Cherenkov Telescope Array: The Next Generation Gamma-ray Observatory

Abstract

The CTA Consortium 1 , represented by Rene A. Ong 2 The 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 gammaray 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.

Describing correlated observations of neutrinos and gamma-ray flares from the blazar TXS 0506+056 with a proton blazar model

“…It is clear from the figure that the observed spectrum is correctly reproduced by the model. The detection sensitivity of upcoming gamma-ray experiments like the Cherenkov telescope array (CTA) [50] and the Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO) [51] are also shown in the figure which suggest that these experiments will be able to detect gamma rays up to nearly 100 TeV for any similar kind of event if detected in future and thereby will be able to provide a better understanding of the emission processes.…”

Implications of a proton blazar inspired model on correlated observations of neutrinos with gamma-ray flaring blazars

“…Our findings suggest that the maximum energy of the cosmic ray particle achievable in the blazars is nearly 1 order less than the ankle energy of the cosmic ray energy spectrum in the observer frame and are required to explain consistently the observed gamma-ray and neutrino signal from the sources. The upcoming gamma-ray experiments like CTA [63] and LHAASO [64], which are very sensitive up to 100 TeV energies, may provide a clearer evidence of the physical origin of gamma-rays and maximum achievable energy of cosmic rays in AGN jets if more such events are detected from other blazars in upcoming years.…”

Atmospheric monitoring and array calibration in CTA using the Cherenkov Transparency Coefficient

“…2.1. In addition to this we include another MC set in this study, in which the magnetic field intensity was changed from | B| ≡ B 0 µT to 38.7 µT, consistently with the CTA-N site 1 . The effects of the magnetic field are compared for the configurations with (θ = 20 • , φ = 180 • ) and (θ = 50 • , φ = 0 • ), corresponding to an angle between the vector B and the shower direction Ω (see Fig.1) of 5 • and 72 • , respectively.…”

“…The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is a ground-based very high energy (VHE) gammaray observatory in the pre-construction phase [1]. It will consist of two arrays on both Earth's hemispheres including not only different optical systems and detector hardware, but also different sizes of telescopes.…”