Observation of the Crab Nebula with the Single-Mirror Small-Size Telescope stereoscopic system at low altitude

TL;DR

This paper reports the first observations of the Crab Nebula using the SST-1M stereoscopic system, validating its performance in gamma-ray astronomy at multi-TeV energies through detailed data analysis and simulations.

Contribution

It presents the first observational results of the SST-1M telescopes at the Ondřejov Observatory, demonstrating their capabilities and performance in gamma-ray detection and analysis.

Findings

Energy threshold of 1 TeV (mono) and 1.3 TeV (stereo)

Angular resolution of 0.18° (mono) and 0.10° (stereo)

Good agreement between simulations and observational data

Abstract

The Single-Mirror Small-Size Telescope (SST-1M) stereoscopic system is composed of two Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs) designed for optimal performance for gamma-ray astronomy in the multi-TeV energy range. It features a 4-meter-diameter tessellated mirror dish and an innovative SiPM-based camera. Its optical system features a 4-m diameter spherical mirror dish based on the Davies-Cotton design, maintaining a good image quality over a large FoV while minimizing optical aberrations. In 2022, two SST-1M telescopes were installed at the Ond\v{r}ejov Observatory, Czech Republic, at an altitude of 510 meters above sea level, and have been collecting data for commissioning and astronomical observations since then. We present the first SST-1M observations of the Crab Nebula, conducted between September 2023 and March 2024 in both mono and stereoscopic modes. During this observation period, 46 hours for the SST-1M-1 and 52 hours for the SST-1M-2 were collected for which 33 hours are in stereoscopic mode. We use the Crab Nebula observation to validate the expected performance of the instrument, as evaluated by Monte Carlo simulations carefully tuned to account for instrumental and atmospheric effects. We determined that the energy threshold at the analysis level for the zenith angles below $30^\circ$ is 1 TeV for mono mode and 1.3 TeV for stereo mode. The energy and angular resolutions are approximately 20% and $0.18^\circ$ for mono mode and 10% and $0.10^\circ$ for stereo mode, respectively. We present the off-axis performance of the instrument and a detailed study of systematic uncertainties. The results of a full simulation of the telescope and its camera is compared to the data for the first time, allowing a deep understanding of the SST-1M array performance.