English

Characterization of Potential U.S. Sites for the Cherenkov Telescope Array

Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics 2019-08-14 v1 High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Abstract

The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is a major ground-based observatory proposed for gamma-ray astronomy. CTA is envisioned to consist of two large arrays of atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes for the study of sources of high-energy gamma rays in the energy range of a few tens of GeV to beyond 100 TeV. One array would be located in the southern hemisphere and one in the northern hemisphere. After a detailed search, we have identified two potential sites in the USA for the northern array. Both sites are located in northern Arizona. Here we describe the two sites and the deployment of instrumentation to characterize them. The characteristics of the sites, in terms of their atmospheric and climatic properties, are described. We show recent data from the automated monitoring equipment at the sites and compare these data to a commercial simulation. Details regarding the facilities and infrastructure required for the sites are also presented.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1307.4719,
  title  = {Characterization of Potential U.S. Sites for the Cherenkov Telescope Array},
  author = {R. A. Ong and T. Aune and J. Hall},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1307.4719},
  year   = {2019}
}

Comments

4 pages, 7 figures, in Proceedings of the 33rd International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC2013), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). All CTA contributions at arXiv:1307.2232

R2 v1 2026-06-22T00:53:16.833Z