arXiv subjects

J. Bregeon

Publications and source records attributed to J. Bregeon.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2019

Monte Carlo Studies of Combined MAGIC and LST1 Observations

The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is the next generation very high energy gamma-ray observatory covering the 20 GeV - 300 TeV energy range with unprecedented sensitivity, angular and energy resolution. With a site in each hemisphere, CTA will provide full-sky coverage. Four Large Size Telescopes (LSTs) in each site will be dedicated to the lowest energy range (20 GeV - 200 GeV). The first LST prototype has been installed at the CTA Northern site (Canary Island of La Palma, Spain) in October 2018 and it had been since then in commissioning phase. LST1 is located at about 100 m from MAGIC, a system of two 17m-diameter Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes designed to perform gamma-ray astronomy in the energy range from 50 GeV with standard trigger (30 GeV with SumTrigger) to 50 TeV and whose performance is very well established. The co-location of LST1 and MAGIC offers the great opportunity of cross-calibrating the two systems on an event-by-event basis. It will be indeed possible to compare the parameters of the same extensive air shower reconstructed by the two instruments. We investigated the performance that could be reached with combined observations.

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arXiv2019

Performance of the Cherenkov Telescope Array

The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is expected to become the by far largest and most sensitive observatory for very-high-energy gamma rays in the energy range from 20 GeV to more than 300 TeV. CTA will be capable of detecting gamma rays from extremely faint sources with unprecedented precision on energy and direction. The performance of the future observatory derived from detailed Monte Carlo simulations is presented in this contribution for the two CTA sites located on the island of La Palma (Spain) and near Paranal (Chile). This includes the evaluation of CTA sensitivity over observations pointing towards different elevations and for operations at higher night-sky background light levels.

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arXiv2019

Constraints on the emission region of 3C 279 during strong flares in 2014 and 2015 through VHE gamma-ray observations with H.E.S.S

The flat spectrum radio quasar 3C 279 is known to exhibit pronounced variability in the high-energy ($100\,$MeV$ 100\,$GeV) $γ$-ray domain. While the observation in 2014 provides an upper limit, the observation in 2015 results in a signal with $8.7\,σ$ significance above an energy threshold of $66\,$GeV. No VHE variability has been detected during the 2015 observations. The VHE photon spectrum is soft and described by a power-law index of $4.2\pm 0.3$. The H.E.S.S. data along with a detailed and contemporaneous multiwavelength data set provide constraints on the physical parameters of the emission region. The minimum distance of the emission region from the central black hole is estimated using two plausible geometries of the broad-line region and three potential intrinsic spectra. The emission region is confidently placed at $r\gtrsim 1.7\times10^{17}\,$cm from the black hole, i.e., beyond the assumed distance of the broad-line region. Time-dependent leptonic and lepto-hadronic one-zone models are used to describe the evolution of the 2015 flare. Neither model can fully reproduce the observations, despite testing various parameter sets. Furthermore, the H.E.S.S. data are used to derive constraints on Lorentz invariance violation given the large redshift of 3C 279.

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arXiv2019

Unresolved Gamma-Ray Sky through its Angular Power Spectrum

The gamma-ray sky has been observed with unprecedented accuracy in the last decade by the Fermi large area telescope (LAT), allowing us to resolve and understand the high-energy Universe. The nature of the remaining unresolved emission (unresolved gamma-ray background, UGRB) below the LAT source detection threshold can be uncovered by characterizing the amplitude and angular scale of the UGRB fluctuation field. This work presents a measurement of the UGRB autocorrelation angular power spectrum based on eight years of Fermi LAT Pass 8 data products. The analysis is designed to be robust against contamination from resolved sources and noise systematics. The sensitivity to subthreshold sources is greatly enhanced with respect to previous measurements. We find evidence (with $\sim$3.7$σ$ significance) that the scenario in which two classes of sources contribute to the UGRB signal is favored over a single class. A double power law with exponential cutoff can explain the anisotropy energy spectrum well, with photon indices of the two populations being 2.55 $\pm$ 0.23 and 1.86 $\pm$ 0.15.

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arXiv2019

Upper Limits on Very-High-Energy Gamma-ray Emission from Core-Collapse Supernovae Observed with H.E.S.S

Young core-collapse supernovae with dense-wind progenitors may be able to accelerate cosmic-ray hadrons beyond the knee of the cosmic-ray spectrum, and this may result in measurable gamma-ray emission. We searched for gamma-ray emission from ten supernovae observed with the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) within a year of the supernova event. Nine supernovae were observed serendipitously in the H.E.S.S. data collected between December 2003 and December 2014, with exposure times ranging from 1.4 hours to 53 hours. In addition we observed SN 2016adj as a target of opportunity in February 2016 for 13 hours. No significant gamma-ray emission has been detected for any of the objects, and upper limits on the $>1$ TeV gamma-ray flux of the order of $\sim$10$^{-13}$ cm$^{-2}$s$^{-1}$ are established, corresponding to upper limits on the luminosities in the range $\sim$2 $\times$ 10$^{39}$ erg s$^{-1}$ to $\sim$1 $\times$ 10$^{42}$ erg s$^{-1}$. These values are used to place model-dependent constraints on the mass-loss rates of the progenitor stars, implying upper limits between $\sim$2 $\times 10^{-5}$ and $\sim$2 $\times 10^{-3}$M$_{\odot}$yr$^{-1}$ under reasonable assumptions on the particle acceleration parameters.

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arXiv2019

H.E.S.S. observations of the flaring gravitationally lensed galaxy PKS 1830-211

PKS 1830-211 is a known macrolensed quasar located at a redshift of z=2.5. Its high-energy gamma-ray emission has been detected with the Fermi-LAT instrument and evidence for lensing was obtained by several authors from its high-energy data. Observations of PKS 1830-211 were taken with the H.E.S.S. array of Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes in August 2014, following a flare alert by the Fermi- LAT collaboration. The H.E.S.S observations were aimed at detecting a gamma-ray flare delayed by 20-27 days from the alert flare, as expected from observations at other wavelengths. More than twelve hours of good quality data were taken with an analysis threshold of $\sim67$ GeV. The significance of a potential signal is computed as a function of the date as well as the average significance over the whole period. Data are compared to simultaneous observations by Fermi-LAT. No photon excess or significant signal is detected. An upper limit on PKS 1830-211 flux above 67 GeV is computed and compared to the extrapolation of the Fermi-LAT flare spectrum.

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arXiv2019

Monte Carlo studies for the optimisation of the Cherenkov Telescope Array layout

The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is the major next-generation observatory for ground-based very-high-energy gamma-ray astronomy. It will improve the sensitivity of current ground-based instruments by a factor of five to twenty, depending on the energy, greatly improving both their angular and energy resolutions over four decades in energy (from 20 GeV to 300 TeV). This achievement will be possible by using tens of imaging Cherenkov telescopes of three successive sizes. They will be arranged into two arrays, one per hemisphere, located on the La Palma island (Spain) and in Paranal (Chile). We present here the optimised and final telescope arrays for both CTA sites, as well as their foreseen performance, resulting from the analysis of three different large-scale Monte Carlo productions.

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arXiv2019

The 2014 TeV Gamma-ray Flare of Mrk 501 Seen with H.E.S.S.: Temporal and Spectral Constraints on Lorentz Invariance Violation

The blazar Mrk 501 (z=0.034) was observed at very-high-energy (VHE, $E\gtrsim 100$~GeV) gamma-ray wavelengths during a bright flare on the night of 2014 June 23-24 (MJD 56832) with the H.E.S.S. phase-II array of Cherenkov telescopes. Data taken that night by H.E.S.S. at large zenith angle reveal an exceptional number of gamma-ray photons at multi-TeV energies, with rapid flux variability and an energy coverage extending significantly up to 20 TeV. This data set is used to constrain Lorentz invariance violation (LIV) using two independent channels: a temporal approach considers the possibility of an energy dependence in the arrival time of gamma rays, whereas a spectral approach considers the possibility of modifications to the interaction of VHE gamma rays with extragalactic background light (EBL) photons. The non-detection of energy-dependent time delays and the non-observation of deviations between the measured spectrum and that of a supposed power-law intrinsic spectrum with standard EBL attenuation are used independently to derive strong constraints on the energy scale of LIV ($E_{\rm{QG}}$) in the subluminal scenario for linear and quadratic perturbations in the dispersion relation of photons. For the case of linear perturbations, the 95% confidence level limits obtained are $E_{\rm{QG},1} > 3.6 \times 10^{17} \ \rm{GeV} $ using the temporal approach and $E_{\rm{QG},1} > 2.6 \times 10^{19} \ \rm{GeV}$ using the spectral approach. For the case of quadratic perturbations, the limits obtained are $E_{\rm{QG},2} > 8.5 \times 10^{10} \ \rm{GeV} $ using the temporal approach and $E_{\rm{QG},2} > 7.8 \times 10^{11} \rm{ GeV}$ using the spectral approach.

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arXiv2019

Impact of H.E.S.S. Lidar profiles on Crab Nebula data

The H.E.S.S. experiment in Namibia is a high-energy gamma-ray telescope sensitive in the energy range from 30 GeV to a several tens of TeV, that uses the atmospheric Cherenkov technique to detect showers developed within the atmosphere. The elastic lidar, installed on the H.E.S.S. site, allows to reduce the systematic errors related to the atmospheric composition uncertainties thanks to the estimation of the extinction profile for the Cherenkov light (300-650 nm). The latter has a direct impact on the reconstructed parameters, such as the photon energy and the source flux. In this paper we report on physics results obtained on the Crab Nebula spectrum using the lidar profiles obtained at the H.E.S.S. site.

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arXiv2018

Particle Transport within the Pulsar Wind Nebula HESS J1825-137

Aims: We present a detailed view of the pulsar wind nebula (PWN) HESS J1825-137. We aim to constrain the mechanisms dominating the particle transport within the nebula, accounting for its anomalously large size and spectral characteristics. Methods: The nebula is studied using a deep exposure from over 12 years of H.E.S.S. I operation, together with data from H.E.S.S. II improving the low energy sensitivity. Enhanced energy-dependent morphological and spatially-resolved spectral analyses probe the Very High Energy (VHE, E > 0.1 TeV) gamma-ray properties of the nebula. Results: The nebula emission is revealed to extend out to 1.5 degrees from the pulsar, ~1.5 times further than previously seen, making HESS J1825--137, with an intrinsic diameter of ~100 pc, potentially the largest gamma-ray PWN currently known. Characterisation of the nebula's strongly energy-dependent morphology enables the particle transport mechanisms to be constrained. A dependence of the nebula extent with energy of R $\propto$ E^αwith α= -0.29 +/- 0.04 (stat) +/- 0.05 (sys) disfavours a pure diffusion scenario for particle transport within the nebula. The total gamma-ray flux of the nebula above 1~TeV is found to be (1.12 +/- 0.03 (stat) +/- 0.25 (sys)) $\times 10^{-11}$ cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$, corresponding to ~64% of the flux of the Crab Nebula. Conclusions: HESS J1825-137 is a PWN with clear energy-dependent morphology at VHE gamma-ray energies. This source is used as a laboratory to investigate particle transport within middle-aged PWNe. Deep observations of this highly spatially-extended PWN enable a spectral map of the region to be produced, providing insights into the spectral variation within the nebula.

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arXiv2018

VHE $γ$-ray discovery and multi-wavelength study of the blazar 1ES 2322-409

A hotspot at a position compatible with the BL Lac object 1ES 2322-409 was serendipitously detected with H.E.S.S. during observations performed in 2004 and 2006 on the blazar PKS 2316-423. Additional data on 1ES 2322-409 were taken in 2011 and 2012, leading to a total live-time of 22.3h. Point-like very-high-energy (VHE; E>100GeV) $γ$-ray emission is detected from a source centred on the 1ES 2322-409 position, with an excess of 116.7 events at a significance of 6.0$σ$. The average VHE $γ$-ray spectrum is well described with a power law with a photon index $Γ=3.40\pm0.66_{\text{stat}}\pm0.20_{\text{sys}}$ and an integral flux $Φ(E>200GeV) = (3.11\pm0.71_{\rm stat}\pm0.62_{\rm sys})\times10^{-12} cm^{-2} s^{-1}$, which corresponds to 1.1$\%$ of the Crab nebula flux above 200 GeV. Multi-wavelength data obtained with Fermi LAT, Swift XRT and UVOT, RXTE PCA, ATOM, and additional data from WISE, GROND and Catalina, are also used to characterise the broad-band non-thermal emission of 1ES 2322-409. The multi-wavelength behaviour indicates day-scale variability. Swift UVOT and XRT data show strong variability at longer scales. A spectral energy distribution (SED) is built from contemporaneous observations obtained around a high state identified in Swift data. A modelling of the SED is performed with a stationary homogeneous one-zone synchrotron-self-Compton (SSC) leptonic model. The redshift of the source being unknown, two plausible values were tested for the modelling. A systematic scan of the model parameters space is performed, resulting in a well-constrained combination of values providing a good description of the broad-band behaviour of 1ES 2322-409.

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arXiv2018

Searches for gamma-ray lines and `pure WIMP' spectra from Dark Matter annihilations in dwarf galaxies with H.E.S.S

Dwarf spheroidal galaxies are among the most promising targets for detecting signals of Dark Matter (DM) annihilations. The H.E.S.S. experiment has observed five of these systems for a total of about 130 hours. The data are re-analyzed here, and, in the absence of any detected signals, are interpreted in terms of limits on the DM annihilation cross section. Two scenarios are considered: i) DM annihilation into mono-energetic gamma-rays and ii) DM in the form of pure WIMP multiplets that, annihilating into all electroweak bosons, produce a distinctive gamma-ray spectral shape with a high-energy peak at the DM mass and a lower-energy continuum. For case i), upper limits at 95\% confidence level of about $\langle σv \rangle \lesssim 3 \times 10^{-25}$ cm$^3$ s$^{-1}$ are obtained in the mass range of 400 GeV to 1 TeV. For case ii), the full spectral shape of the models is used and several excluded regions are identified, but the thermal masses of the candidates are not robustly ruled out.

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arXiv2018

First Ground-based Measurement of Sub-20 GeV to 100 GeV $γ$-rays from the Vela Pulsar with H.E.S.S. II

We report on the measurement and investigation of pulsed high-energy $γ$-ray emission from the Vela pulsar, PSR B0833$-$45, based on 40.3 hours of observations with the largest telescope of H.E.S.S., CT5, in monoscopic mode, and on 8 years of data obtained with the Fermi-LAT. A dedicated very-low-threshold event reconstruction and analysis pipeline was developed and, together with the CT5 telescope response model, was validated using the Fermi-LAT data as reference. A pulsed $γ$-ray signal at a significance level of more than $15σ$ is detected from the P2 peak of the Vela pulsar light curve. Of a total of 15835 events, more than 6000 lie at an energy below 20 GeV, implying a significant overlap between H.E.S.S. II-CT5 and the Fermi-LAT. While the investigation of the pulsar light curve with the LAT confirms characteristics previously known up to 20 GeV, in the tens of GeV energy range, CT5 data show a change in the pulse morphology of P2, i.e., an extreme sharpening of its trailing edge, together with the possible onset of a new component at 3.4$σ$ significance level. Assuming a power-law model for the P2 spectrum, an excellent agreement is found for the photon indices ($Γ\simeq$ 4.1) obtained with the two telescopes above 10 GeV and an upper bound of 8% is derived on the relative offset between their energy scales. Using both instruments data, it is however shown that the spectrum of P2 in the 10-100 GeV has a pronounced curvature, i.e. a confirmation of the sub-exponential cutoff form found at lower energies with the LAT. This is further supported by the weak evidence for an emission above 100 GeV obtained with CT5. In contrast, converging indications are found from both CT5 and LAT data for the emergence of a hard component above 50 GeV in the leading wing (LW2) of P2, which possibly extends beyond 100 GeV.

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arXiv2018

The $γ$-ray spectrum of the core of Centaurus A as observed with H.E.S.S. and Fermi-LAT

Centaurus A (Cen A) is the nearest radio galaxy discovered as a very-high-energy (VHE; 100 GeV-100 TeV) $γ$-ray source by the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.). It is a faint VHE $γ$-ray emitter, though its VHE flux exceeds both the extrapolation from early Fermi-LAT observations as well as expectations from a (misaligned) single-zone synchrotron-self Compton (SSC) description. The latter satisfactorily reproduces the emission from Cen A at lower energies up to a few GeV. New observations with H.E.S.S., comparable in exposure time to those previously reported, were performed and eight years of Fermi-LAT data were accumulated to clarify the spectral characteristics of the $γ$-ray emission from the core of Cen A. The results allow us for the first time to achieve the goal of constructing a representative, contemporaneous $γ$-ray core spectrum of Cen A over almost five orders of magnitude in energy. Advanced analysis methods, including the template fitting method, allow detection in the VHE range of the core with a statistical significance of 12$σ$ on the basis of 213 hours of total exposure time. The spectrum in the energy range of 250 GeV-6 TeV is compatible with a power-law function with a photon index $Γ=2.52\pm0.13_{\mathrm{stat}}\pm0.20_{\mathrm{sys}}$. An updated Fermi-LAT analysis provides evidence for spectral hardening by $ΔΓ\simeq0.4\pm0.1$ at $γ$-ray energies above $2.8^{+1.0}_{-0.6}$ GeV at a level of $4.0σ$. The fact that the spectrum hardens at GeV energies and extends into the VHE regime disfavour a single-zone SSC interpretation for the overall spectral energy distribution (SED) of the core and is suggestive of a new $γ$-ray emitting component connecting the high-energy emission above the break energy to the one observed at VHE energies.

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arXiv2018

The starburst galaxy NGC 253 revisited by H.E.S.S. and Fermi-LAT

(Abridged) Context. NGC 253 is one of only two starburst galaxies found to emit $γ$-rays from hundreds of MeV to multi-TeV energies. Accurate measurements of the very-high-energy (VHE) (E $>$ 100 GeV) and high-energy (HE) (E $>$ 60 MeV) spectra are crucial to study the underlying particle accelerators and cosmic-ray interaction and transport. Aims. The measurement of the VHE $γ$-ray emission of NGC 253 published in 2012 by H.E.S.S. was limited by large systematic uncertainties. Here, a measurement of the $γ$-ray spectrum of NGC 253 is investigated in both HE and VHE $γ$-rays. Methods. The data of H.E.S.S. observations are reanalysed using an updated calibration and analysis chain. The $Fermi$-LAT analysis employs more than 8 years of data processed using pass 8. The cosmic-ray particle population is evaluated from the combined HE--VHE $γ$-ray spectrum using NAIMA. Results. The VHE $γ$-ray energy spectrum is best fit by a power-law with a flux normalisation of $(1.34\,\pm\,0.14^{\mathrm{stat}}\,\pm\,0.27^{\mathrm{sys}}) \times 10^{-13} \mathrm{cm^{-2} s^{-1} TeV^{-1}}$ at 1 TeV -- about 40 \% above, but compatible with the value obtained in Abramowski et al. (2012). The spectral index $Γ= 2.39 \pm 0.14^{\mathrm{stat}} \pm 0.25^{\mathrm{sys}}$ is slightly softer than but consistent with the previous measurement. At energies above $\sim$3 GeV the HE spectrum is consistent with a power-law ranging into the VHE part of the spectrum measured by H.E.S.S. Conclusions. Two scenarios for the starburst nucleus are tested, in which the gas in the starburst nucleus acts as a target for hadronic cosmic rays. In these two models, the level to which NGC\,253 acts as a calorimeter is estimated to a range of $f_{\rm cal} = 0.1$ to $1$ while accounting for the measurement uncertainties.

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arXiv2018

Search for $γ$-ray line signals from dark matter annihilations in the inner Galactic halo from ten years of observations with H.E.S.S

Spectral lines are among the most powerful signatures for dark matter (DM) annihilation searches in very-high-energy $γ$-rays. The central region of the Milky Way halo is one of the most promising targets given its large amount of DM and proximity to Earth. We report on a search for a monoenergetic spectral line from self-annihilations of DM particles in the energy range from 300 GeV to 70 TeV using a two-dimensional maximum likelihood method taking advantage of both the spectral and spatial features of signal versus background. The analysis makes use of Galactic Center (GC) observations accumulated over ten years (2004 - 2014) with the H.E.S.S. array of ground-based Cherenkov telescopes. No significant $γ$-ray excess above the background is found. We derive upper limits on the annihilation cross section $\langleσv\rangle$ for monoenergetic DM lines at the level of $\sim4\times10^{-28}$ cm$^{3}$s$^{-1}$ at 1 TeV, assuming an Einasto DM profile for the Milky Way halo. For a DM mass of 1 TeV, they improve over the previous ones by a factor of six. The present constraints are the strongest obtained so far for DM particles in the mass range 300 GeV - 70 TeV. Ground-based $γ$-ray observations have reached sufficient sensitivity to explore relevant velocity-averaged cross sections for DM annihilation into two $γ$-ray photons at the level expected from the thermal relic density for TeV DM particles.

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arXiv2018

A search for new supernova remnant shells in the Galactic plane with H.E.S.S

A search for new supernova remnants (SNRs) has been conducted using TeV gamma-ray data from the H.E.S.S. Galactic plane survey. As an identification criterion, shell morphologies that are characteristic for known resolved TeV SNRs have been used. Three new SNR candidates were identified in the H.E.S.S. data set with this method. Extensive multiwavelength searches for counterparts were conducted. A radio SNR candidate has been identified to be a counterpart to HESS J1534-571. The TeV source is therefore classified as a SNR. For the other two sources, HESS J1614-518 and HESS J1912+101, no identifying counterparts have been found, thus they remain SNR candidates for the time being. TeV-emitting SNRs are key objects in the context of identifying the accelerators of Galactic cosmic rays. The TeV emission of the relativistic particles in the new sources is examined in view of possible leptonic and hadronic emission scenarios, taking the current multiwavelength knowledge into account.

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arXiv2018

Deeper H.E.S.S. observations of Vela Junior (RX J0852.0$-$4622): Morphology studies and resolved spectroscopy

Aims. We study gamma-ray emission from the shell-type supernova remnant (SNR) RX J0852.0$-$4622 to better characterize its spectral properties and its distribution over the SNR. Methods. The analysis of an extended High Energy Spectroscopic System (H.E.S.S.) data set at very high energies (E > 100 GeV) permits detailed studies, as well as spatially resolved spectroscopy, of the morphology and spectrum of the whole RX J0852.0$-$4622 region. The H.E.S.S. data are combined with archival data from other wavebands and interpreted in the framework of leptonic and hadronic models. The joint Fermi-LAT-H.E.S.S. spectrum allows the direct determination of the spectral characteristics of the parent particle population in leptonic and hadronic scenarios using only GeV-TeV data. Results. An updated analysis of the H.E.S.S. data shows that the spectrum of the entire SNR connects smoothly to the high-energy spectrum measured by Fermi-LAT. The increased data set makes it possible to demonstrate that the H.E.S.S. spectrum deviates significantly from a power law and is well described by both a curved power law and a power law with an exponential cutoff at an energy of $E_\mathrm{cut} = (6.7 \pm 1.2_\mathrm{stat} \pm 1.2_\mathrm{syst})$ TeV. The joint Fermi-LAT-H.E.S.S. spectrum allows the unambiguous identification of the spectral shape as a power law with an exponential cutoff. No significant evidence is found for a variation of the spectral parameters across the SNR, suggesting similar conditions of particle acceleration across the remnant. A simple modeling using one particle population to model the SNR emission demonstrates that both leptonic and hadronic emission scenarios remain plausible. It is also shown that at least a part of the shell emission is likely due to the presence of a pulsar wind nebula around PSR J0855$-$4644.

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