1

The future of Cherenkov astronomy

CTA
Cherenkov Telescope Array

Thomas Bretz, EPFL, Lausanne

Thomas Bretz (EPFL), August 24th 2010

Thomas Bretz (EPFL), August 24th 2010

The Multiwavelength-Sky
MPIfR

Mellinger

HEAO-1

408MHz

Optical

2-10keV

NRAO

1.42GHz

DIRBE

Infrared

IUE

Ultraviolet

ROSAT

0.25-1.5keV

FERMI

>100MeV

TeV

>100GeV

Thomas Bretz (EPFL), August 24th 2010

The Multiwavelength-Sky
MPIfR

Mellinger

HEAO-1

408MHz

Optical

2-10keV

NRAO

1.42GHz

DIRBE

Infrared

IUE

Ultraviolet

ROSAT

0.25-1.5keV

FERMI

>100MeV

TeV

>100GeV

Thomas Bretz (EPFL), August 24th 2010

Differential flux

Typical source spectrum

Extended spectral
energy distribution
High number of sources
search for sources
population studies

Intrinsic cut-off
External cut-off

low energies

medium energies

high energies

1 GeV 100 GeV

100 GeV 1 TeV

> 1 TeV

Thomas Bretz (EPFL), August 24th 2010

Sensitivity

background dominated

flux limited

high fluxes + faint showers

med. fluxes + med. showers

low fluxes + bright showers

few tel + large reflector

short baseline

more tel + med. reflector

medium baseline

many tel + small reflector

long baseline

Thomas Bretz (EPFL), August 24th 2010

Solution Hybrid Array

Low energy shower
faint
light collection eff. important
high fluxes collection area unimportant

High energy shower

bright
light collection eff. unimportant
low fluxes collection area important

Thomas Bretz (EPFL), August 24th 2010

Solution Hybrid Array

Low energy shower
faint
light collection eff. important
high fluxes collection area unimportant

~24m
FoV: ~5
fine grained

High energy shower

bright
light collection eff. unimportant
low fluxes collection area important

~12m
FoV: >5
med. Grained
~1km

<6m
FoV: >=8
coarse gr.
~10km

Thomas Bretz (EPFL), August 24th 2010

Cosmic ray composition

Origin of cosmic rays still unknown

Knee most probably due to a change
in the cosmic ray composition
~250,000 / 1000h / 10km

Cherenkov telescopes are a promising

tool to distinguish the particle types
Cherenkov telescopes

Measurements of diffuse low fluxes

need high sensitivities (large coll.
areas) and a large field-of-view

Thomas Bretz (EPFL), August 24th 2010

Galactic sources
H.E.S.S. has done a very successful scan of the galactic plane
They discovered a high number of new sources (many of them not yet identified)

Thomas Bretz (EPFL), August 24th 2010

10

Galactic sources
H.E.S.S. has done a very successful scan of the galactic plane
They discovered a high number of new sources (many of them not yet identified)
With a much higher sensitivity and a better angular resolution,
CTA could further increase the number of detected sources and
have a great impact on their identification

H.E.S.S.

CTA (simulation)

Thomas Bretz (EPFL), August 24th 2010

11

Scan mode
Full sky in one year
Needs large FoV

Thomas Bretz (EPFL), August 24th 2010

Intrinsic cut-off
Depending on the acceleration mechanism,
spectral slope and shape and
a possible cut-off energy
might be different.

Measurements of TeV spectral cut-off

contain information about
the acceleration process

Measurements of the cut-off need

high sensitivities (large coll. areas)

12

Thomas Bretz (EPFL), August 24th 2010

13

Metagalactic radiation field

Evolving extragalactic background light

ver
r
e
obs

ir-photons

uv-photons
tion
a
u
n
n
atte reatio
rc
pai

dust

r
tte
i
em

CMBR
Thomas Bretz (EPFL), August 24th 2010

13

Thomas Bretz (EPFL), August 24th 2010

14

Metagalactic radiation field

Evolving extragalactic background light

ver
r
e
obs

High energies
ir-photons

uv-photons

TeV

r
tte
i
em

Measurements of TeV spectral cut-off contain information about

the MRF, if the source is know, or
the source, if the MRF is known
Thomas Bretz (EPFL), August 24th 2010

14

Measurements of the cut-off need high sensitivities (large coll. areas)

Thomas Bretz (EPFL), August 24th 2010

15

Technological challenge

high num.of telescopes

low complexity
high performance
easy maintenance
low costs
robustness

Thomas Bretz (EPFL), August 24th 2010

16

Small size telescopes

Physics goals + technological challenge = our attention!

high num.of telescopes

low complexity
high performance
easy maintenance
low costs
robustness

Thomas Bretz (EPFL), August 24th 2010

Data acquisition
Flash camera (UNIZ)
continuous digitization
software trigger (FPGA or PC)
real time pulse extraction
real time data analysis
dramatically reduces costs and
complexity of the system

17

Thomas Bretz (EPFL), August 24th 2010

Automatic mirror alignment

Active mirror control (UNIZ)
prototype for a robust and
scalable system
high reliability
Low costs and power consumption
improves maintenance and
performance

18

Thomas Bretz (EPFL), August 24th 2010

Photon detection
Solid light guides (UNIZ, ETHZ)
Improved performance
Low costs for large numbers

G-APD characterization (ETHZ, EPFL, PSI)

Performance measurements
Test setups
Obvious improvement on robustness
and reliability

19

Thomas Bretz (EPFL), August 24th 2010

Prototype telescope
Artist's view

FACT (ETHZ, EPFL, ISDC + 2 German Institutes)

essential to gain experiences with these
new components before decisions for
CTA are taken.
Details: NEXT TALK

20

Thomas Bretz (EPFL), August 24th 2010

Telescope design / Array layout

Telescope design + array layout (EPFL)
Monte Carlo studies (incl. cosmic ray studies)
Increase collection area
Decrease costs
Problem: HUGE phase space
Pixel field-of-view
Mirror diameter
Focal length
Number of telescope
Distance between telescopes
...

21

Thomas Bretz (EPFL), August 24th 2010

22

Telescope properties
pixel
field-of-view

pixel phys.
area A
photo sens.
area a

Camera
field-of-view

Focal length F

reflector
diameter D
Davies-Cotton
layout

angular
acceptance

Thomas Bretz (EPFL), August 24th 2010

23

Photon detector properties

Free parameter

unknown

pixel
field-of-view

pixel phys.
area A

defined

photo sens.
area a

Requirement

Camera
field-of-view

Requirement

use G-APDs
unknown

Focal length F

angular
acceptance
defined

reflector
diameter D
unknown
Requirement

Davies-Cotton
layout

Thomas Bretz (EPFL), August 24th 2010

24

Constraints from light concentrators

Free parameter

unknown

pixel
field-of-view

pixel phys.
area A

defined

photo sens.
area a

Requirement

Camera
field-of-view

Requirement
Light concentrators

A, a,

use G-APDs

unknown

Focal length F

angular
acceptance
defined

reflector
diameter D
unknown
Requirement

Davies-Cotton
layout

angle to view
reflector
unknown

Thomas Bretz (EPFL), August 24th 2010

25

Geometrical relation
Free parameter

unknown

pixel
field-of-view

pixel phys.
area A

defined

photo sens.
area a

Requirement

Camera
field-of-view

Requirement

use G-APDs
unknown

angular
acceptance

Focal length F
Geometry

defined

F/D
reflector
diameter D
unknown
Requirement

Davies-Cotton
layout

angle to view
reflector
unknown

Thomas Bretz (EPFL), August 24th 2010

26

Optics
Free parameter

unknown

pixel
field-of-view

pixel phys.
area A

defined

photo sens.
area a

Requirement

Camera
field-of-view

Optics

F, A

Requirement

use G-APDs
unknown

Focal length F

angular
acceptance
defined

reflector
diameter D
unknown
Requirement

Davies-Cotton
layout

angle to view
reflector
unknown

Thomas Bretz (EPFL), August 24th 2010

27

Reflector quality
Free parameter

unknown

pixel
field-of-view

pixel phys.
area A

defined

photo sens.
area a

Requirement

Camera
field-of-view

Requirement

use G-APDs
unknown
Point spread function

F, D

Focal length F

angular
acceptance
defined

reflector
diameter D
unknown
Requirement

Davies-Cotton
layout

angle to view
reflector
unknown

Thomas Bretz (EPFL), August 24th 2010

28

Relations an overview
Free parameter

unknown

pixel
field-of-view

pixel phys.
area A

defined

photo sens.
area a

Requirement

Camera
field-of-view

Optics

F, A

Requirement
Light concentrators

A, a,

use G-APDs

unknown
Point spread function

F, D

angular
acceptance

Focal length F
Geometry

defined

F/D
reflector
diameter D
unknown
Requirement

Davies-Cotton
layout

angle to view
reflector
unknown

Thomas Bretz (EPFL), August 24th 2010

29

Relations reduction
Free parameter

unknown

pixel
field-of-view

pixel phys.
area A

defined

photo sens.
area a

Requirement

Camera
field-of-view

Optics

F, A

Requirement
Light concentrators

A, a,

use G-APDs

unknown
Point spread function

F, D

angular
acceptance

Focal length F
Geometry

defined

F/D
reflector
diameter D
unknown
Requirement

Davies-Cotton
layout

angle to view
reflector
unknown

Thomas Bretz (EPFL), August 24th 2010

30

Relations - reduced
Free parameter

unknown

pixel
field-of-view

pixel phys.
area A

defined

photo sens.
area a

Requirement

Camera
field-of-view

Requirement

Telescope
=
one parameter

Focal length F

use G-APDs

angular
acceptance
defined

reflector
diameter D
Requirement

Davies-Cotton
layout

angle to view
reflector
unknown

Thomas Bretz (EPFL), August 24th 2010

31

Telescope design - result

reflector
diameter D

Camera
field-of-view
use G-APDs

FoV = 8

5mm x 5mm
(in prep.)
3mm x 3mm
(available)
pixel
field-of-view

Thomas Bretz (EPFL), August 24th 2010

32

Telescope design - result

reflector
diameter D

Camera
field-of-view
use G-APDs

FoV = 8

5mm x 5mm
(in prep.)
3mm x 3mm
(available)
pixel
field-of-view

Array layout

Thomas Bretz (EPFL), August 24th 2010

Telescope design - simulations

Do a Monte Carlo simulation for these telescopes

33

Thomas Bretz (EPFL), August 24th 2010

34

Array layout
Simulation of a few telescope setups
Trigger efficiency versus
primary particle energy
distance from telescope axis

parametrization / fit
pitch distance

num. telescopes

Size of the Cherenkov cone on ground

Toy-MC

Trigger efficiency for an array

of telescopes (e.g. multiplicity 3)

effective collection area vs. energy

Thomas Bretz (EPFL), August 24th 2010

35

Array layout
Simulation of a few telescope setups
Telescope type
(one variable)

Trigger efficiency versus

primary particle energy
distance from telescope axis

parametrization / fit
Performance
collection area vs. energy

Costs

pitch distance

num. telescopes

Toy-MC

Trigger efficiency for an array

of telescopes (e.g. multiplicity 3)

effective collection area vs. energy

Thomas Bretz (EPFL), August 24th 2010

Array layout a result

Telescope type
(one variable)

Performance
collection area vs. energy

Number of telescope needed to reach

an effective collection area of 4km for
a given telescope type (pixel FoV)
at a given energy

36

Thomas Bretz (EPFL), August 24th 2010

37

Conclusions
World wide project with major contributions from Europe
CTA is the future of Cherenkov astronomy and offers a lot of interesting and exciting physics
It will turn Imaging air Cherenkov experiments into a Cherenkov observatory
Studies have shown that the phase space of possible solutions is rather limited,
which makes it easy to optimize the performance of the full array
Several prototype studies are already on-going including a full featured telescope (FACT)
CTA's official preparatory phase is starting right now and will last roughly three years
Swiss institutes could be well prepared to play a leading role in the design and
construction of the small size telescopes, which would be a major contribution to CTA