Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Science with the Cherenkov Telescope Array

Dravins, Dainis LU orcid (2019)
Abstract
The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA), will be the major global observatory
for very high-energy (VHE) gamma-ray astronomy over the next decade
and beyond. The scientific potential of CTA is extremely broad: from
understanding the role of relativistic cosmic particles to the search for dark
matter. CTA is an explorer of the extreme universe, probing environments
from the immediate neighbourhood of black holes to cosmic voids on the
largest scales. Covering a huge range in photon energy from 20 GeV to
300 TeV, CTA will improve on all aspects of performance with respect to
current instruments. Wider field of view and improved sensitivity will enable
CTA to survey hundreds of times faster than previous TeV... (More)
The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA), will be the major global observatory
for very high-energy (VHE) gamma-ray astronomy over the next decade
and beyond. The scientific potential of CTA is extremely broad: from
understanding the role of relativistic cosmic particles to the search for dark
matter. CTA is an explorer of the extreme universe, probing environments
from the immediate neighbourhood of black holes to cosmic voids on the
largest scales. Covering a huge range in photon energy from 20 GeV to
300 TeV, CTA will improve on all aspects of performance with respect to
current instruments. Wider field of view and improved sensitivity will enable
CTA to survey hundreds of times faster than previous TeV telescopes. The
angular resolution of CTA will approach 1 arc-minute at high energies —
the best resolution of any instrument operating above the X-ray band —
allowing detailed imaging of a large number of gamma-ray sources. A one to
two order-of-magnitude collection area improvement makes CTA a powerful
instrument for time-domain astrophysics, three orders of magnitude more
sensitive on hour timescales than Fermi-LAT at 30 GeV. The observatory
will operate arrays on sites in both hemispheres to provide full sky coverage
and will hence maximise the potential for the rarest phenomena such as
very nearby supernovae, gamma-ray bursts, or gravitational wave transients.
With 99 telescopes on the southern site and 19 telescopes on the northern
site, flexible operation will be possible, with sub-arrays available for specific
tasks. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
author collaboration
organization
publishing date
type
Book/Report
publication status
published
subject
pages
364 pages
publisher
World Scientific Publishing
external identifiers
  • scopus:85079356616
ISBN
978-981-3270-08-4
DOI
10.1142/10986
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
12c96c91-5b31-42ae-a977-f1b9bcf450f4
date added to LUP
2019-05-09 17:29:52
date last changed
2024-03-19 07:00:56
@book{12c96c91-5b31-42ae-a977-f1b9bcf450f4,
  abstract     = {{The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA), will be the major global observatory<br/>for very high-energy (VHE) gamma-ray astronomy over the next decade<br/>and beyond. The scientific potential of CTA is extremely broad: from<br/>understanding the role of relativistic cosmic particles to the search for dark<br/>matter. CTA is an explorer of the extreme universe, probing environments<br/>from the immediate neighbourhood of black holes to cosmic voids on the<br/>largest scales. Covering a huge range in photon energy from 20 GeV to<br/>300 TeV, CTA will improve on all aspects of performance with respect to<br/>current instruments. Wider field of view and improved sensitivity will enable<br/>CTA to survey hundreds of times faster than previous TeV telescopes. The<br/>angular resolution of CTA will approach 1 arc-minute at high energies —<br/>the best resolution of any instrument operating above the X-ray band —<br/>allowing detailed imaging of a large number of gamma-ray sources. A one to<br/>two order-of-magnitude collection area improvement makes CTA a powerful<br/>instrument for time-domain astrophysics, three orders of magnitude more<br/>sensitive on hour timescales than Fermi-LAT at 30 GeV. The observatory<br/>will operate arrays on sites in both hemispheres to provide full sky coverage<br/>and will hence maximise the potential for the rarest phenomena such as<br/>very nearby supernovae, gamma-ray bursts, or gravitational wave transients.<br/>With 99 telescopes on the southern site and 19 telescopes on the northern<br/>site, flexible operation will be possible, with sub-arrays available for specific<br/>tasks.}},
  author       = {{Dravins, Dainis}},
  isbn         = {{978-981-3270-08-4}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{03}},
  publisher    = {{World Scientific Publishing}},
  title        = {{Science with the Cherenkov Telescope Array}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1142/10986}},
  doi          = {{10.1142/10986}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}