Detection of the Crab Nebula with the 9.7 m prototype Schwarzschild-Couder telescope

Adams CB, Alfaro R, Ambrosi G, Ambrosio M, Aramo C, Arlen T, Batista PI, Benbow W, Bertucci B, Bissaldi E, Biteau J, Bitossi M, Boiano A, Bonavolontà C, Bose R, Bouvier A, Brill A, Brown AM, Buckley JH, Byrum K, Cameron RA, Canestrari R, Capasso M, Caprai M, Covault CE, Depaoli D, Errando M, Fegan S, Feng Q, Fiandrini E, Foote G, Fortin P, Funk S, Furniss A, Garfias F, Gent A, Giglietto N, Giordano F, Giro E, González MM, Guarino V, Halliday R, Hervet O, Holder J, Hughes G, Humensky TB, Ionica M, Iriarte A, Jin W, Johnson CA, Kaaret P, Kieda D, Kim B, Kuznetsov A, Lapington JS, Licciulli F, Loporchio S, Masone V, Meagher K, Meures T, Mode BA, Mognet SA, Mukherjee R, Nguyen T, Nieto D, Okumura A, Otte N, La Palombara N, Pantaleo FR, Paoletti R, Pareschi G, Petrashyk A, Di Pierro F, Pueschel E, Reynolds PT, Ribeiro D, Richards G, Roache E, Ross D, Rousselle J, Rugliancich A, Ruíz-Díaz-Soto J, Santander M, Schlenstedt S, Schneider M, Scuderi S, Shang R, Sironi G, Stevenson B, Stiaccini L, Tajima H, Taylor LP, Thornhill J, Tosti L, Tovmassian G, Vagelli V, Valentino M, Vandenbroucke J, Vassiliev VV, Di Venere L, Wakely SP, Watson JJ, White R, Wilcox P, Williams DA, Wood M, Yu P, Zink A (2021)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2021

Journal

Book Volume: 128

Article Number: 102562

DOI: 10.1016/j.astropartphys.2021.102562

Abstract

The Schwarzschild-Couder Telescope (SCT) is a telescope concept proposed for the Cherenkov Telescope Array. It employs a dual-mirror optical design to remove comatic aberrations over an 8^∘ field of view, and a high-density silicon photomultiplier camera (with a pixel resolution of 4 arcmin) to record Cherenkov emission from cosmic ray and gamma-ray initiated particle cascades in the atmosphere. The prototype SCT (pSCT), comprising a 9.7 m diameter primary mirror and a partially instrumented camera with 1536 pixels, has been constructed at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory. The telescope was inaugurated in January 2019, with commissioning continuing throughout 2019. We describe the first campaign of observations with the pSCT, conducted in January and February of 2020, and demonstrate the detection of gamma-ray emission from the Crab Nebula with a statistical significance of 8.6σ.

Authors with CRIS profile

Involved external institutions

Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics United States (USA) (US) The University of Alabama United States (USA) (US) Georgia Institute of Technology United States (USA) (US) Smithsonian Institution United States (USA) (US) Washington University in St. Louis United States (USA) (US) University of Leicester United Kingdom (GB) National Institute for Nuclear Physics / Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) Italy (IT) University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) United States (USA) (US) Barnard College United States (USA) (US) Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY Germany (DE) University of Utah United States (USA) (US) University of Iowa United States (USA) (US) University of Turin / Università degli Studi di Torino (UNITO) Italy (IT) University of Delaware (UDEL) United States (USA) (US) Columbia University United States (USA) (US) Argonne National Laboratory United States (USA) (US) National Autonomous University of Mexico / Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) Mexico (MX) National Institute for Astrophysics / Istituto Nazionale Astrofisica (INAF) Italy (IT) Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) Spain (ES) University of Wisconsin - Madison United States (USA) (US) University of Chicago United States (USA) (US) Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) United States (USA) (US) Nagoya University / 名古屋大学 Japan (JP) University of Bari Aldo Moro / Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro Italy (IT) University of Minnesota (UMN) United States (USA) (US) Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften e.V. (MPG) / Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science Germany (DE) Munster Technological University (MTU) / Ollscoil Teicneolaíochta na Mumhan Ireland (IE) National Astronomical Observatory of Japan / 国立天文台(NAOJ) Japan (JP) California State University, East Bay United States (USA) (US) Michigan State University United States (USA) (US) Laboratoire Leprince-Ringuet (LLR) France (FR) Durham University United Kingdom (GB) Stanford National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC) United States (USA) (US) Case Western Reserve University United States (USA) (US)

How to cite

APA:

Adams, C.B., Alfaro, R., Ambrosi, G., Ambrosio, M., Aramo, C., Arlen, T.,... Zink, A. (2021). Detection of the Crab Nebula with the 9.7 m prototype Schwarzschild-Couder telescope. Astroparticle Physics, 128. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.astropartphys.2021.102562

MLA:

Adams, C. B., et al. "Detection of the Crab Nebula with the 9.7 m prototype Schwarzschild-Couder telescope." Astroparticle Physics 128 (2021).

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