No Arabic abstract
ASTRI is a Flagship Project financed by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research, and led by INAF, the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics. The primary goal of the ASTRI project is the realization of an end-to-end prototype of a Small Size Telescope for the Cherenkov Telescope Array. The prototype, named ASTRI SST-2M, is based on a completely new double mirror optics design and will be equipped with a camera made of a matrix of SiPM detectors. Here we describe the ASTRI SST-2M camera concept: basic idea, detectors, electronics, current status and some results coming from experiments in lab.
ASTRI is a Flagship Project financed by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research, and led by the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics, INAF. Primary goal of the ASTRI project is the design and production of an end-to-end prototype of Small Size Telescope for the CTA (Cherenkov Telescope Array) in a dual-mirror configuration (SST-2M) equipped with a camera at the focal plane composed by an array of Silicon Photo-Multipliers and devoted to the investigation of the highest gamma-ray energy band. The ASTRI SST-2M prototype will be placed at the INAF M.G. Fracastoro observing station in Serra La Nave on the Etna Mountain near Catania, Italy. After the verification tests, devoted to probe the technological solutions adopted, the ASTRI SST-2M prototype will perform scientific observations on the Crab Nebula and on some of the brightest TeV sources. Here we present the Serra La Nave site, its meteorological and weather conditions, the sky darkness and visibility, and the complex of auxiliary instrumentation that will be used on site to support the calibration and science verification phase as well as the regular data reconstruction and analysis of the ASTRI SST-2M prototype.
The study of ring images generated from high-energy muons is a very useful tool for the performance monitoring and calibration of any Imaging Atmosphere Cherenkov Telescope. Isolated muons travelling towards the telescope light collector system produce characteristic Cherenkov ring images in the focal plane camera. Since the geometry and the distribution of light deployed onto the camera can be easily reconstructed analytically for a muon of given energy and direction, muon rings are a powerful tool for monitoring the behaviour of crucial properties of an imaging telescope such as the point-spread-function and the overall light collection efficiency. In this contribution we present the possibility of using the analysis of muon ring images as calibrator for the ASTRI SST-2M prototype point spread function.
ASTRI (Astrofisica con Specchi a Tecnologia Replicante Italiana) is an Italian flagship project pursued by INAF (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica) strictly linked to the development of the Cherenkov Telescope Array, CTA. Primary goal of the ASTRI program is the design and production of an end-to-end prototype of a Small Size Telescope for the CTA sub-array devoted to the highest gamma-ray energy region. The prototype, named ASTRI SST-2M, will be tested on field in Italy during 2014. This telescope will be the first Cherenkov telescope adopting the double reflection layout in a Schwarzschild-Couder configuration with a tessellated primary mirror and a monolithic secondary mirror. The collected light will be focused on a compact and light-weight camera based on silicon photo-multipliers covering a 9.6 deg full field of view. Detailed Monte Carlo simulations have been performed to estimate the performance of the planned telescope. The results regarding its energy threshold, sensitivity and angular resolution are shown and discussed.
ASTRI SST-2M is the end-to-end prototype telescope of the Italian National Institute of Astro- physics, INAF, designed to investigate the 10-100 TeV band in the framework of the Cherenkov Telescope Array, CTA. The ASTRI SST-2M telescope has been installed in Italy in September 2014, at the INAF ob- serving station located at Serra La Nave on Mount Etna. The telescope is foreseen to be completed and fully operative in spring 2015 including auxiliary instrumentation needed to support both operations and data anal- ysis. In this contribution we present the current status of a sub-set of the auxiliary instruments that are being used at the Serra La Nave site, namely an All Sky Camera, an Electric Field Meter and a Raman Lidar devoted, together with further instrumentation, to the monitoring of the atmospheric and environmental conditions. The data analysis techniques under development for these instruments could be applied at the CTA sites, where similar auxiliary instrumentation will be installed.
ASTRI is a Flagship Project of the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research, led by the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics, INAF. One of the main aims of the ASTRI Project is the design, construction and verification on-field of a dual mirror (2M) end-to-end prototype for the Small Size Telescope (SST) envisaged to become part of the Cherenkov Telescope Array. The ASTRI SST-2M prototype adopts the Schwarzschild-Couder design, and a camera based on SiPM (Silicon Photo Multiplier); it will be assembled at the INAF astronomical site of Serra La Nave on mount Etna (Catania, Italy) within mid 2014, and will start scientific validation phase soon after. The peculiarities of the optical design and of the SiPM bandpass pushed towards specifically optimized choices in terms of reflective coatings for both the primary and the secondary mirror. In particular, multi-layer dielectric coatings, capable of filtering out the large Night Sky Background contamination at wavelengths $lambda gtrsim 700$ nm have been developed and tested, as a solution for the primary mirrors. Due to the conformation of the ASTRI SST-2M camera, a reimaging system based on thin pyramidal light guides could be optionally integrated aiming to increase the fill factor. An anti-reflective coating optimized for a wide range of incident angles faraway from normality was specifically developed to enhance the UV-optical transparency of these elements. The issues, strategy, simulations and experimental results are thoroughly presented.