arXiv subjects

V. R. Chitnis

Publications and source records attributed to V. R. Chitnis.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2011

Multiwavelength study of TeV Blazar Mrk421 during giant flare and observations of TeV AGNs with HAGAR

The radiation mechanism of very high energy $γ$-ray emission from blazars and crucial parameters like magnetic field, and size of the emitting region are not well understood yet. To understand the above mentioned properties of blazars, we observed five nearby TeV $γ$-ray emitting blazars (Mrk421, Mrk501, 1ES2344+514, 1ES1218+304 and 3C454.3) and one radio galaxy (M87) using the High Altitude GAmma Ray (HAGAR) telescope. HAGAR is an array of seven telescopes located at Hanle, India to detect Cherenkov light caused by extensive air showers initiated by $γ$-rays. Mrk421 was observed to undergo one of its brightest flaring episodes on 2010 February 17, and detected by various experiments in X-rays and $γ$- rays. HAGAR observations of this source during 2010 February 13 - 19, in the energies above 250 GeV show an enhancement in the flux level, with a flux of 6-7 Crab units being detected on 2010 February 17. We present the spectral energy distribution of the source during this flaring episode. In addition to this, the analysis procedure to extract $γ$-ray signal from HAGAR data is discussed and preliminary results on all the AGNs are presented.

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arXiv2009

X-ray variability of AGNs in the soft and the hard X-ray bands

We investigate the X-ray variability characteristics of hard X-ray selected AGNs (based on Swift/BAT data) in the soft X-ray band using the RXTE/ASM data. The uncertainties involved in the individual dwell measurements of ASM are critically examined and a method is developed to combine a large number of dwells with appropriate error propagation to derive long duration flux measurements (greater than 10 days). We also provide a general prescription to estimate the errors in variability derived from rms values from unequally spaced data. Though the derived variability for individual sources are not of very high significance, we find that, in general, the soft X-ray variability is higher than those in hard X-rays and the variability strengths decrease with energy for the diverse classes of AGN. We also examine the strength of variability as a function of the break time scale in the power density spectrum (derived from the estimated mass and bolometric luminosity of the sources) and find that the data are consistent with the idea of higher variability at time scales longer than the break time scale.

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arXiv2006

Observations of AGNs using PACT

We report our observations on 4 AGNs viz, Mkn421, Mkn501, 1ES1426+428 and ON231 belonging to a sub-class called blazars. The observations were carried out using the Pachmarhi Array of Cherenkov Telescopes and span about 6 years period from 2000 to 2005. We discuss our methods of analysis adopted to extract the gamma ray signal from cosmic ray background. We present our results on the emission of TeV gamma rays from these objects. Also, we report on the status of the new high altitude experiment, a 7 telescope array at Hanle in the Himalayas at an altitude of about 4200 m above mean sea level for detecting celestial gamma rays.

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arXiv2003

Gamma-Hadron Separation using Cerenkov Photon Density Fluctuations

In the atmospheric Cerenkov technique gamma rays are detected against the abundant background produced by hadronic showers. In order to improve the signal to noise ratio of the experiment, it is necessary to reject a significant fraction of hadronic showers. Traditional background rejection methods based on image shape parameters have been extensively used for the data from imaging telescopes. However, non-imaging Cerenkov telescopes have to develop very different means of statistically identifying and removing cosmic ray events. Some of the parameters which could be potentially important for non-imaging arrays are the temporal and spectral differences, the lateral distributions and density fluctuations of Cerenkov photons generated by gamma ray and hadron primaries. Here we study the differences in fluctuations of Cerenkov photon density in the light pool at the observation level from showers initiated by photons and those initiated by protons or heavier nuclei. The database of simulated events for the PACT array has been used to evaluate the efficiency of the new technique. Various types of density fluctuations like the short range and medium range fluctuations as well as flatness parameter are studied. The estimated quality factors reflect the efficiencies with which the hadrons can be rejected from the data. Since some of these parameters are independent, the cuts may be applied in tandem and we demonstrate that the proton rejection efficiency of about 90% can be achieved. Use of density fluctuations is particularly suited for wavefront sampling observations and it seems to be a good technique to improve the signal to noise ratio.

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arXiv2002

Angular Resolution of the Pachmarhi Array of Cerenkov Telescopes

The Pachmarhi Array of Cerenkov Telescopes consists of a distributed array of 25 telescopes that are used to sample the atmospheric Cerenkov Photon showers. Each telescope consists of 7 parabolic mirrors each viewed by a single photo-multiplier tube. Reconstruction of photon showers are carried out using fast timing information on the arrival of pulses at each PMT. The shower front is fitted to a plane and the direction of arrival of primary particle initiating the shower is obtained. The error in the determination of the arrival direction of the primary has been estimated using the {\it split} array method. It is found to be $\sim 2.4^\prime ~$ for primaries of energy $ > 3 TeV$. The dependence of the angular resolution on the separation between the telescopes and the number of detectors are also obtained from the data.

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arXiv2001

Distributed Data Acquisition System for Pachmarhi Array of Cerenkov Telescopes

Pachmarhi Array of \v Cerenkov Telescopes (PACT) consists of a 5$\times$5 array of \v Cerenkov telescopes deployed over an area of 100 $m$ $\times$ 80 $m$, in the form of a rectangular matrix. The experiment is based on atmospheric \v Cerenkov technique using wavefront sampling technique. Each telescope consists of 7 parabolic mirrors mounted para-axially on an equatorial mount. At the focus of each mirror a fast phototube is mounted. In this experiment a large number of parameters have to be measured and recorded from each of the 175 phototubes in the shortest possible time. Further, the counting rates from each phototube as well as the analog sum of the 7 phototubes from each telescope (royal sum) need to be monitored at regular intervals during the run. In view of the complexity of the system, the entire array is divided into four smaller sectors each of which is handled by an independent field signal processing centre (FSPC) housed in a control room that collects, processes and records information from nearby six telescopes that belong to that sector. The distributed data acquisition system (DDAS) developed for the purpose consists of stand-alone sector data acquisition system (SDAS) in each of the four FSPC's and a master data acquisition system (MDAS). MDAS running in the master signal processing centre (MSPC) records data from each of the 25 telescopes. The data acquisition and monitoring PCs (SDAS and MDAS) are networked through LAN. The entire real time software for DDAS is developed in C under $linux$ environment. Most of the hardware in DDAS are designed and fabricated in-house. The design features and the performance of the entire system along with some other auxiliary systems to facilitate the entire observations will be presented.

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arXiv2001

Pachmarhi Array of Čerenkov Telescopes and its Sensitivity

Pachmarhi Array of Čerenkov Telescopes (PACT) has been designed to search for celestial TeV $γ-$rays using the wavefront sampling technique. PACT, located at Pachmarhi, (latitude 22$^\circ$ 28$^\prime$ N, longitude 76$^\circ$ 26$^\prime$ E, altitude 1075 m) consists of 25 telescopes deployed over an area of 80 m $\times$ 100m. Each telescopes consists of 7 parabolic reflectors, each viewed by a fast phototube behind a 3$^\circ$ mask at the focus. The density and the arrival time of the photons at the PMT are recorded for each shower. The energy threshold and collection area of the array are estimated, from Monte Carlo simulations, to be $\sim$ 900 GeV and 10$^5$ m$^2$ respectively. The accuracy in determination of arrival angle of a shower is estimated to be about 0.1$^\circ$ in the near vertical direction. About 99% of the off-axis hadronic events could be rejected from directional information alone. Further, at least 75% of the on-axis hadronic events could be rejected using species sensitive parameters derived from timing and density measurements. These cuts on data to reject background would retain $\sim$ 44% of the $γ-$ray signal. The sensitivity of the array for a 5$σ$ detection of $γ-$ray signal at a threshold energy of 1 TeV has been estimated to be $\sim$ 4.1 $\times$ 10$^{-12}$ photons cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ for an on source exposure of 50 hours. The PACT set-up has been fully commissioned and is collecting data. The details of the system parameters and sensitivity will be presented.

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arXiv2001

Estimation of Shower Parameters in Wavefront Sampling Technique

Wavefront sampling experiments record arrival times of Čerenkov photons with high precision at various locations in Čerenkov pool using a distributed array of telescopes. It was shown earlier that this photon front can be fitted with a spherical surface traveling at a speed of light and originating from a single point on the shower axis. Radius of curvature of the spherical shower front ($R$) is approximately equal to the height of shower maximum from observation level. For a given primary species, it is also found that $R$ varies with the primary energy ($E$) and this provides a method of estimating the primary energy. In general, one can estimate the arrival times at each telescope using the radius of curvature, arrival direction of the primary and the core location. This, when compared with the data enables us to estimate the above parameters for each shower. This method of obtaining the arrival direction alleviates the difficulty in the form of systematics arising out of the plane wavefront approximation for the Čerenkov front. Another outstanding problem in the field of atmospheric Čerenkov technique is the difficulty in locating the shower core. This method seems to solve both these problems and provides an elegant method to determine the arrival direction as well as the core location from timing information alone. In addition, using the Čerenkov photon density information and the core position we can estimate the energy of the primary if the nature of the primary is known. Combining these two independent estimates of the primary energy, the energy resolution can be further improved. Application of this methodology to simulated data and the results will be presented. The intrinsic uncertainties on the various estimated parameters also will be discussed.

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arXiv2001

Gamma-Hadron Separation using Čerenkov Photon Density Fluctuations

In atmospheric Čerenkov technique $γ-$rays are detected against abundant background produced by hadronic showers. In order to improve signal to noise ratio of the experiment, it is necessary to reject a significant fraction of hadronic showers. The temporal and spectral differences, the lateral distributions and density fluctuations of Čerenkov photons generated by $γ-$ray and hadron primaries are often used for this purpose. Here we study the differences in Čerenkov photon density fluctuations at the observation level based on Monte Carlo simulations. Various types of density fluctuations like the short range (or local), medium range fluctuations and flatness parameter are studied. The estimated quality factors reflect the efficiencies with which the hadrons can be rejected from the data. It has been found that we can reject around 80% of proton showers while retaining about 70% of $γ-$ray showers in the data, based only on the differences in the flatness parameter. Density fluctuations particularly suited for wavefront sampling observations seem to be a good technique to improve the signal to noise ratio.

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arXiv2001

A Possible High Altitude High Energy Gamma Ray Observatory in India

Recently an Indian Astronomical Observatory has been set up at Hanle (32$^\circ$ 46$^\prime$ 46$^{\prime\prime}$ N, 78$^\circ$ 57$^\prime$ 51$^{\prime\prime}$ E, 4515m amsl) situated in the high altitude cold desert in the Himalayas. The Observatory has 2-m aperture optical-infrared telescope, recently built by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics. We have carried out systematic simulations for this observation level to study the nature of Čerenkov light pool generated by gamma ray and proton primaries incident vertically at the top of the atmosphere. The differences in the shape of the lateral distributions of Čerenkov light with respect to that at lower altitudes is striking. This arises primarily due to the proximity of the shower maximum to the observation site. The limited lateral spread of the Čerenkov light pool and near 90% atmospheric transmission at this high altitude location makes it an ideal site for a gamma ray observatory. This results in a decrease in the gamma ray energy threshold by a factor of 2.9 compared to that at sea-level. Several parameters based on density and timing information of Čerenkov photons, including local and medium range photon density fluctuations as well as photon arrival time jitter could be efficiently used to discriminate gamma rays from more abundant cosmic rays at tens of GeV energies.

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arXiv2001

Very High Energy Gamma Ray Emission from Crab Nebula with the PACT Array

The Crab nebula has proved to be the nearest to a standard candle in VHE $γ-$ ray astronomy. Results on the gamma ray emission from the nebula at various energies have come in the last decade mostly from imaging telescopes. The aim of the new Pachmarhi Atmospheric Cerenkov Telescope (PACT) array has been to use the temporal and spatial distribution of Cerenkov photons in distinguishing between proton and gamma ray showers. The array, with timing information from 175 mirrors, is ideally suited for precise estimation of the arrival direction. Preliminary results from the recent data taken on Crab has shown a 12$σ$ signal with the flux in good agreement with those of the other experiments.

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arXiv2001

Angular Resolution of Pachmarhi Array of Cerenkov Telescopes

Pachmarhi Array of Čerenkov Telescopes(PACT), consisting of a distributed array of 25 telescopes is used to sample the atmospheric Čerenkov Photon showers. The shower front is fitted to a plane and the direction of arrival of primary particle is obtained. The accuracy in the estimation of the arrival direction of showers has been estimated to be $\sim 0^{\circ}.1~$ using `split' array method. The angular resolution is expected to be even better when a spherical front is used for direction reconstruction or correction for the curvature of the front is applied. This is the best angular resolution among all the currently operating atmospheric Čerenkov telescopes in the world.

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arXiv2001

Very High Energy Gamma Ray Emission from Crab and Geminga Pulsars

The main inference from the experiments of the '80s that the time-averaged energy spectra of pulsars had to steepen in the GeV-TeV energy region has been reinforced in the '90s from experiments with higher sensitivities. However, results from several experiments from the past and the more sensitive experiments at present can be reconciled by invoking a possibly different component arising in the TeV region. The results of the preliminary analysis of the data being collected with the PACT array will be presented.

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arXiv2001

Observations of Mkn 421 using Pachmarhi Array of Čerenkov Telescopes

Pachmarhi Array of Čerenkov Telescopes (PACT), based on wavefront sampling technique, has been used for detecting TeV gamma rays from galactic and extra-galactic $γ$-ray sources. The Blazar, Mkn 421 was one such extra-galactic source observed during the winter nights of 2000 and 2001. We have carried out a preliminary analysis of the data taken during the nights of January, 2000 and 2001. Results show a significant gamma ray signal from this source during both these periods above a threshold energy of 900 GeV. The source was contemporaneously observed by CAT imaging telescope during the first episode of January 2000 while HEGRA CT1 was observing the source during the second episode. Both these observations have detected variable $γ$-ray emission this source and they reported that it was flaring during both these periods. The light curve in the TeV gamma ray range derived from the first PACT observations during both these episodes is in agreement with that reported by other experiments. The analysis procedure and the preliminary results will be presented and discussed.

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arXiv2001

Gamma Ray and Hadron generated Čerenkov Photon Spectra at Various Observation Altitudes

We study the propagation of Cerenkov photons generated by Very High Energy gamma-rays and hadrons in the atmosphere. The photon production height distributions are estimated from semi-empirical methods and compared with those derived by standard simulation techniques. Incident spectra at various observation altitudes are then derived after applying wavelength dependent corrections due to photon attenuation in the atmosphere during the propagation of photons from the height of production to the height of observation. These are generated both for gamma- and hadron primaries of various energies. The derived production height distributions agree very well with those generated by the simulation package `CORSIKA' at all energies and for both gamma-$ray and proton primaries. The incident photon spectra are found to be both altitude dependent and primary energy dependent. The peak of the incident spectrum shifts towards the shorter wavelength with increasing altitude of observation for a given primary. Also the peak of the photon spectrum shifts towards the shorter wavelength with increasing energy of the primary at given altitude. The fraction of the UV component in the incident Cerenkov spectrum is estimated both for gamma-ray and hadronic primaries at various observation altitudes and energies. Hadron generated Cerenkov spectra are marginally richer in UV light and the difference increases slightly at higher altitudes. The fraction of the UV to the visible light in the Cerenkov spectrum could be a useful parameter to separate gamma-rays from cosmic ray background only if one can measure this fraction very accurately.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2000

Possible Discrimination between Gamma Rays and Hadrons using Cerenkov Photon Timing Measurements

Atmospheric Čerenkov Technique is an established methodology to study $TeV$ energy gamma rays. However the challenging problem has always been the poor signal to noise ratio due to the presence of abundant cosmic rays. Several ingenious techniques have been employed to alleviate this problem, most of which are centred around the Čerenkov image characteristics. However there are not many techniques available for improving the signal to noise ratio of the data from wavefront sampling observations. One such possible technique is to use the Čerenkov photon arrival times and identify the species dependent characteristics in them. Here we carry out systematic monte carlo simulation studies of the timing information of Čerenkov photons at the observation level. We have parameterized the shape of the Čerenkov shower front as well as the pulse shapes in terms of experimentally measurable quantities. We demonstrate the sensitivity of the curvature of the shower front, pulse shape parameters as well as the photon arrival time jitter to primary species and show their efficiency in improving the signal to noise ratio. The effect of limiting the Čerenkov telescope opening angle by using a circular focal point mask, onthe efficacy of the parameters has also been studied for each of the parameters. Radius of the shower front, pulse decay time and photon arrival time jitter have been found to be the most promising parameters which could be used to discriminate $γ-$ray events from the background. We also find that the efficiency of the first two parameters increases with zenith angle and efficiency of pulse decay time decreases with increasing altitude of observation.

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arXiv1999

Simulation Studies on Arrival Time Distributions of Cherenkov Photons in Extensive Air Showers

Atmospheric Cherenkov technique is an established methodology to study TeV energy gamma rays. Here we carry out systematic monte carlo simulation studies of the timing information of Cherenkov photons. Extensive studies have already been carried out in this regard. Most of these are carried out at higher energies with the aim of studying the elemental composition of cosmic rays. However not much attention is paid to the species dependent signatures at TeV energies. In this work, functional fits have been carried out to the spherical Cherenkov shower fronts and the radii of curvature have been found to be equal to the height of shower maximum irrespective of the species or the observation level. Functional fits have also been carried out to describe the pulse shapes at various core distances in terms of well known probability density distribution functions (PDF). Two types of PDF's have been tried viz. gamma function and lognormal function. The variation of the pulse shape parameters as a function of primary energy, observation height and incident angles have been studied. The possibility of deriving the pulse shape parameters like the rise & decay times, full width at half maximum from the easily measurable quantities like the mean and RMS variation of photon arrival times offers a very important new technique which can be easily applied in an observation.

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arXiv1998

Cerenkov Photon Density Fluctuations in Extensive Air Showers

The details of Cerenkov light produced by a gamma ray or a cosmic ray incident at the top of the atmosphere is best studied through systematic simulations of the extensive air showers. Recently such studies have become all the more important in view of the various techniques resulting from such studies, to distinguish gamma ray initiated showers from those generated by much more abundant hadronic component of cosmic rays. We have carried out here such systematic simulation studies using CORSIKA package in order to understand the Cerenkov photon density fluctuations for 5 different energies at various core distances both for gamma ray and proton primaries incident vertically at the top of the atmosphere. Such a systematic comparison of shower to shower density fluctuations for gamma ray and proton primaries is carried out for the first time here. It is found that the density fluctuations are significantly non-Poissonian. Such fluctuations are much more pronounced in the proton primaries than gamma ray primaries at all energies. The processes that contribute significantly to the observed fluctuations have been identified. It has been found that significant contribution to fluctuations comes from photons emitted after shower maximum. The electron number fluctuations and correlated emission of Cerenkov photons are mainly responsible for the observed fluctuations.

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