The Solar Tower Atmospheric Cerenkov Effect Experiment (STACEE) is a ground-based atmospheric Cerenkov telescope constructed to conduct gamma-ray astronomy. The STACEE telescope employs the mirrors of the National Solar Thermal Test Facility (NSTTF) to observe gamma-rays at a lower energy threshold than the current generation of imaging atmospheric Cerenkov telescopes. A prototype of the telescope was constructed in 1998 which used 32 heliostat mirrors of the NSTTF with a total collection area of ~1200 m 2. This prototype called STACEE-32, was used to search for high energy gamma-ray emissions from the active galactic nucleus (AGN) ON + 231 (also known as W Coma and 1219 + 285). The STACEE-32 response as a function of energy was calculated for this source and we report a spectral energy threshold of E th = 130 +/- 50GeV. The analysis of data collected in the spring of 1999 resulted in a non-detection of the AGN at this energy. We derived a 95% confidence level upper limit on the integrated gamma-ray flux for this source of phiint(E > 130 +/- 50GeV) ≤ 2.4 x 10-10 cm-2sec -1. This upper limit further constrains the high energy flux extrapolations of this AGN.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.38425 |
| Date | January 2001 |
| Creators | Theoret, Claude G. |
| Contributors | Ragan, K. (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Department of Physics.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001872983, proquestno: NQ78786, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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