Light-Trap: a SiPM upgrade for VHE astronomy and beyond

Ward, J. E.; Cortina, J.; Guberman, D.

doi:10.1088/1748-0221/11/11/c11007

Cited by 9 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…This was successfully demonstrated with the FACT camera (Knoetig et al, 2013), which can operate with the full Moon inside its field of view (FOV). The use of a silicon photomultiplier camera is actually under consideration for the new generation of IACT instruments (Heller et al, 2016;Otte et al, 2015;Rando et al, 2015;Sottile et al, 2013;Ward et al, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Performance of the MAGIC telescopes under moonlight

Ahnen

Ansoldi

Antonelli

et al. 2017

Astroparticle Physics

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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 duty cycle, observations are also performed when the Moon is present in the sky. Here we develop a dedicated Moon-adapted analysis to characterize the performance of MAGIC under moonlight. We evaluate energy threshold, angular resolution and sensitivity of MAGIC under different background light levels, based on Crab Nebula observations and tuned Monte Carlo simulations. This study includes observations taken under non-standard hardware configurations, such as reducing the camera photomultiplier tubes gain by a factor â\u88¼ 1.7 (reduced HV settings) with respect to standard settings (nominal HV) or using UV-pass filters to strongly reduce the amount of moonlight reaching the cameras of the telescopes. The Crab Nebula spectrum is correctly reconstructed in all the studied illumination levels, that reach up to 30 times brighter than under dark conditions. The main effect of moonlight is an increase in the analysis energy threshold and in the systematic uncertainties on the flux normalization. The sensitivity degradation is constrained to be below 10%, within 15â\u80\u9330% and between 60 and 80% for nominal HV, reduced HV and UV-pass filter observations, respectively. No worsening of the angular resolution was found. Thanks to observations during moonlight, the maximal duty cycle of MAGIC can be increased from â\u88¼ 18%, under dark nights only, to up to â\u88¼ 40% in total with only moderate performance degradation

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Performance of the MAGIC telescopes under moonlight

Ahnen

Ansoldi

Antonelli

et al. 2017

Astroparticle Physics

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“…4b). This means that a small sensor can be used to capture the light by using a large WLS surface [2,3].…”

Section: The Prototype Tankmentioning

confidence: 99%

A prototype tank for the SWGO detector

Sofia¹,

Consolati²,

Angelis³

et al. 2023

Preprint

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The Southern Wide-field Gamma-ray Observatory (SWGO) is an international collaboration working on realizing a next-generation observatory located in the Southern hemisphere, which offers a privileged view of our galactic center. We are working on the construction of a prototype water Cherenkov detector at Politecnico di Milano using a flexible testing facility for several candidate light sensors and configurations. A structure able to hold different types of detectors in multiple configurations has been designed, built and tested in Politecnico's labs. Furthermore, an analytical study of muons and electrons showers has been carried out using the SWGO observatory simulation software to examine the correlation between the detection capabilities of the prototype tank and its water level. *** 27th European Cosmic Ray Symposium -ECRS *** *** 25-29 July 2022 *** *** Nĳmegen, the Netherlands *** * Speaker

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Performance of the MAGIC telescopes under moonlight

Ahnen,

Ansoldi,

Antonelli

et al. 2017

Preprint

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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 duty cycle, observations are also performed when the Moon is present in the sky. Here we develop a dedicated Moon-adapted analysis to characterize the performance of MAGIC under moonlight. We evaluate energy threshold, angular resolution and sensitivity of MAGIC under different background light levels, based on Crab Nebula observations and tuned Monte Carlo simulations. This study includes observations taken under non-standard hardware configurations, such as reducing the camera photomultiplier tubes gain by a factor ∼1.7 (reduced HV settings) with respect to standard settings (nominal HV) or using UV-pass filters to strongly reduce the amount of moonlight reaching the cameras of the telescopes. The Crab Nebula spectrum is correctly reconstructed in all the studied illumination levels, that reach up to 30 times brighter than under dark conditions. The main effect of moonlight is an increase in the analysis energy threshold and in the systematic uncertainties on the flux normalization. The sensitivity degradation is constrained to be below 10%, within 15-30% and between 60 and 80% for nominal HV, reduced HV and UV-pass filter observations, respectively. No worsening of the angular resolution was found. Thanks to observations during moonlight, the maximal duty cycle of MAGIC can be increased from ∼18%, under dark nights only, to up to ∼40% in total with only moderate performance degradation.

show abstract

Light-Trap: a SiPM upgrade for VHE astronomy and beyond

Cited by 9 publications

References 7 publications

Performance of the MAGIC telescopes under moonlight

Performance of the MAGIC telescopes under moonlight

A prototype tank for the SWGO detector

Performance of the MAGIC telescopes under moonlight

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