STACEE is an atmospheric Cherenkov telescope that was built to detect gamma-rays of cosmic origin. By using a large primary mirror area we have reduced the detector's energy threshold to below 200 GeV. The present work continues STACEE's investigation of BL Lac objects, focusing on Markarian 421, 3C 66A and OJ 287. An important part of this work has been the development of software techniques for the correction of systematic biases and the improvement of background rejection. As a result of these improvements, STACEE made a convincing detection of Markarian 421 during the 2002-2004 seasons. The statistical excess was 3.9sigma for the 2002-2003 season and 10.9sigma for the 2003-2004 season; the latter represents the strongest single season detection ever achieved by STACEE. We compare our measured Mrk 421 rates to those of other instruments and present spectral measurements during various flaring states in 2003-2004. The LBLs 3C 66A and OJ 287 were not detected. We discuss the significance of our flux upper limits in the context of emission models for these two sources.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.102998 |
| Date | January 2006 |
| Creators | Lindner, Thomas, 1978- |
| 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 | © Thomas Lindner, 2006 |
| Relation | alephsysno: 002603241, proquestno: AAINR32209, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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