Operating performance of the gamma-ray Cherenkov telescope: An end-to-end Schwarzschild–Couder telescope prototype for the Cherenkov Telescope Array

• Published in: Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment Vol. 845; pp. 355 - 358
• Main Authors: Dournaux, J.L., De Franco, A., Laporte, P., White, R., Greenshaw, T., Sol, H., Abchiche, A., Allan, D., Amans, J.P., Armstrong, T.P., Balzer, A., Berge, D., Boisson, C., Bousquet, J.J., Brown, A.M., Bryan, M., Buchholtz, G., Chadwick, P.M., Costantini, H., Cotter, G., Daniel, M., De Frondat, F., Dumas, D., Ernenwein, J.P., Fasola, G., Funk, S., Gaudemard, J., Graham, J.A., Gironnet, J., Hervet, O., Hidaka, N., Hinton, J.A., Huet, J.M., Jégouzo, I., Jogler, T., Kawashima, T., Kraus, M., Lapington, J.S., Lefaucheur, J., Markoff, S., Melse, T., Morhrmann, L., Molnyeux, P., Nolan, S.J., Okumura, A., Parsons, R.D., Ross, D., Rowell, G., Sato, Y., Sayède, F., Schmoll, J., Schoorlemmer, H., Servillat, M., Stamatescu, V., Stephan, M., Stuik, R., Sykes, J., Tajima, H., Thornhill, J., Tibaldo, L., Trichard, C., Vink, J., Watson, J., Yamane, N., Zech, A., Zink, A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 11.02.2017
• Subjects: Cherenkov detector; Cherenkov telescopes; CTA; GCT; IACT; Schwarzschild–Couder telescope; CTA; GCT; Cherenkov detector; IACT; Schwarzschild–Couder telescope; Cherenkov telescopes
• ISSN: 0168-9002; 1872-9576
• DOI: 10.1016/j.nima.2016.05.059

The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) consortium aims to build the next-generation ground-based very-high-energy gamma-ray observatory. The array will feature different sizes of telescopes allowing it to cover a wide gamma-ray energy band from about 20GeV to above 100TeV. The highest energies, above 5TeV, will be covered by a large number of Small-Sized Telescopes (SSTs) with a field-of-view of around 9°. The Gamma-ray Cherenkov Telescope (GCT), based on Schwarzschild–Couder dual-mirror optics, is one of the three proposed SST designs. The GCT is described in this contribution and the first images of Cherenkov showers obtained using the telescope and its camera are presented. These were obtained in November 2015 in Meudon, 2http://www.cta-observatory.orgFrance.