Related papers: Optical intensity interferometry observations usin…
Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes for very-high energy gamma-ray astronomy need mirror with high reflectance roughly in the wavelength between 300 and 550 nm. The current standard reflective layer of such mirrors is aluminum. Being…
The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) will be the next generation ground based observatory in very high energy gamma ray astronomy. The facility will achieve a wide energy coverage, starting from a threshold of a few tens of GeV up to…
Ground-based Atmospheric Air Cherenkov Telescopes (ACTs) are successfully used to observe very high energy (VHE) gamma rays from celestial objects. The light of the night sky (LONS) is a strong background for these telescopes. The gamma ray…
Improved quantum sensing of photons from astronomical objects could provide high resolution observations in the optical benefiting numerous fields, including general relativity, dark matter studies, and cosmology. It has been recently…
The 17 m MAGIC Cherenkov telescope for gamma ray astronomy between 30 and 300 GeV started operations in its final configuration in October 2003 and is currently well into its calibration phase. Here I report on its present status and its…
Stellar amplitude interferometry is limited by the need to have optical distances fixed and known to a fraction of the wavelength. We suggest reviving intensity interferometry, which requires hardware which is many orders of magnitude less…
A peculiar aspect of Cherenkov telescopes is that they are designed to detect atmospheric light flashes on the time scale of nanoseconds, being almost blind to stellar sources. As a consequence, the pointing calibration of these instruments…
The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) Observatory for high-energy gamma-ray astronomy will comprise several tens of imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes (IACTs) of different size with a total reflective area of about 10,000 m$^2$. Here we…
Context: In recent years, stellar intensity interferometry has seen renewed interest from the astronomical community because it can be efficiently applied to Cherenkov telescope arrays. Aims: We have investigated the accuracy that can be…
Very-high-energy (>100 GeV) gamma-ray astronomy is emerging as an important discipline in both high energy astrophysics and astro-particle physics. This field is currently dominated by Imaging Atmospheric-Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs) and…
The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is the next generation very high-energy gamma-ray observatory, with at least 10 times higher sensitivity than current instruments. CTA will comprise several tens of Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov…
In this article we discuss the possibility of using the observations by GLAST of standard gamma sources, as the Crab Nebula, to calibrate Imaging Air Cherenkov detectors, MAGIC in particular, and optimise their energy resolution. We show…
MAGIC, a system of two imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes, achieves its best performance under dark conditions, i.e. in absence of moonlight or twilight. Since operating the telescopes only during dark time would severely limit the…
A new background rejection strategy for gamma-ray astrophysics with stereoscopic Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACT), based on Monte Carlo (MC) simulations and real background data from the H.E.S.S. [High Energy Stereoscopic…
The sensitivity of an Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov telescope is calibrated by shining, from a distant pulsed monochromatic light source, a defined photon flux onto the mirror. The light pulse is captured and reconstructed by the telescope…
MAGIC is a system of two Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes located in the Canary island of La Palma, Spain. During summer 2011 and 2012 it underwent a series of upgrades, involving the exchange of the MAGIC-I camera and its trigger…
We propose a dedicated analysis approach for indirect Dark Matter searches with Imaging Air Cherenkov Telescopes. By using the full likelihood analysis, we take complete advantage of the distinct features expected in the gamma ray spectrum…
Experiments are in progress to prepare for intensity interferometry with arrays of air Cherenkov telescopes. At the Bonneville Seabase site, near Salt Lake City, a testbed observatory has been set up with two 3-m air Cherenkov telescopes on…
The present generation of ground-based Very High Energy (VHE) gamma-ray observatories consist of arrays of up to four large (> 12m diameter) light collectors quite similar to those used by R. Hanbury Brown to measure stellar diameters by…
A calibrated laser pulse propagating through the atmosphere produces a flash of Rayleigh scattered light with an intensity that can be calculated very accurately when atmospheric conditions are good. This is used in a technique developed…