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Register a new userThe Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS)
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We give an overview of the current status and scientific goals of VERITAS, a proposed hexagonal array of seven 10 m aperture imaging Cherenkov telescopes. The selected site is Montosa Canyon (1390 m a.s.l.) at the Whipple Observatory, Arizona. Each telescope, of 12 m focal length, will initially be equipped with a 499 element photomultiplier camera covering a 3.5 degree field of view. A central station will initiate the readout of 500 MHz FADCs upon receipt of multiple telescope triggers. The minimum detectable flux sensitivity will be 0.5% of the Crab Nebula flux at 200 GeV. Detailed simulations of the arrays performance are presented elsewhere at this meeting. VERITAS will operate primarily as a gamma-ray observatory in the 50 GeV to 50 TeV range for the study of active galaxies, supernova remnants, pulsars and gamma-ray bursts.
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The VERITAS Cherenkov telescope array has been fully operational since Fall 2007 and has fulfilled or outperformed its design specifications. We are preparing an upgrade program with the goal to lower the energy threshold and improve the sensitivity of VERITAS at all accessible energies. In the baseline program of the upgrade we will relocate one of the four telescopes, replace the photo-sensors by higher efficiency photomultipliers and install a new trigger system. In the enhanced program of the upgrade we foresee, in addition, the construction of a fifth telescope and installation of an active mirror alignment system.
We present a sophisticated likelihood reconstruction algorithm for shower-image analysis of imaging Cherenkov telescopes. The reconstruction algorithm is based on the comparison of the camera pixel amplitudes with the predictions from a Monte Carlo based model. Shower parameters are determined by a maximisation of a likelihood function. Maximisation of the likelihood as a function of shower fit parameters is performed using a numerical non-linear optimisation technique. A related reconstruction technique has already been developed by the CAT and the H.E.S.S. experiments, and provides a more precise direction and energy reconstruction of the photon induced shower compared to the second moment of the camera image analysis. Examples are shown of the performance of the analysis on simulated gamma-ray data from the VERITAS array.
Very high energy gamma-ray observations offer indirect methods for studying the highest energy cosmic rays in our Universe. The origin of cosmic rays at energies greater than $10^{18}$ eV remains a mystery, and many questions in particle astrophysics exist. The VERITAS observatory in southern Arizona, USA, carries out an extensive observation program of the gamma-ray sky at energies above 85 GeV. Observations of Galactic and extragalactic sources in the TeV band provide clues to the highly energetic processes occurring in these objects, and could provide indirect evidence for the origin of cosmic rays and the sites of particle acceleration in the Universe. VERITAS has now been operational for ten years with the complete array of four atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes. In this review, we present the status of VERITAS, and give few results from three of its key scientific programs: extragalactic science, Galactic physics, and study of fundamental physics and cosmology.
The first atmospheric Cherenkov telescope of VERITAS (the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System) has been in operation since February 2005. We present here a technical description of the instrument and a summary of its performance. The calibration methods are described, along with the results of Monte Carlo simulations of the telescope and comparisons between real and simulated data. The analysis of TeV $gamma$-ray observations of the Crab Nebula, including the reconstructed energy spectrum, is shown to give results consistent with earlier measurements. The telescope is operating as expected and has met or exceeded all design specifications.
The Naval Research Laboratory and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory completed implementation of a low frequency capability on the VLA at 73.8 MHz in 1998. This frequency band offers unprecedented sensitivity (~25 mJy/beam) and resolution (~25 arcsec) for low-frequency observations. We review the hardware, the calibration and imaging strategies, comparing them to those at higher frequencies, including aspects of interference excision and wide-field imaging. Ionospheric phase fluctuations pose the major difficulty in calibrating the array. Over restricted fields of view or at times of extremely quiescent ionospheric ``weather, an angle-invariant calibration strategy can be used. In this approach a single phase correction is devised for each antenna, typically via self-calibration. Over larger fields of view or at times of more normal ionospheric ``weather when the ionospheric isoplanatic patch size is smaller than the field of view, we adopt a field-based strategy in which the phase correction depends upon location within the field of view. This second calibration strategy was implemented by modeling the ionosphere above the array using Zernike polynomials. Images of 3C sources of moderate strength are provided as examples of routine, angle-invariant calibration and imaging. Flux density measurements indicate that the 74 MHz flux scale at the VLA is stable to a few percent, and tied to the Baars et al. value of Cygnus A at the 5 percent level. We also present an example of a wide-field image, devoid of bright objects and containing hundreds of weaker sources, constructed from the field-based calibration. We close with a summary of lessons the 74 MHz system offers as a model for new and developing low-frequency telescopes. (Abridged)
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