Perspectives from CTA in relativistic astrophysics

2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (03) ◽  
pp. 1730005
Author(s):  
Werner Hofmann
Keyword(s):  
Gamma Ray ◽  
Extreme Environments ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Superior Performance ◽  
Relativistic Astrophysics ◽  
Wide Field ◽  
Star Forming ◽  
Cherenkov Telescopes ◽  
Very High Energy ◽  
Order Of Magnitude

The Cherenkov telescope array (CTA) is a next-generation observatory for very high energy (VHE) gamma-ray astronomy. With one array of imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes each in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, CTA will provide full-sky coverage, enhance flux sensitivity by one order of magnitude compared to current instruments, cover gamma-ray energies from 20 GeV to 300 GeV, and provide a wide field of view with angular resolution of a few arc-minutes. Science themes to be addressed by the CTA observatory include (i) understanding the origin of relativistic cosmic particles, and the role these play in the evolution of star forming systems and galaxies, (ii) probing extreme environments such as neutron stars and black holes, but also the cosmic voids, and (iii) exploring frontiers in physics such as the nature of dark matter. With its superior performance, the prospects for CTA combine guaranteed science — the in-depth understanding of known objects and mechanisms — with anticipated detection of new classes of gamma-ray emitters and new phenomena, and a very significant potential for fundamentally new discoveries.

Future prospects for y-ray astronomy

1981 ◽  
Vol 301 (1462) ◽  
pp. 693-701 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Gamma Ray ◽  
Dynamic Pressure ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Compact Objects ◽  
Pressure Effects ◽  
Very High Energy ◽  
Order Of Magnitude ◽  
High Energy Particles ◽  
Nuclear Processes ◽  
The Universe

As y-ray astronomy moves from the discovery to the exploratory phase, the promise of y-ray astrophysics noted by theorists in the late 1940s and 1950s is beginning to be realized. In the future, satellites should carry instruments that will have over an order of magnitude greater sensitivity than those flown thus far, and, for at least some portions of the y-ray energy range, these detectors will also have substantially improved energy and angular resolution. The information to be obtained from these experiments should greatly enhance our knowledge of several astrophysical phenomena including the very energetic and nuclear processes associated with compact objects, astrophysical nucleosynthesis, solar particle acceleration, the chemical composition of the planets and other bodies of the Solar System, the structure of our Galaxy, the origin and dynamic pressure effects of the cosmic rays, high energy particles and energetic processes in other galaxies especially active ones, and the degree of matter-antimatter symmetry of the Universe. The y-ray results of the forthcoming programs such as Gamma-I, the Gamma Ray Observatory, the y-ray burst network, Solar Polar, and very high energy y-ray telescopes on the ground will almost certainly provide justification for more sophisticated telescopes. These advanced instruments might be placed on the Space Platform currently under study by N.A.S.A.

scholarly journals Gamma-ray emission in radio galaxies, from MeV to TeV

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (S342) ◽  
pp. 158-166
Author(s):  
Eleonora Torresi
Keyword(s):  
Gamma Ray ◽  
Radio Galaxies ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Cherenkov Telescopes ◽  
New Class ◽  
Very High Energy ◽  
Structure Complexity ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Jet Structure ◽  
Very High

AbstractThanks to the Fermi λ-ray satellite and the current Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes, radio galaxies have arisen as a new class of high- and very-high energy emitters. The favourable orientation of their jets makes radio galaxies extremely relevant in addressing important issues such as: (i) revealing the jet structure complexity; (ii) localising the emitting region(s) of high- and very-high energy radiation; (iii) understanding the physical processes producing these photons. In this review the main results on the λ-ray emission studies of radio galaxies from the MeV to TeV regimes will be presented, and the impact of future Cherenkov Telescope Array observations will be discussed.

scholarly journals Prospect on intergalactic magnetic field measurements with gamma-ray instruments

2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (S294) ◽  
pp. 459-470
Author(s):  
Hélène Sol ◽  
Andreas Zech ◽  
Catherine Boisson ◽  
Henric Krawczynski ◽  
Lisa Fallon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Gamma Ray ◽  
Field Measurements ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Wide Field ◽  
Extragalactic Background Light ◽  
Spatially Extended ◽  
Very High Energy ◽  
Energy Gamma ◽  
Intergalactic Magnetic Field

AbstractObserving high-energy gamma-rays from Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) offers a unique potential to probe extremely tiny values of the intergalactic magnetic field (IGMF), a long standing question of astrophysics, astroparticle physics and cosmology. Very high energy (VHE) photons from blazars propagating along the line of sight interact with the extragalactic background light (EBL) and produce e+e− pairs. Through inverse-Compton interaction, mainly on the cosmic microwave background (CMB), these pairs generate secondary GeV-TeV components accompanying the primary VHE signal. Such secondary components would be detected in the gamma-ray range as delayed “pair echos” for very weak IGMF (B < 10−16G), while they should result in a spatially extended gamma-ray emission around the source for higher IGMF values (B > 10−16G). Coordinated observations with space (i.e. Fermi) and ground-based gamma-ray instruments, such as the present Cherenkov experiments H.E.S.S., MAGIC and VERITAS, the future Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) Observatory, and the wide-field detectors such as HAWC and LHAASO, should allow to analyze and finally detect such echos, extended emission or pair halos, and to further characterize the IGMF.

scholarly journals A fast muon tagger method for Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes

2020 ◽  
Vol 1548 (1) ◽  
pp. 012036
Author(s):  
L Di Venere ◽  
G Giavitto ◽  
F Giordano ◽  
R López-Coto ◽  
R Pillera
Keyword(s):  
Gamma Ray ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Silicon Photomultiplier ◽  
Cherenkov Telescopes ◽  
Large Size ◽  
Very High Energy ◽  
Energy Gamma ◽  
Design Options ◽  
Very High ◽  
Computation Speed

Abstract The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) will be the next major observatory for Very High Energy gamma-ray astronomy. Its optical throughput calibration relies on muon Cherenkov rings. This work is aimed at developing a fast and efficient muon tagger at the camera level for the CTA telescopes. A novel technique to tag muons using the capabilities of silicon photomultiplier Compact High-Energy Camera CHEC-S, one of the design options for the camera of the small size telescopes, has been developed, studying and comparing different algorithms such as circle fitting with the Taubin method, machine learning using a neural network and simple pixel counting. Their performance in terms of efficiency and computation speed was investigated using simulations with varying levels of night sky background light. The application of the best performing method to the large size telescope camera has also been studied, to improve the speed of the muon preselection.

scholarly journals Observation of the Gamma-Ray Binary HESS J0632+057 with the H.E.S.S., MAGIC, and VERITAS Telescopes

2021 ◽  
Vol 923 (2) ◽  
pp. 241
Author(s):  
C. B. Adams ◽  
W. Benbow ◽  
A. Brill ◽  
J. H. Buckley ◽  
M. Capasso ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Binary Systems ◽  
Gamma Ray ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Energy Bands ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Cherenkov Telescopes ◽  
Orbital Cycles ◽  
Very High Energy ◽  
Energy Gamma ◽  
Very High

Abstract The results of gamma-ray observations of the binary system HESS J0632 + 057 collected during 450 hr over 15 yr, between 2004 and 2019, are presented. Data taken with the atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes H.E.S.S., MAGIC, and VERITAS at energies above 350 GeV were used together with observations at X-ray energies obtained with Swift-XRT, Chandra, XMM-Newton, NuSTAR, and Suzaku. Some of these observations were accompanied by measurements of the Hα emission line. A significant detection of the modulation of the very high-energy gamma-ray fluxes with a period of 316.7 ± 4.4 days is reported, consistent with the period of 317.3 ± 0.7 days obtained with a refined analysis of X-ray data. The analysis of data from four orbital cycles with dense observational coverage reveals short-timescale variability, with flux-decay timescales of less than 20 days at very high energies. Flux variations observed over a timescale of several years indicate orbit-to-orbit variability. The analysis confirms the previously reported correlation of X-ray and gamma-ray emission from the system at very high significance, but cannot find any correlation of optical Hα parameters with fluxes at X-ray or gamma-ray energies in simultaneous observations. The key finding is that the emission of HESS J0632 + 057 in the X-ray and gamma-ray energy bands is highly variable on different timescales. The ratio of gamma-ray to X-ray flux shows the equality or even dominance of the gamma-ray energy range. This wealth of new data is interpreted taking into account the insufficient knowledge of the ephemeris of the system, and discussed in the context of results reported on other gamma-ray binary systems.

scholarly journals GRB 190114C in the nuclear region of an interacting galaxy

2020 ◽  
Vol 633 ◽  
pp. A68 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. de Ugarte Postigo ◽  
C. C. Thöne ◽  
S. Martín ◽  
J. Japelj ◽  
A. J. Levan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gamma Ray ◽  
Formation Rate ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Host Galaxy ◽  
Nuclear Region ◽  
Star Forming ◽  
Environmental Properties ◽  
Very High Energy ◽  
Imaging And Spectroscopy ◽  
Very High

Context. For the first time, very high energy emission up to the TeV range has been reported for a gamma-ray burst (GRB). It is still unclear whether the environmental properties of GRB 190114C might have contributed to the production of these very high energy photons, or if it is solely related to the released GRB emission. Aims. The relatively low redshift of the GRB (z = 0.425) allows us to study the host galaxy of this event in detail, and to potentially identify idiosyncrasies that could point to progenitor characteristics or environmental properties that might be responsible for this unique event. Methods. We used ultraviolet, optical, infrared, and submillimetre imaging and spectroscopy obtained with the HST, the VLT, and ALMA to obtain an extensive dataset on which the analysis of the host galaxy is based. Results. The host system is composed of a close pair of interacting galaxies (Δv = 50 km s−1), both of which are well detected by ALMA in CO(3-2). The GRB occurred within the nuclear region (∼170 pc from the centre) of the less massive but more star-forming galaxy of the pair. The host is more massive (log(M/M⊙) = 9.3) than average GRB hosts at this redshift, and the location of the GRB is rather unique. The higher star formation rate was probably triggered by tidal interactions between the two galaxies. Our ALMA observations indicate that both host galaxy and companion have a high molecular gas fraction, as has been observed before in interacting galaxy pairs. Conclusions. The location of the GRB within the core of an interacting galaxy with an extinguished line of sight is indicative of a denser environment than typically observed for GRBs and could have been crucial for the generation of the very high energy photons that were observed.

scholarly journals The Galactic Center Region Imaged by VERITAS from 2010{2012

2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 227-230
Author(s):  
Matthias Beilicke
Keyword(s):  
Supernova Remnant ◽  
Gamma Ray ◽  
Galactic Center ◽  
Region Of Interest ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Central Black Hole ◽  
Potential Sources ◽  
Very High Energy ◽  
Order Of Magnitude ◽  
Very High

The galactic center has long been a region of interest for high-energy and very-high-energy observations. Many potential sources of GeV/TeV gamma-ray emission are located in this region, e.g. the accretion of matter onto the central black hole, cosmic rays from a nearby shell-type supernova remnant, or the annihilation of dark matter. The galactic center has been detected at MeV/GeV energies by EGRET and recently by <em>Fermi</em>/LAT. At TeV energies, the galactic center was detected at the level of 4 standard deviations with the Whipple 10m telescope and with one order of magnitude better sensitivity by H.E.S.S. and MAGIC. We present the results from 3 years of VERITAS galactic center observations conducted at large zenith angles. The results are compared to astrophysical models.

scholarly journals Search for High Energy emission from GRBs with MAGIC

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (S324) ◽  
pp. 70-73
Author(s):  
Alessio Berti ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Gamma Ray ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Cherenkov Telescopes ◽  
Gamma Ray Imaging ◽  
Very High Energy ◽  
Γ Rays ◽  
High Energy Emission ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Very High

AbstractGamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) are the most violent explosions in the Universe, releasing a huge amount of energy in few seconds. While our understanding of the prompt and the afterglow phases has increased with Swift and Fermi, we have very few information about their High Energy (HE, E ≲ 100) emission components. This requires a ground-based experiment able to perform fast follow-up with enough sensitivity above ~ 50 GeV. The MAGIC (Major Atmospheric Gamma-ray Imaging Cherenkov) telescopes have been designed to perform fast follow-up on GRBs thanks to fast slewing movement and low energy threshold (~ 50 GeV). Since the beginning of the operations, MAGIC followed-up 89 GRBs in good observational conditions. In this contribution the MAGIC GRBs follow-up campaign and the results which could be obtained by detecting HE and Very High Energy (VHE, E ≳ 100 GeV) γ-rays from GRBs will be reviewed.

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