Speaker
Description
The Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO), the new transformational ground-based instrument for the study of high-energy phenomena in the Universe, is currently under construction, with the first Large Size Telescopes (LSTs) already operational in the Canary Islands, Spain. A significant component of the U.S. effort in CTAO consortium, along with those of international partners, has been the development of an innovative dual-mirror Schwarzschild-Couder Telescope (SCT) as an enhanced design for the Medium Size Telescopes (MSTs) for CTAO that will operate in the energy range of 150 GeV to 5 TeV. The SCT aims to reach the theoretical limit of IACT technology, achieving a broad field of view and high imaging resolution through a novel, aplanatic optical system and compact silicon photomultiplier detectors. The aperture of SCT is 9.7 m and it also includes a demagnifying secondary mirror of 5.4 m diameter. It has the potential to boost the field of VHE gamma-ray astronomy by offering major improvements in gamma-ray angular resolution and off-axis sensitivity over a wide 8-degrees field of view. The reduced plate scale of the SCT camera allows the use of 6mm size high quantum efficiency (QE) silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs), thus enabling the acquisition of high-resolution images. A first of its kind SCT has been built adjacent to the VERITAS telescopes at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory in Arizona, and is currently being upgraded to an instrument with a full camera of 11,328 pixels. The motivation for integrating SCTs into the CTAO southern array is to enhance the scientific capabilities of CTAO, particularly for sky surveys, resolving source confusion in crowded regions, detecting poorly localized multi-messenger transients, and detailing the morphology of gamma-ray sources with large angular extents. We give an update on the current status of the SCT project.
