Time variability of the $\gamma$-ray binary HESS J0632+057

TL;DR

This paper analyzes gamma-ray data from HESS J0632+057, revealing time variability consistent with periodic modulation, using a simple event-counting method on Cherenkov telescope data.

Contribution

It introduces a straightforward method to detect variability in gamma-ray sources using only source and background event counts.

Findings

Detected time variability in gamma-ray emission

Observed periodic modulation of the source

Validated method with Cherenkov telescope data

Abstract

We study changes in the $\gamma$--ray intensity at very high energies observed from the $\gamma$--ray binary HESS J0632+057. Publicly available data collected by Cherenkov telescopes were examined by means of a simple method utilizing solely the number of source and background events. Our results point to time variability in signal from the selected object consistent with periodic modulation of the source intensity.