Calibration and performance of the photon sensor response of FACT — the first G-APD Cherenkov telescope

Biland, A.; Bretz, T.; Buß, Jens; Commichau, V.; Djambazov, L.; Dorner, D.; Einecke, S.; Eisenacher, D.; Freiwald, Jan; Grimm, O.; Gunten, H. von; Haller, C.; Hempfling, Christina; Hildebrand, D.; Hughes, G.; Horisberger, U.; Knoetig, M. L.; Krähenbühl, T.; Lustermann, W.; Lyard, E.; Mannheim, K.; Meier, K.; Mueller, S.; Neise, Dominik; Overkemping, A.; Paravac, Aleksander; Pauß, F.; Rhode, W.; Röser, U.; Stucki, J.-P.; Steinbring, T.; Temme, Fabian; Thaele, J.; Vogler, P.; Walter, R.; Weitzel, Q.

doi:10.1088/1748-0221/9/10/p10012

Cited by 104 publications

(112 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…These promising properties make them particularly suitable for applications in the ground-based Cherenkov gammaray astronomy. More details concerning the performance of this novel technique are given in [6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

FACT - First Energy Spectrum from a SiPM Cherenkov Telescope

Ahnen¹,

Balbo²,

Bergmann³

et al. 2016

Proceedings of the 34th International Cosmic Ray Conference — PoS(ICRC2015)

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The First G-APD Cherenkov Telescope (FACT) is an Imaging Air Cherenkov Telescope located on the Canary Island of La Palma. It is the first of its kind which uses Geiger-mode Avalanche Photo Diodes (G-APDs) as photosensors to detect the Cherenkov radiation emitted from secondary particles in a high-energy gamma-ray air shower. A new analysis chain has been developed using modern data mining methods and unfolding techniques to obtain the energy spectrum of an observed source. This analysis chain has been applied to data of the Crab Nebula, the so called "standard candle" in Cherenkov astronomy. Here, the individual steps are described and results of this application are reported providing the energy spectrum and light curve.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

FACT - First Energy Spectrum from a SiPM Cherenkov Telescope

Ahnen¹,

Balbo²,

Bergmann³

et al. 2016

Proceedings of the 34th International Cosmic Ray Conference — PoS(ICRC2015)

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“…Geiger-mode avalanche photodiodes), the telescope is ideally suited for long-term monitoring. The stable detector performance provided by the photosensors facilitates the analysis of a long-term data sample [9]. Furthermore, it helps to automate the operation of the instrument [10] which increases the data taking efficiency.…”

Section: Status Of Monitoring At Tev Energiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Monitoring at TeV Energies with M@TE

Alfaro¹,

Bernal²,

Bretz³

et al. 2017

Proceedings of 35th International Cosmic Ray Conference — PoS(ICRC2017)

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Blazars are extremely variable objects emitting radiation across the electromagnetic spectrum and showing variability on time scales from minutes to years. Simultaneous multi-wavelength observations are crucial for understanding the emission mechanisms. In particular the study of their TeV emission is relevant to test the dominant radiative process at such energies (e.g. leptonic models predict a correlation between X-ray and TeV emission). As well, the correlation with the bump at low energy or the possible common detection with a neutrino signal can be relevant to constrain the physical model. From radio via optical and from X-ray to gamma rays, a variety of instruments, as OVRO and Fermi, are already monitoring blazars. At TeV energies, long-term monitoring is currently carried out by HAWC and FACT. Towards 24/7 continuous observations, the goal is to have similar monitoring telescopes at locations around the globe in order to close temporal gaps and compile light curves with homogeneous sensitivity. With the M@TE (Monitoring at TeV energies) project, we are planning to install an Imaging Air Cherenkov Telescope equipped with an improved version of the FACT camera and the mechanical structure of one of the mounts of the HEGRA experiment at the site of San Pedro Mártir in Mexico. Featuring excellent observation conditions, this location provides a variety of instruments from radio to optical wavelength allowing for coordinated multi-wavelength blazar studies. In this work, we will present the status of the project.

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“…However coupling several small SiPMs into a large detector is possible and the detector noise hardly ever dominates over NSB. Furthermore progress in the field of SiPM is quick and FACT [22] has already proved that SiPM can be used in IACTs. Advantages of SiPM are their high PDE, no ageing effects (after 3 years of operation none of the SiPMs in FACT has failed or shown any indication of ageing), excellent uniformity and, relevant for MACHETE, the fact that they can be used under the brightest Moonlight.…”

Section: Focal Plane Instrumentation and Readoutmentioning

confidence: 99%

MACHETE: A transit imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescope to survey half of the very high energy γ -ray sky

Cortina

López-Coto

Moralejo

2016

Astroparticle Physics

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Current Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes for Very High Energy γ-ray astrophysics are pointing instruments with a Field of View up to a few tens of sq deg. We propose to build an array of two non-steerable (drift) telescopes. Each of the telescopes would have a camera with a FOV of 5×60 sq deg oriented along the meridian. About half of the sky drifts through this FOV in a year. We have performed a Montecarlo simulation to estimate the performance of this instrument. We expect it to survey this half of the sky with an integral flux sensitivity of ∼0.77% of the steady flux of the Crab Nebula in 5 years, an analysis energy threshold of ∼150 GeV and an angular resolution of ∼0.1 • . For astronomical objects that transit over the telescope for a specific night, we can achieve an integral sensitivity of 12% of the Crab Nebula flux in a night, making it a very powerful tool to trigger further observations of variable sources using steerable IACTs or instruments at other wavelengths.

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Calibration and performance of the photon sensor response of FACT — the first G-APD Cherenkov telescope

Cited by 104 publications

References 18 publications

FACT - First Energy Spectrum from a SiPM Cherenkov Telescope

FACT - First Energy Spectrum from a SiPM Cherenkov Telescope

Monitoring at TeV Energies with M@TE

MACHETE: A transit imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescope to survey half of the very high energy γ -ray sky

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