486 research outputs found
The Cerenkov telescope array project status
No full textThe Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) represents the next generation ground-based observatory for gamma-ray astronomy at very-high energies. It will be capable of detecting gamma rays in the energy range from 20 GeV to more than 300 TeV with unprecedented precision in energy and directional reconstruction. CTA will be located in the northern hemisphere at La Palma, Spain, and in the southern hemisphere at Paranal, Chile, and will comprise more than 100 telescopes of three different types. CTA will be one of the largest astronomical infrastuctures in the world with open data access and it will address questions in astronomy, astrophysics and fundamental physics in the next decades. In this contribution we will present the status of the CTA construction, discuss the telescope prototypes, highlight the scientific perspectives and the instrument performances
Contributions from the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) Consortium to the ICRC 2011
No full textThe Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is a project for the construction of a next generation VHE gamma ray observatory with full sky coverage. Its aim is improving by about one order of magnitude the sensitivity of the existing installations, covering about 5 decades in energy (from few tens of GeV to above a hundred TeV) and having enhanced angular and energy resolutions. During 2010 the project became a truly global endeavour carried out by a consortium of about 750 collaborators from Europe, Asia, Africa and the North and South Americas. Also during 2010 the CTA project completed its Design Study phase and started a Preparatory Phase that is expected to extend for three years and should lead to the starting of the construction of CTA. An overview of the CTA Consortium activities project will be given
Science with the Cherenkov Telescope Array
No full textThis book summarizes the science to be carried out by the upcoming Cherenkov Telescope Array, a major ground-based gamma-ray observatory that will be constructed over the next six to eight years. The major scientific themes, as well as core program of key science projects, have been developed by the CTA Consortium, a collaboration of scientists from many institutions worldwide. CTA will be the major facility in high-energy and very high-energy photon astronomy over the next decade and beyond. CTA will have capabilities well beyond past and present observatories. Thus, CTA's science program is expected to be rich and broad and will complement other major multiwavelength and multimessenger facilities. This book is intended to be the primary resource for the science case for CTA and it thus will be of great interest to the broader physics and astronomy communities. The electronic version (e-book) is available in open access
Synergies
No full textCTA will have important synergies with many of the new generation of astronomical and astroparticle observatories. As the flagship VHE gamma-ray observatory for the coming decades, CTA plays a similar role in the VHE waveband as the SKA in radio, ALMA at millimetre, or E-ELT/TMT/GMT in the optical wavebands, providing excellent sensitivity and resolution compared to prior facilities. At the same time, the scientific output of CTA will be enhanced by the additional capabilities provided by these instruments (and vice-versa). MWL and MM studies using CTA provide added value to the science cases in two main ways
HAWC J2227+610: a potential PeVatron candidate for the CTA in the northern hemisphere [Elektronisk resurs]
No full textRecent observations of the gamma-ray source HAWC J2227+610 by Tibet AS+MD and LHAASO confirm the special interest of this source as a galactic PeVatron candidate in the northern hemisphere. HAWC J2227+610 emits Very High Energy (VHE) gamma-rays up to 500 TeV, from a region coincident with molecular clouds and significantly displaced from the nearby pulsar J2229+6114. Even if this morphology favours an hadronic origin, both leptonic or hadronic models can describe the current VHE gamma-ray emission. The morphology of the source is not well constrained by the present measurements and a better characterisation would greatly help the understanding of the underlying particle acceleration mechanisms. The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) will be the future most sensitive Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescope and, thanks to its unprecedented angular resolution, could contribute to better constrain the nature of this source. The present work investigates the potentiality of CTA to study the morphology and the spectrum of HAWC J2227+610. For this aim, the source is simulated assuming the hadronic model proposed by the Tibet AS+MD collaboration, recently fitted on multi-wavelength data, and two spatial templates associated to the source nearby molecular clouds. Different CTA layouts and observation times are considered. A 3D map based analysis shows that CTA is able to significantly detect the extension of the source and to attribute higher detection significance to the simulated molecular cloud template compared to the alternative one. CTA data does not allow to disentangle the hadronic and the leptonic emission models. However, it permits to correctly reproduce the simulated parent proton spectrum characterized by a ∼ 500 TeV cutoff. © Copyright owned by the author(s) under the terms of the Creative Commons
Comparison of Fermi-LAT and CTA in the region between 10-100 GeV
No full textThe past decade has seen a dramatic improvement in the quality of data available at both high (HE: 100 MeV to 100 GeV) and very high (VHE: 100 GeV to 100 TeV) gamma-ray energies. With three years of data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) and deep pointed observations with arrays of Cherenkov telescope, continuous spectral coverage from 100 MeV to similar to 10 TeV exists for the first time for the brightest gamma-ray sources. The Fermi-LAT is likely to continue for several years, resulting in significant improvements in high energy sensitivity. On the same timescale, the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) will be constructed providing unprecedented VHE capabilities. The optimisation of CTA must take into account competition and complementarity with Fermi, in particularly in the overlapping energy range 10-100 GeV. Here we compare the performance of Fermi-LAT and the current baseline CTA design for steady and transient, point-like and extended sources. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved
Cherenkov Telescope Array: The Next Generation Gamma-ray Observatory
No full textThe Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) will be the next-generation gamma-ray observatory, investigating gamma-ray and cosmic ray astrophysics at energies from 20 GeV to more than 300 TeV. The observatory, consisting of large arrays of imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes in both the southern and northern hemispheres, will provide full-sky coverage and will achieve a sensitivity improved by up to an order of magnitude compared to existing instruments such as H.E.S.S., MAGIC and VERITAS. CTA is expected to discover hundreds of new TeV gamma- ray sources, allowing it to significantly advance our understanding of the origin of cosmic rays, to probe much larger distances in the universe, and to search for WIMP dark matter with unprecedented sensitivity in TeV mass range. The development of CTA is being carried out by a worldwide consortium of scientists from 32 countries. Consortium scientists have developed the core scientific programme of CTA and institutes of the Consortium are expected to provide the bulk of the CTA components. The construction of CTA is overseen by the CTA Observatory that will in the future manage observatory operations, the guest observer programme, and data dissemination. This talk will review the scientific motivation for CTA, focusing on the key science projects that form the core programme of research. The talk will outline the design of CTA, including the science drivers, overall concept, performance optimization, and array layouts. The current status of CTA, including sites, prototype telescope progress, and steps forward will also be described
The ARCADE Raman Lidar System for the Cherenkov Telescope Array
No full textThe Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is the next generation of ground-based
very high energy gamma-ray instruments; the facility will be organized in two
arrays, one for each hemisphere. The atmospheric calibration of the CTA
telescopes is a critical task. The atmosphere affects the measured Cherenkov
yield in several ways: the air-shower development itself, the variation of the
Cherenkov angle with altitude, the loss of photons due to scattering and
absorption of Cherenkov light out of the camera field-of-view and the
scattering of photons into the camera. In this scenario, aerosols are the most
variable atmospheric component in time and space and therefore need a
continuous monitoring. Lidars are among the most used instruments in
atmospheric physics to measure the aerosol attenuation profiles of light. The
ARCADE Lidar system is a very compact and portable Raman Lidar system that has
been built within the FIRB 2010 grant and is currently taking data in Lamar,
Colorado. The ARCADE Lidar is proposed to operate at the CTA sites with the
goal of making a first survey of the aerosol conditions of the selected site
and to use it as a calibrated benchmark for the other Lidars that will be
installed on site. It is proposed for CTA that the ARCADE Lidar will be first
upgraded in Italy and then tested in parallel to a Lidar of the EARLINET
network in L'Aquila. Upgrades include the addition of the water vapour Raman
channel to the receiver and the use of new and better performing electronics.
It is proposed that the upgraded system will travel to and characterize both
CTA sites, starting from the first selected site in 2016
First results of the two square meters multilayer glass composite mirror design proposed for the Cherenkov Telescope Array developed at INFN
No full textThe Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is a future ground-based gamma-ray
astronomy detector that will consist of more than 100 Imaging Atmospheric
Cherenkov Telescopes of different sizes. The total reflective surface of
roughly 10 000 m requires unprecedented technological efforts towards a
cost-efficient production of light-weight and reliable mirror substrates at
high production rate. We report on a new mirror concept proposed for CTA
developed by INFN, which is based on the replication from a spherical convex
mold under low pressure. The mirror substrate is an open structure design made
by thin glass layers at the mirror's front and rear interspaced by steel
cylinders. A first series of nominal size mirrors has been produced, for which
we discuss the optical properties in terms of radius of curvature and focusing
power
Status of the technologies for the production of the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) mirrors
No full textThe Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is the next generation very high-energy gamma-ray observatory, with at least 10 times higher sensitivity than current instruments. CTA will comprise several tens of Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs) operated in array-mode and divided into three size classes: large, medium and small telescopes. The total reflective surface could be up to 10,000 m2 requiring unprecedented technological efforts. The properties of the reflector directly influence the telescope performance and thus constitute a fundamental ingredient to improve and maintain the sensitivity. The R&D status of lightweight, reliable and cost-effective mirror facets for the CTA telescope reflectors for the different classes of telescopes is reviewed in this paper.Fil: Pareschi, G.. INAF/Brera Astronomical Observatory; ItaliaFil: Medina, Maria Clementina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico La Plata. Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomia (i); ArgentinaFil: CTA Consortium. No especifíca
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