Technical and scientific performance of the prototype Schwarzschild-Couder Telescope for CTA

Adams CB, Ambrosi G, Ambrosio M, Aramo C, Batista PI, Benbow W, Bertucci B, Bissaldi E, Bitossi M, Boiano A, Bonavolontà C, Bose R, Brill A, Brown AM, Buckley JH, Canestrari R, Capasso M, Caprai M, Covault CE, Depaoli D, Di Venere L, Errando M, Fegan S, Feng Q, Fiandrini E, Furniss A, Gent A, Giglietto N, Giordano F, Giro E, Halliday R, Hervet O, Holder J, Humensky TB, Incardona S, Ionica M, Jin W, Kieda D, Licciulli F, Loporchio S, Marsella G, Masone V, Meagher K, Meures T, Mode BA, Mognet SA, Mukherjee R, Nieto D, Okumura A, Otte N, Pantaleo FR, Paoletti R, Pareschi G, Di Pierro F, Pueschel E, Ribeiro D, Riitano L, Roache E, Ross D, Rousselle J, Rugliancich A, Santander M, Shang R, Stiaccini L, Tajima H, Taylor LP, Tosti L, Tovmassian G, Tripodo G, Vagelli V, Valentino M, Vandenbroucke J, Vassiliev VV, Watson JJ, White R, Williams DA, Yu P, Zink A (2021)

Publication Type: Conference contribution

Publication year: 2021

Journal

Publisher: SPIE

Book Volume: 11820

Conference Proceedings Title: Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering

Event location: San Diego, CA

ISBN: 9781510644786

DOI: 10.1117/12.2594580

Abstract

The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is the next-generation ground-based observatory for very-high-energy gamma rays. One candidate design for CTA’s medium-sized telescopes consists of the Schwarzschild-Couder Telescope (SCT), featuring innovative dual-mirror optics. The SCT project has built and is currently operating a 9.7-m prototype SCT (pSCT) at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory (FLWO); such optical design enables the use of a compact camera with state-of-the art silicon photomultiplier detectors. A partially-equipped camera has recently successfully detected the Crab Nebula with a statistical significance of 8.6 standard deviations. A funded upgrade of the pSCT focal plane sensors and electronics is currently ongoing, which will bring the total number of channels from 1600 to 11328 and the telescope field of view from about 2.7^◦ to 8^◦. In this work, we will describe the technical and scientific performance of the pSCT.

Authors with CRIS profile

Involved external institutions

University of Leicester United Kingdom (GB) University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) United States (USA) (US) Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY Germany (DE) Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik (MPIK) / Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics Germany (DE) National Institute for Nuclear Physics / Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) Italy (IT) Durham University United Kingdom (GB) Politecnico di Bari Italy (IT) École Polytechnique - Université Paris-Saclay France (FR) National Institute for Astrophysics / Istituto Nazionale Astrofisica (INAF) Italy (IT) University of Delaware (UDEL) United States (USA) (US) The University of Alabama United States (USA) (US) University of Wisconsin - Madison United States (USA) (US) Barnard College United States (USA) (US) Georgia Institute of Technology United States (USA) (US) National Astronomical Observatory of Japan / 国立天文台(NAOJ) Japan (JP) Università degli Studi di Palermo Italy (IT) Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics United States (USA) (US) State University of New York at Albany (UNY Albany / UAlbany) United States (USA) (US) University of Utah United States (USA) (US) Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) United States (USA) (US) Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) Spain (ES) Nagoya University / 名古屋大学 Japan (JP) Columbia University United States (USA) (US) Smithsonian Institution United States (USA) (US) Washington University in St. Louis United States (USA) (US) Case Western Reserve University United States (USA) (US) California State University, East Bay United States (USA) (US) Michigan State University United States (USA) (US) National Autonomous University of Mexico / Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) Mexico (MX) University of Turin / Università degli Studi di Torino (UNITO) Italy (IT)

How to cite

APA:

Adams, C.B., Ambrosi, G., Ambrosio, M., Aramo, C., Batista, P.I., Benbow, W.,... Zink, A. (2021). Technical and scientific performance of the prototype Schwarzschild-Couder Telescope for CTA. In Tony B. Hull, Daewook Kim, Pascal Hallibert, Fanny Keller (Eds.), Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering. San Diego, CA, US: SPIE.

MLA:

Adams, C. B., et al. "Technical and scientific performance of the prototype Schwarzschild-Couder Telescope for CTA." Proceedings of the Astronomical Optics: Design, Manufacture, and Test of Space and Ground Systems III 2021, San Diego, CA Ed. Tony B. Hull, Daewook Kim, Pascal Hallibert, Fanny Keller, SPIE, 2021.

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