Brief history of ground-based very high energy gamma-ray astrophysics with atmospheric air Cherenkov telescopes |
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| Institution: | 1. Center for Space Science and Astrophysics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA;2. Department of Physics, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA;3. Edwards Air Force Base, CA 93524, USA;4. Department of Nuclear Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA;5. Department of Physics, United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, CO 80920, USA;6. NASA/Ames Research Center, MS 245-3, Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA;1. Departamento de Física de Partículas & Instituto Galego de Física de Altas Enerxías, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain;2. University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA;1. Universität Duisburg-Essen, Fakultät für Physik, D-47048 Duisburg, Germany;2. Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung GSI, D-64291 Darmstadt, Germany |
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| Abstract: | The discovery of the Crab Nebula as the first source of TeV gamma rays in 1989, using the technique of ground-based imaging air Cherenkov telescope, has marked the birthday of observational gamma astronomy in very high energy range. The team led by Trevor Weekes, after twenty years of trial and error, success and misfortune, step-by-step improvements in both the technique and understanding of gamma shower discrimination methods, used the 10 m diameter telescope on Mount Hopkins in Arizona, and succeeded measuring a 9σ signal from the direction of Crab Nebula. As of today over 160 sources of gamma rays of very different types, of both galactic and extra-galactic origin, have been discovered due to this technique. This is a really fast evolving branch in science, rapidly improving our understanding of the most violent and energetic sources and processes in the sky.The study of these sources provides clues to many basic questions in astrophysics, astro-particle physics, physics of cosmic rays and cosmology. Today’s telescopes, despite the young age of the technique, offer a solid performance. The technique is still maturing, leading to the next generation large instrument. This article is devoted to outlining the milestones in a long history that step-by-step have made this technique emerge and have brought about today’s successful source hunting. |
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| Keywords: | Very high energy gamma ray astronomy Very high energy gamma ray astrophysics Atmospheric Cherenkov telescope Air Cherenkov telescope Cherenkov light emission |
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