Speaker
Prof.
Vladimir Vassiliev
(University of California Los Angeles)
Description
The design of a 9.5-m prototype Schwarzschild-Couder telescope (pSCT) with an aplanatic two-mirror optical system has been developed to evaluate its capabilities for the future Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO). The construction of this novel imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescope (IACT) is scheduled for early autumn of 2015 at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory in Southern Arizona, USA. The pSCT is expected to verify superior performance of this instrument (high angular resolution, wide field of view, reduced focal plane plate scale, high channel density low cost camera electronics, single photon counting operation regime, etc.) as compared to the traditional Davies-Cotton IACTs constructed for the VERITAS and HESS ground based gamma-ray observatories. An array of SC telescopes operating as a possible extension of the CTA installation is expected to significantly enhance the research capabilities of the observatory for very high-energy (E>100 GeV) gamma-ray astronomy. In this contribution we present the design overview of the pSCT mechanical and optical sub-systems and the status of the telescope construction.
| Registration number following "ICRC2015-I/" | 706 |
|---|---|
| Collaboration | CTA |
Primary author
Prof.
Vladimir Vassiliev
(University of California Los Angeles)
Co-authors
Dr
Akira Okumura
(Nagoya University)
Andrew Peck
(University of California)
Andriy Petrashyk
(Columbia University)
Brandon Stevenson
(University of California Los Angeles)
Prof.
Brian Humensky
(Columbia University)
Dr
Daniel Nieto Castano
(Columbia University)
Prof.
David Kieda
(University of Utah)
Prof.
David Williams
(University of California Santa Cruz)
Deivid Ribeiro
(Columbia University)
Dirk Naumann
(Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron)
Emmet Roache
(Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory)
Prof.
Frank Krennrich
(Iowa State University)
Huyue Zhao
(Argonne National Lab)
Dr
Isaac Mognet
(University of California Los Angeles)
Prof.
James Buckley
(Washington University)
Dr
Julien Rousselle
(University of California Los Angeles)
Dr
Karen Byrum
(Argonne National Lab)
Kevin Meagher
(Georgia Institute of Technology)
Dr
Manel Errando
(Barnard College)
Dr
Marcos Santander
(Columbia University)
Prof.
Nepomuk Otte
(Georgia Institute of Technology)
Peter Jenke
(University of Alabama in Huntsville)
Peter Yu
(University of California Los Angeles)
Prof.
Philip Kaaret
(University of Iowa)
Prof.
Reshmi Mukherjee
(Barnard College)
Richard Northrop
(University of Chicago)
Dr
Robert Cameron
(Stanford University)
Ronny Sternberger
(Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron)
Scott Griffiths
(University of Iowa)
Prof.
Scott Wakely
(University of Chicago)
Dr
Stefan Schlenstedt
(Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron)
Stephen Criswell
(Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory)
Dr
Valerie Connaughton
(University of Alabama in Huntsville)
Victor Guarino
(Argonne National Lab)
Dr
Wystan Benbow
(Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory)
