Speaker
Description
The MACE (Major Atmospheric Cherenkov Experiment) is an Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescope (IACT) located in Hanle, India. It has highest altitude of 4270 m among all the IACTs in the world. The high altitude of MACE along with its large reflector having diameter of 21 m is expected to yield wide energy coverage of ~20 GeV to ~20 TeV. We have carried out detailed Monte Carlo simulations of the MACE response to gamma and cosmic ray showers in this energy range for various zenith angles between 0$^{\circ}$ to 60$^{\circ}$. We estimated the variation of integral flux sensitivity, angular resolution and energy resolution as a function of energy, at various zenith angles. We find that the energy threshold of the MACE remains steady between ~30 GeV to ~50 GeV over the zenith angle range of 0$^{\circ}$ to 40$^{\circ}$ with integral flux sensitivity of ~2 % Crab. The Angular resolution of the MACE improves from 0.21$^{\circ}$ near the energy threshold to 0.07$^{\circ}$ at energy of > 1 TeV for zenith angle range of 0$^{\circ}$ to 40$^{\circ}$. The expected energy resolution of the MACE in the zenith angle range of 0$^{\circ}$ to 40$^{\circ}$ varies from ~40% near energy threshold to ~20% for energies above 1 TeV. The MACE will detect Crab like point source within few minutes at all zenith angles, with best detection time of ~80 seconds occurring at zenith angle of 25$^{\circ}$.
Keywords
IACT ; Cherenkv Telescope ; Gamma ray astronomy
Subcategory | Experimental Methods & Instrumentation |
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Collaboration | other (fill field below) |
other Collaboration | MACE |