SGARFACE: A Novel Detector For Microsecond Gamma Ray Bursts

Abstract

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