14 to 2 × 10 16 eV is presented and compared to the available data.

HiSCORE is a non-imaging wide-angle Cherenkov array for the detection of extensive air showers induced by ultrahigh energy gamma-rays above 10 TeV and cosmic ray studies above 100 TeV. In October 2013 a 9-station engineering array has been deployed in Tunka valley. For HiSCORE-9, two DAQ systems are being used. The second system is a DRS4 based acquisition system with WhiteRabbit integrated time synchronization. We present the first results on the amplitude calibration from the data of this DAQ system.