MG14 - Talk detail

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The very-high energy gamma-ray band (above a few tens of GeV up to 100 TeV) is the natural domain where the study of astrophysical sources is tangled with the realm of particle physics. Several outstanding results were obtained so far by the H.E.S.S., MAGIC, and VERITAS Cherenkov arrays, both on Galactic and extra-Galactic sources, such as the investigation of the innermost surroundings of super-massive black-holes, or the detailed morphology of several supernova remnants and pulsar wind nebulae. The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) project is an initiative to build the next generation ground-based very high-energy gamma-ray instrument. It will serve as an open observatory to a wide astrophysics community and will provide a deep insight into the non-thermal high-energy universe. Current systems of Cherenkov telescopes use at most five telescopes, providing best stereo imaging of particle cascades over a very limited area, with most cascades viewed by only two or three telescopes. The CTA array is instead based upon many tens of telescopes that will allow the detection of gamma-ray induced cascades over a large area on the ground, increasing the number of detected gamma rays dramatically, simultaneously providing a much larger number of views of each cascade. This results in both improved angular resolution and better suppression of cosmic-ray background events. Moreover, the CTA design foresees both to enhance by a factor of 5-10 the sensitivity in the current very high-energy gamma-ray domain (covering the range from 100 GeV to some 10 TeV) and to extend the accessible energy range from well below 100 GeV to above 100 TeV. In the current design scenario, the southern hemisphere array of CTA will consist of three types of telescopes with different mirror sizes (24, 12 and 4 m) in order to cover the full energy range. The northern hemisphere array should consist of the two larger telescope types (24 and 12 m). The final selection of both Northern and Southern sites is foreseen to happen within the next months. In this talk I will review both the science goals and the technological aspects of CTA, and report on the development status of the project. I will also report on the roadmap that will bring the project to the implementation. Such a roadmap will be based on intermediate steps with the development of mini-arrays of telescope precursors like e.g. the ASTRI project.

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