Milagrito Detection of TeV Emission from Mrk 501

Author(s): Atkins, R; Benbow, W; Berley, D; Chen, M-L; Coyne, DG; Delay, RS; Dingus, BL; Dorfan, DE; Ellsworth, RW; Evans, D; Falcone, A; Fleysher, L; Fleysher, R; Gisler, G; Goodman, JA; Haines, TJ; Hoffman, CM; Hugenberger, S; Kelley, LA; Leonor, I; Macri, J; McConnell, M; McCullough, JF; McEnery, JE; Miller, RS; Mincer, AI; Morales, MF; Nemethy, P; Ryan, JM; Schneider, M; Shen, B; Shoup, A; Sinnis, G; Smith, AJ; Sullivan, GW; Thompson, TN; Tumer, OT; Wang, K; Wascko, MO; Westerhoff, S; Williams, DA; Yang, T; Yodh, GB | Abstract: The Milagro water Cherenkov detector near Los Alamos, New Mexico, has been operated as a sky monitor at energies of a few TeV between February 1997 and April 1998. Serving as a test run for the full Milagro detector, Milagrito has taken data during the strong and long-lasting 1997 flare of Mrk 501. We present results from the analysis of Mrk 501 and compare the excess and background rates with expectations from the detector simulations.