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Performances of the CAT imaging telescope and some preliminary results on Mkn 180 and the Crab

A. Barrau, R. Bazer-Bachi, H. Cabot, L. M. Chounet, G. Debiais, B. Degrange, J. P. Dezalay, A. Djannati-Atai, D. Dumora, P. Espigat, B. Fabre, P. Fleury, G. Fontaine, R. George, C. Ghesquiere, P. Goret, C. Gouiffes, I. A. Grenier, L. Iacoucci, S. Le Bohec, I. Malet, C. Meynadier, P. Munz, T. A. Palfrey, E. Pare, Y. Pons, M. Punch, J. Quebert, K. Ragan, C. Renault, M. Rivoal, L. Rob, P. Schovanek, D. Smith, J. P. Tavernet, J. Vrana

astro-pharXiv:astro-ph/9710260

Abstract

The CAT imaging telesope, which uses the Atmospheric Cherenkov Technique to observe TeV gamma-ray sources, has been operating since September 1996. Located in southern France, it features a fine grained camera consisting of 546 PMT with a pixel size of 0.12 degrees. Strong gamma-ray signals from Mkn 501 above 200 GeV were detected during observations made in April 1997. The high signal/noise ratio for these data enables direct characterization of the gamma-ray images as recorded in the camera. These results are used to validate the Monte-Carlo simulations of the response of the telescope to gamma-ray showers and to improve its performances. Observational results on Mkn 180 and the Crab nebula spectrum are presented.

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