An Observatory to Study 10 (10) to 10 (17) EV Gamma Rays

A facility is described which incorporates many of the best features of existing gamma ray telescopes at a single site. In addition to reducing the flux sensitivity in some energy ranges, it permits the measurements of the energy spectrum over seven decades of energy

Faster Background Determination - a method for gaining time coverage and flux measurement accuracy with Cherenkov telescopes

An improved way of taking off-source data for background determination in Cherenkov telescope observations is proposed. Generalizing the traditional concept of taking on-source/off-source observations of equal duration (e.g. 30 minutes ON followed by 30 minutes OFF), Faster Background Determination (FBD) permits an off-source observation with the same zenith angle distribution as the on-source observation to be obtained within less time. The method permits the on-source observation time to be maximized without compromising the quality of the background determination. It also increases the signal significance for strong sources. The only modification necessary in the data acquisition is a small change to the tracking algorithm. The only modification necessary in the data analysis is to introduce a time normalization which does not increase the systematic errors. The method could become the normal observing mode for Cherenkov telescopes when observing strong sources.Comment: LaTeX, 13 pages, 4 figures, Astropart. Phys., in pres

SGARFACE: A Novel Detector For Microsecond Gamma Ray Bursts

The Short GAmma Ray Front Air Cherenkov Experiment (SGARFACE) is operated at the Whipple Observatory utilizing the Whipple 10m gamma-ray telescope. SGARFACE is sensitive to gamma-ray bursts of more than 100MeV with durations from 100ns to 35us and provides a fluence sensitivity as low as 0.8 gamma-rays per m^2 above 200MeV (0.05 gamma-rays per m^2 above 2GeV) and allows to record the burst time structure.Comment: 29 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication in Astroparticle Physic

Flux Sensitivity of VERITAS

VERITAS is a new major ground-based gamma-ray observatory with an array of seven 10 m optical reflectors to be built at the Whipple Observatory in southern Arizona, USA. It will consist of an array of imaging Cherenkov telescopes designed to conduct critical measurements of AGNs and SNRs in the energy range of 50 GeV - 50 TeV. The design of the array has been optimized for the highest sensitivity to point sources in the 100 GeV - 10 TeV band when the stereoscopic imaging technique is employed. Maximum versatility of the array has been another major optimization criterion. We present the flux sensitivity of the baseline VERITAS configuration.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, presented at VERITAS Workshop on TeV Astrophysics of Extragalactic Sources, Cambridge, MA, Oct. 23-24, 1998. In press, Astroparticle Physics, ed. M. Catanese, J. Quinn, T. Weeke