Design and operation of FACT – the first G-APD Cherenkov telescope

Anderhub, H.; Backes, Michael; Biland, A.; Boccone, V.; Braun, I.; Bretz, T.; Buß, Jens; Cadoux, F.; Commichau, V.; Djambazov, L.; Dorner, D.; Einecke, S.; Eisenacher, D.; Gendotti, A.; Grimm, O.; Gunten, H. von; Haller, C.; Hildebrand, D.; Horisberger, U.; Huber, Bernhard A.; Kim, K -S; Knoetig, M. L.; Köhne, J. H.; Krähenbühl, T.; Krumm, B.; Lee, M; Lorenz, E.; Lustermann, W.; Lyard, E.; Mannheim, K.; Meharga, M.; Meier, K.; Montaruli, T.; Neise, Dominik; Nessi‐Tedaldi, F.; Overkemping, A.; Paravac, Aleksander; Pauß, F.; Renker, D.; Rhode, W.; Ribordy, M.; Röser, U.; Stucki, J.-P.; Schneider, J.; Steinbring, T.; Temme, Fabian; Thaele, J.; Tobler, S.; Viertel, G.; Vogler, P.; Walter, R.; Warda, K.; Weitzel, Q.; Zänglein, M.

doi:10.1088/1748-0221/8/06/p06008

Cited by 211 publications

(176 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…FACT (First G-APD Cherenkov Telescope) [5] is the first Imaging Air Cherenkov Telescope which uses Geiger-mode Avalanche Photo Diodes (G-APDs) as photo sensors. It is located at the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos on the Canary Island of La Palma (Spain) and since October 2011 it observes very high energy gamma-ray sources in the Northern hemisphere by detecting air showers produced in the atmosphere by very high energy gamma-rays.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

FACT - First Energy Spectrum from a SiPM Cherenkov Telescope

Ahnen¹,

Balbo²,

Bergmann³

et al. 2016

Proceedings of the 34th International Cosmic Ray Conference — PoS(ICRC2015)

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The First G-APD Cherenkov Telescope (FACT) is an Imaging Air Cherenkov Telescope located on the Canary Island of La Palma. It is the first of its kind which uses Geiger-mode Avalanche Photo Diodes (G-APDs) as photosensors to detect the Cherenkov radiation emitted from secondary particles in a high-energy gamma-ray air shower. A new analysis chain has been developed using modern data mining methods and unfolding techniques to obtain the energy spectrum of an observed source. This analysis chain has been applied to data of the Crab Nebula, the so called "standard candle" in Cherenkov astronomy. Here, the individual steps are described and results of this application are reported providing the energy spectrum and light curve.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

FACT - First Energy Spectrum from a SiPM Cherenkov Telescope

Ahnen¹,

Balbo²,

Bergmann³

et al. 2016

Proceedings of the 34th International Cosmic Ray Conference — PoS(ICRC2015)

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“…Following the encouraging results from the FACT [11,12] in the use of silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) for gamma-ray astronomy, the same technological solution was adopted. Indeed, SiPMs can be operated at relatively low bias voltage compared to standard PMTs and suffer from negligible ageing effects, so that they can be operated under high moon conditions without risks of degradation.…”

Section: The Cameramentioning

confidence: 99%

The single mirror small sized telescope for the Cherenkov telescope array

Heller¹,

Schioppa²,

Porcelli³

et al. 2017

AIP Conference Proceedings

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Abstract. The Small Size Telescope with Single Mirror (SST-1M) is one of the proposed types of Small Size Telescopes (SST) for the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA). About 70 SST telescopes will be part the CTA southern array which will also include Medium Sized Telescopes (MST) in its threshold configuration. Optimized for the detection of gamma rays in the energy range from 5 TeV to 300 TeV, the SST-1M uses a Davies-Cotton optics with a 4 m dish diameter with a field of view of 9 • . The Cherenkov light resulting from the interaction of the gamma-rays in the atmosphere is focused onto a 88 cm side-to-side hexagonal photo-detection plane. The latter is composed of 1296 hollow light guides coupled to large area hexagonal silicon photomultipliers (SiPM). The SiPM readout is fully digital readout as for the trigger system. The compact and lightweight design of the SST-1M camera offers very high performance ideal for gamma-ray observation requirement. In this contribution, the concept, design, performance and status of the first telescope prototype are presented.

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“…The First G-APD Cherenkov Telescope (FACT, [6]) is an IACT monitoring bright blazars at TeV energies since more than five years [8]. Thanks to the usage of semiconductor-based photosensors (SiPMs, a.k.a.…”

Section: Status Of Monitoring At Tev Energiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Camera The camera design will be similar to the FACT camera [6]. However, the light sensors chosen are MicroJC-60035 from SensL [18].…”

Section: Project Plan and Statusmentioning

confidence: 99%

Monitoring at TeV Energies with M@TE

Alfaro¹,

Bernal²,

Bretz³

et al. 2017

Proceedings of 35th International Cosmic Ray Conference — PoS(ICRC2017)

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Blazars are extremely variable objects emitting radiation across the electromagnetic spectrum and showing variability on time scales from minutes to years. Simultaneous multi-wavelength observations are crucial for understanding the emission mechanisms. In particular the study of their TeV emission is relevant to test the dominant radiative process at such energies (e.g. leptonic models predict a correlation between X-ray and TeV emission). As well, the correlation with the bump at low energy or the possible common detection with a neutrino signal can be relevant to constrain the physical model. From radio via optical and from X-ray to gamma rays, a variety of instruments, as OVRO and Fermi, are already monitoring blazars. At TeV energies, long-term monitoring is currently carried out by HAWC and FACT. Towards 24/7 continuous observations, the goal is to have similar monitoring telescopes at locations around the globe in order to close temporal gaps and compile light curves with homogeneous sensitivity. With the M@TE (Monitoring at TeV energies) project, we are planning to install an Imaging Air Cherenkov Telescope equipped with an improved version of the FACT camera and the mechanical structure of one of the mounts of the HEGRA experiment at the site of San Pedro Mártir in Mexico. Featuring excellent observation conditions, this location provides a variety of instruments from radio to optical wavelength allowing for coordinated multi-wavelength blazar studies. In this work, we will present the status of the project.

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Design and operation of FACT – the first G-APD Cherenkov telescope

Cited by 211 publications

References 23 publications

FACT - First Energy Spectrum from a SiPM Cherenkov Telescope

FACT - First Energy Spectrum from a SiPM Cherenkov Telescope

The single mirror small sized telescope for the Cherenkov telescope array

Monitoring at TeV Energies with M@TE

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