Summary

Two topics are offered: (1) the study with simulations, allowing an exact validation of the method to be tested, and (2) the study with known HESS sources to be compared with published results.

Description

The background determination is a crucial ingredient in the analysis of gamma-ray sources. At the example of the HESS experiment, different methods for the background determination are examined and systematically studied within the existing framework of the HESS analysis software. The work is meant to give first insights and practical experience in the HESS data analysis. The thesis should include a general introduction to the field of gamma-ray astronomy with a special focus on HESS data analysis (reproduced from the literature) and a detailed description of the comparison of the background subtraction methods and their performances for different source types regarding intensity, spectral shape, and morphology (as resulting from the studies performed by the student).