Analysis methods to search for transient events in ground-based very high energy γ-ray astronomy

Abstract

Transient and variable phenomena in astrophysical sources are of particular importance to understand the underlying gamma-ray emission processes. In the very-high energy gamma-ray domain, transient and variable sources are related to charged particle acceleration processes that could for instance help understanding the origin of cosmic-rays. The imaging atmospheric Cherenkov technique used for gamma-ray astronomy above ~ 100 GeV is well suited for detecting such events. However, the standard analysis methods are not optimal for such a goal and more sensitive methods are specifically developed in this publication. The sensitivity improvement could therefore be helpful to detect brief and faint transient sources such as Gamma-Ray Bursts.