Speaker
Mrs
Sabina Pürckhauer
(Max-Planck Institut für Kernphysik)
Description
In this presentation, the performance of a template-based event reconstruction algorithm
will be shown for the first time for the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA), the next gen-
eration ground-based instrument for gamma-ray astronomy. In the Image Pixel-wise fit for
Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (ImPACT) the charge measured in each camera pixel of
each telescope during an extended air shower (EAS) event is compared to an expected image
template through a maximum likelihood fit. This allows us to reconstruct the direction and
energy of the primary EAS particle and to accurately discriminate between gamma-ray sig-
nals and cosmic-ray background. This method already led to an improved H.E.S.S. sensitivity
and angular resolution that was used successfully to study the extension of RX J1713.7-3946
and the Crab nebula.
For CTA, the study is based on air shower Monte-Carlo simulations and a detailed ray-
tracing of the produced Cherenkov light within the individual telescopes of the CTA layout
of the Southern Hemisphere. We will show that with ImPACT high angular resolutions
and sensitivities can be reached over the full energy range of CTA between 20 GeV and
300 TeV. With the same data quality selection cuts applied, for most energies a significant
enhancement in both properties is achievable compared to the standard analysis. This will
reduce observation time needed for detection of TeV gamma-sources and improve the accuracy
of morphological studies of complex sources.
Primary author
Mrs
Sabina Pürckhauer
(Max-Planck Institut für Kernphysik)
Co-authors
Prof.
J. Hinton
(Max-Planck Institut für Kernphysik)
Dr
R.D. Parsons
(Max-Planck Institut für Kernphysik)