TeV emission of Galactic plane sources with HAWC and H.E.S.S

TL;DR

This study compares gamma-ray observations of the Galactic plane by HAWC and H.E.S.S., demonstrating consistency between the two techniques after applying comparable analysis methods and resolving previous discrepancies.

Contribution

It presents the first detailed comparison of HAWC and H.E.S.S. data using a unified analysis approach, confirming the gamma-ray emission of several sources and addressing previous inconsistencies.

Findings

H.E.S.S. confirms 4 out of 7 HAWC sources

Remaining flux differences are due to systematic uncertainties

Demonstrates consistency between water Cherenkov and IACT techniques

Abstract

The High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) observatory and the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) are two leading instruments in the ground-based very-high-energy gamma-ray domain. HAWC employs the water Cherenkov detection (WCD) technique, while H.E.S.S. is an array of Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs). The two facilities therefore differ in multiple aspects, including their observation strategy, the size of their field of view and their angular resolution, leading to different analysis approaches. Until now, it has been unclear if the results of observations by both types of instruments are consistent: several of the recently discovered HAWC sources have been followed up by IACTs, resulting in a confirmed detection only in a minority of cases. With this paper, we go further and try to resolve the tensions between previous results by performing a new analysis of the H.E.S.S. Galactic plane survey data, applying an analysis technique comparable between H.E.S.S. and HAWC. Events above 1 TeV are selected for both datasets, the point spread function of H.E.S.S. is broadened to approach that of HAWC, and a similar background estimation method is used. This is the first detailed comparison of the Galactic plane observed by both instruments. H.E.S.S. can confirm the gamma-ray emission of four HAWC sources among seven previously undetected by IACTs, while the three others have measured fluxes below the sensitivity of the H.E.S.S. dataset. Remaining differences in the overall gamma-ray flux can be explained by the systematic uncertainties. Therefore, we confirm a consistent view of the gamma-ray sky between WCD and IACT techniques.