The Stereoscopic Analog Trigger of the MAGIC Telescopes

The 17m Major Atmospheric Gamma-ray Imaging Cherenkov (MAGIC) Telescope located on the canary island La Palma has the lowest energy threshold of all existing Cherenkov Telescopes. This makes MAGIC well suited to look for high energy gamma rays coming from e.g. neutralino annihilation in Dark Matter (DM) dominated source candidates like spheroidal dwarf galaxies. So far, DRACO and Willman-I have been observed for several hours each, but no signal was found and the upper limits received look not very encouraging. On the other hand, the AGILE and FERMI satellites might soon detect more promising candidates like hypothetical mini-halos or intermediate mass black holes. In such cases, follow up observations with Cherenkov telescopes with their much higher sensitivity above ≈ 100 GeV will be needed to fully measure the spectra and search for a characteristic energy cutoff. In case of a positive detection of a DM signal, an absolute energy calibration will be crucial. So far, Cherenkov telescopes had to rely fully on Monte Carlo simulations, resulting in a rather large systematic uncertainty. With an improved trigger electronics, MAGIC recently was able to see the cutoff energy of the Crab pulsar. Since this cutoff energy is within reach of FERMI, a cross-calibration of both instruments will soon be possible.

Ground-based observatories allow for the detection of the most energetic forms of cosmic radiation in a multi-messenger context, including cosmic rays with energies above 10 15 eV and gamma rays with energies above 10 10 eV. Current experiments, such as the Pierre Auger Observatory, and forthcoming ones, such as the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA), have to deal with interpreting extensive air showers to reconstruct the fluxes of particles arriving at Earth. In this scenario, the general purpose of this thesis is to contribute to the improvement of the techniques used to reconstruct the properties of the primary particle in measurements of extensive air showers. In particular, four individual studies based on the simulation of air showers are presented. First, a study of the fluctuations in the atmospheric depth at which a shower reaches its maximum (X max ) is performed. The best functional form to describe the simulated X max distributions is selected and, along with two alternative functions, parametrized. This study aims to improve the reconstruction of the relative abundances of primary masses in the ultra-high-energy regime (E 0 > 10 17 eV) and to provide a practical tool for any other studies depending on X max distributions. Second, the angular distribution of Cherenkov light emitted from extensive air showers is parametrized using simulations performed in a broad energy range: from 100 GeV to 1 EeV. For this, a functional form to describe the angular distribution of Cherenkov photons is built using analytical arguments, and its parameters are constrained to describe the simulated showers. The resulting parametrization can be used to reconstruct the properties of air showers both through fluorescence detectors and Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACT). Third, a technique to measure X max through IACTs is developed. The proposed technique is shown to provide a resolution comparable to that of fluorescence detectors, allowing for mass composition studies around the knee in the cosmic-ray spectrum. Fourth, the problem of modeling hadronic interactions is visited in the context of the CTA observatory. An analysis based on simulations is performed to determine the extent to which image parameters reconstructed by IACTs are influenced by uncertainties in hadronic interaction models. Then, a computation of the uncertainty on the estimated CTA sensitivity curve due to hadronic interaction models is performed.

Potential for measuring the longitudinal and lateral profile of muons in TeV air showers with IACTs

Throughout this thesis, the spectral and temporal long-term behavior of the Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN) 1ES1959+650 is studied. Being a blazar, i.e. an AGN with a highly relativistic plasma outflow pointing towards the Earth, and having shown strong hints of hadronic emission processes in the past, 1ES1959+650 is a primary candidate for a source of cosmic rays. The origin of these ultra high energetic charged particles is the central question of astroparticle physics. Therefore, 1ES1959+650 has been monitored with the MAGIC telescope since 2004, measuring very high energy (VHE) gamma-rays. The resulting time-integrated energy spectrum reported here is by far the most exact one determined for this source up to now. Also the temporal variability for different wavelength bands, which should be connected in the case of most non-hadronic emission processes, is examined in this thesis. While strong variations occur in the optical and X-rays, the VHE gamma-ray emission is compatible with a constant flux. Furthermore, the time-integrated spectral energy distribution is compiled from radio to VHE gamma-rays and modeled for hadronic and leptonic emission scenarios to unveil the character of the emitting particles. Unexpected results are obtained on the spectral shape of the observed blazar, especially in high energy gamma-rays. By this, 1ES1959+650 is one of the very first high frequency peaked blazars whose non-thermal emission cannot be explained with a single-zone SSC model.Additionally, in this thesis the idea of long-term monitoring of blazars at VHE gamma-rays is pursued further. The FACT telescope, the first application of G-APDs as photosensors in an imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescope, has recently been constructed and already during its commissioning phase reported on very promising first results. After the commissioning, it will be devoted to monitoring observations of bright blazars. For the construction of this telescope, the completely reworked aluminum mirrors have been characterized, including measurements of the focal lengths and the spot sizes of a reflected point-like light source.Finally, it is presented that DWARF, a global network of a small number of Cherenkov telescopes dedicated to monitoring observations of TeV-bright blazars, will be well suited to obtain comprehensive, well sampled lightcurves which are needed to study possible temporal correlations between VHE gamma-rays and other wavelengths.

The High Energy Stereoscopic system, H.E.S.S. is an array of four imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes, designed for the study of non-thermal phenomena in the universe at very high energies (VHE). The sensitivity of telescope systems such as H.E.S.S. can considerably be improved by a better discrimination of the vast number of hadronic cosmic-ray background events against the very rare gamma-ray signal events. In this work, an elaborated discrimination technique – the Boosted Decision Tree method – has been developed and its capabilities in terms of gamma/hadron separation and improved sensitivity are demonstrated. In the second part, the BDT method is applied to data obtained in observations of massive star forming environments, namely the colliding wind binary η Carinae, the massive stellar cluster Westerlund 1 and the Starburst galaxy NGC 253. An upper limit on the gamma-ray flux of the famous colliding wind binary system η Carinae is derived and, for the first time, an alternative model for the high-energy emission observed by the Fermi satellite is presented. The detection of very extended VHE gamma-ray emission from the vicinity of Westerlund 1 is reported and thorough spectral and morphological tests are presented. Large parts of the resolved emission can be explained in a hadronic scenario, however, a decisive conclusion can not be drawn. Finally, the BDT method allowed to detect the first Starburst galaxy, namely NGC253, in VHE gamma rays. Spectral and morphological results are presented and suggest that large parts of the CR energy content are convectively and diffusively transported into the intergalactic medium.

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are the most intense and unpredictable gamma-ray events from the Universe. Without prior signal, an enormous amount of energy is released for seconds, energizing particles and generating the observed 10e5-10e6 eV gamma-ray photons. The emitting regions can produce Very-High-Energy (VHE) gamma-ray photons of energy about 10e11 eV during and after the burst. These VHE gamma-rays may be attenuated in the source or by the extragalactic background light (EBL). The H.E.S.S. array of four imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes (IACT) is sensitive to VHE gamma-rays. H.E.S.S. observations of 34 GRBs were carried out during 2003-2008, with the shortest response time being six minutes. No evidence of VHE gamma-rays was found. Flux upper limits derived for GRB030329 and GRB060505 are compared and are found consistent with the synchrotron self-Compton flux calculated in the context of relativistic blast-wave model. Absorption by EBL was taken into consideration. Accidentally, GRB060602B was observed with H.E.S.S. throughout the GRB duration, during which no signal of VHE gamma-rays was found. The distance scale and origin of GRB060602B remain unclear and different possibilities and implications are presented. Future prospects of VHE gamma-ray observations of GRBs are discussed.

MAGIC (Major Atmospheric Gamma-ray Imaging Cherenkov Telescope) is a system of two 17 meters Cherenkov telescopes, sensitive to very high energy (VHE; $> 10^{11}$ eV) gamma radiation above an energy threshold of 50 GeV. The first telescope was built in 2004 and operated for five years in stand-alone mode. A second MAGIC telescope (MAGIC-II), at a distance of 85 meters from the first one, started taking data in July 2009. Together they integrate the MAGIC stereoscopic system. Stereoscopic observations have improved the MAGIC sensitivity and its performance in terms of spectral and angular resolution, especially at low energies. We report on the status of the telescope system and highlight selected recent results from observations of galactic and extragalactic gamma-ray sources. The variety of sources discussed includes pulsars, galactic binary systems, clusters of galaxies, radio galaxies, quasars, BL Lacertae objects and more.

The detailed simulation of extended air showers (EAS) and their emission of Cherenkov and fluorescence light requires increasing computation time and storage volume with increasing energy of the primary particle. Given these limitations, it is currently challenging to optimize configurations of imaging air Cherenkov telescopes at photon energies beyond approximately 100 TeV. Additionally, the existing simulation frameworks are not capable of capturing the interplay of Cherenkov and fluorescence light emission at large zenith angle distances (≳ 70°), where the collection area of Cherenkov telescopes considerably increases. Here, we present EASpy, a framework for the simulation of EAS at large zenith angles using parametrizations for electron-positron distributions. Our proposed approach for the emission of fluorescence and Cherenkov light and the subsequent imaging of these components by Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs) aims to provide flexibility and accuracy while at the same time it reduces the computation time considerably compared to full Monte Carlo simulations. We find excellent agreement of the resulting Cherenkov images when comparing results obtained from EASpy with the de-facto standard simulation tool CORSIKA and sim_telarray. In the process of verifying our approach, we have found that air shower images appear wider and longer with increasing impact distance at large zenith angles, an effect that has previously not been noted. We also investigate the distribution of light on the ground for fluorescence and Cherenkov emission and highlight their key differences to distributions at moderate zenith angles.

Night Sky Background (NSB) is a complex phenomenon, consisting of all light detected by Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs) not attributable to Cherenkov light emission. Understanding the effect of NSB on cameras for the next-generation Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is important, as it affects the systematic errors on observations, the energy threshold, the thermal control of the cameras and the ability of the telescopes to operate under partial moonlight conditions. This capacity to observe under partial moonlight conditions is crucial for the CTA transient science programme, as it substantially increases the potential observing time. Using tools initially developed for H.E.S.S. (in combination with the prototype CTA analysis package ctapipe) we will present predictions for the NSB present in images taken by the CTA Small Sized Telescope Camera (SSTCAM), showing that SSTCAM will likely be able to meet the associated CTA requirements. Additionally, we calculate the potential observing time gain by operating under high NSB conditions.

Very-high-energy (VHE) gamma-ray astronomy has opened a unique window into the Universe of the highest energies, allowing one to efficiently investigate the question of the origin of high-energy cosmic rays. The H.E.S.S. array of four Imaging atmospheric Cherenkov (IACT) telescopes is utilised in this work to search for VHE gamma-rays from selected candidate extragalactic objects that are expected to contain significant populations of cosmic rays: galaxy clusters Abell 496, Abell 85, Coma cluster, Abell 754, Centaurus cluster and Hydra A, starburst galaxies NGC 253 and M 83, from an ultraluminous infrared galaxy Arp 220 and from an active galactic nucleus (AGN), RGB J0152+017. The instrument is described, giving an overview of the IACT technique, the data acquisition, data-quality determination, calibration, performance, and the actual analysis that was used to obtain the results. In the starburst galaxy NGC 253, a hint of a VHE signal is found at a ~3 sigma significance level. No significant VHE signal is found from the remaining non-AGN objects, and upper limits are presented. The upper limits of Abell 85 and Abell 496 are used to constrain the non-thermal to thermal energy ratio, which is ~8% for Abell 85 and is thus challenging theoretical estimates. The AGN, RGBJ0152+017, is in this work discovered in VHE gamma rays and its first-time broad-band spectral energy distribution is presented. While no new type of a VHE emitter is established, the presented theoretical expectations are very promising for the planned CTA observatory.

With very high energy (VHE) gamma-ray astronomy becoming a mature branch of observational astrophysics, and the multi-messenger sky being opened up by neutrino observatories and gravitational wave detectors, we here propose to set up a ring of imaging air Cherenkov telescopes – the Cherenkov Telescope Ring (CTR). The aim of this proposed project would be to facilitate continuous monitoring of sources on the VHE- and multi-messenger sky with minimal time delays and with high sensitivity. Development time and construction cost could be kept comparatively low by both including existing facilities into the monitoring effort, and by relying on substantial previous expertise gained in the community on the road towards the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA). This way, the Ring could prove to be a highly efficient facility greatly enhancing the science prospects for future ground-based high-energy astrophysics.

The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) observatory will probe the non-thermal universe above 20 GeV up to several hundreds of TeV with a significant improvement in sensitivity and angular resolution compared to current experiments. Its outstanding capabilities will allow to increase the number of extragalactic cosmic accelerators detected at very high energy (VHE) and therefore to better constrain the population of VHE accelerators and the gamma-ray absorption processes in the intergalactic medium. For the first time in the history of imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes (IACTs), CTA will be an open observatory and high-level data will be made available to the astronomical community. Gammapy is an open-source Python package developed by the Cherenkov telescope community that provides tools to simulate the gamma-ray sky and analyse IACT data. The versatile architecture of, and steady user contributions to Gammapy enable a large variety of high-level data analyses. Examples of Gaammapy applications are presented, particularly in the context of extragalactic science with CTA.

Recent developments in machine learning (ML) techniques present a promising new analysis method for high-speed imaging in astroparticle physics experiments, for example with imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes (IACTs). In particular, the use of timing information with new machine learning techniques provides a novel method for event classification. Previous work in this field has utilised images of the integrated charge from IACT camera photomultipliers, but the majority of current and upcoming IACT cameras have the capacity to read out the entire photosensor waveform following a trigger. As the arrival times of Cherenkov photons from extensive air showers (EAS) at the camera plane are dependent upon the altitude of their emission, these waveforms contain information useful for IACT event classification. In this work, we investigate the potential for using these waveforms with ML techniques, and find that a highly effective means of utilising their information is to create a set of seven additional two dimensional histograms of waveform parameters to be fed into the machine learning algorithm along with the integrated charge image. This appears to be superior to using only these new ML techniques with the waveform integrated charge alone. We also examine these timing-based ML techniques in the context of other experiments.

Unlike Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs), Extensive Air Shower (EAS) arrays can observe cosmic rays with wide fields of view of about 2 sr and with duty cycles of almost 24 hours every day regardless of weather conditions or the moonlight. Some EAS arrays are located at high altitudes to lower their observation thresholds of cosmic rays and successfully observe gamma rays in the range of several TeV. However, sensitivity of EAS arrays is not as good as IACT mainly because the angular resolution of EAS arrays is poor. In this paper, we report the progress of performance study of an EAS array of scintillation detectors with surface water Cherenkov detectors (WCDs) for improving its angular resolution.

The operation of a small-size Cherenkov gamma-ray telescope TAIGA-IACT with camera on SiPMs OnSemi MicroFJ-60035 has been modelled by multiparticle Monte Carlo (MC) methods. The model implies that telescope camera is equipped with two specific types of filters of 290 - 590 nm (visible+NUV) and 220 - 320 nm (MUV+UVB)-bands, each covering half of the camera pixels in some uniform order. This allows one to measure the fraction of UV-radiation in total amount of Cherenkov radiation of an extensive air shower (EAS), that can be used for efficient gamma-hadron separation. The corresponding quality factor takes values up to 5.07 in the 10 - 100 TeV range depending on the distance to EAS axis and camera orientation.