H.E.S.S. observations of the Crab during its March 2013 GeV gamma-ray flare

Abstract

Context. On March 4, 2013 the Fermi-LAT and AGILE reported a flare from the direction of the Crab nebula in which the high-energy (HE; E > 100 MeV) flux was six times above its quiescent level. Simultaneous observations in other energy bands give us hints about the emission processes during the flare episode and the physics of pulsar wind nebulae in general.

Aims. We search for variability in the emission of the Crab nebula at very-high energies (VHE; E > 100 GeV), using contemporaneous data taken with the H.E.S.S. array of Cherenkov telescopes.

Methods. Observational data taken with the H.E.S.S. instrument on five consecutive days during the flare were analysed for the flux and spectral shape of the emission from the Crab nebula. Night-wise light curves are presented with energy thresholds of 1 TeV and 5 TeV.

Results. The observations conducted with H.E.S.S. on March 6 to March 10, 2013 show no significant changes in the flux. They limit the variation in the integral flux above 1 TeV to less than 63% and the integral flux above 5 TeV to less than 78% at a 95% confidence level