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Abstract

Supernova remnants (SNRs) are the remainders of extremely energetic explosions occurring at the end of a star's life. With the energy released during the supernova explosion they are believed to accelerate charged particles to energies of up to 10¹⁵ eV. In the very-highenergy (VHE, > 10¹¹ eV) γ -ray band, SNRs represent one of the most populous classes of Galactic sources. Due to its unprecedented sensitivity, H.E.S.S. was the first instrument to allow for a morphological resolution of individual SNRs, proving the existence of particle acceleration and subsequent VHE γ -ray emission. However, to date many more SNRs are known in the radio waveband than in VHE γ-rays. This work presents a systematic study of the VHE γ-ray signal of a sample of around 200 radio SNRs. The VHE γ-ray-signal of these SNRs is studied individually. Besides the spatial correlation of radio SNRs and VHE γ-ray sources, the measured ux of VHE v-rays is compared to theoretical ux predictions. These predictions are based on assumptions of the total explosion energy, the particle acceleration effciency, the density of the surrounding medium and the distance of the SNRs. The results presented here suggest that these parameters can vary strongly for individual SNRs. Future observations of SNRs in VHE γ -rays and other wavebands will help to constrain the parameter space and will allow to further discuss acceleration mechanisms in SNRs.