RESULTS ON CANDIDATE UHE GAMMA-RAY SOURCES BY THE EAS-TOP ARRAY (1989-1993)

A search for UHE gamma-rays from 13 candidate point sources observable in the northern hemisphere (the Crab Nebula and Pulsar, Cygnus X-3, H ercules X-1, Geminga and others) has been performed by the EAS-TOP arr ay during four years of operation since January 1989 to December 1993, at different energy thresholds (E(0) = 30-300 TeV). DC, periodic and sporadic emissions have been studied, and no evidence for significant excesses has been found from any of these searches. The derived 90% c. l. upper limits to the d.c. flux, for a source culminating at the zeni th such as Cygnus X-3, are Phi(E > 230 TeV) < 2 x 10(-14) cm(-2) s(-1) , Phi(E > 90 TeV) < 4.1 x 10(-14) cm(-2) s(-1) and Phi(E > 25 TeV) < 1 .9 x 10(-13) cm(-2) s(-1). The excess from the Crab Nebula of February 23, 1989, as reported by the EAS-TOP, Baksan and KGF arrays, remains the only sporadic excess detected with statistically significant confi dence level (probability of background imitation approximate to 10(-5) ).