Upper limits to the SN1006 multi-TeV gamma-ray flux from HESS observations

Abstract

Observations of the shell-type supernova remnant SN1006 have been carried out with the HESS system of Cherenkov telescopes during 2003 (18.2 h with two operating telescopes) and 2004 (6.3 h with all four telescopes). No evidence for TeV $\gamma$-ray emission from any compact or extended region associated with the remnant is seen and resulting upper limits at the 99.9% confidence level are up to a factor 10 lower than previously-published fluxes from CANGAROO. For SN1006 at its current epoch of evolution we define limits for a number of important global parameters. Upper limits on the $\gamma$-ray luminosity (for E = 0.26 to 10 TeV, distance d = 2 kpc) of $L_\gamma 25~\mu$G results when considering the synchrotron/inverse-Compton framework for the observed X-ray flux and $\gamma$-ray upper limits.