145 research outputs found
Prospects for Observations of Pulsars and Pulsar Wind Nebulae with CTA
The last few years have seen a revolution in very-high gamma-ray astronomy
(VHE; E>100 GeV) driven largely by a new generation of Cherenkov telescopes
(namely the H.E.S.S. telescope array, the MAGIC and MAGIC-II large telescopes
and the VERITAS telescope array). The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) project
foresees a factor of 5 to 10 improvement in sensitivity above 0.1 TeV,
extending the accessible energy range to higher energies up to 100 TeV, in the
Galactic cut-off regime, and down to a few tens GeV, covering the VHE photon
spectrum with good energy and angular resolution. As a result of the fast
development of the VHE field, the number of pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe) detected
has increased from one PWN in the early '90s to more than two dozen firm
candidates today. Also, the low energy threshold achieved and good sensitivity
at TeV energies has resulted in the detection of pulsed emission from the Crab
Pulsar (or its close environment) opening new and exiting expectations about
the pulsed spectra of the high energy pulsars powering PWNe. Here we discuss
the physics goals we aim to achieve with CTA on pulsar and PWNe physics
evaluating the response of the instrument for different configurations.Comment: accepted for publication in Astroparticle Physic
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