Abstract
The design of very high energy (VHE) gamma ray telescopes is discussed and it is shown that a triple-mirror telescope operating in threefold fast coincidence provides an effective instrument. The design, construction and operation of a large VHE gamma ray telescope with an energy threshold of 300 GeV (at the zenith) and incorporating several novel features is described. The use of a coincidence ‘guard ring’ technique is shown to result in the rejection of about 50% of the off-source (proton) events which form a high background and limit the sensitivity of such telescopes.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Brazier, K. T., Carramiãna, A., Chadwick, P. M., Dipper, N. A., Lincoln, E. W., Mannings, V. G., McComb, T. J. L., Orford, K. J., Rayner, S. M., and Turver, K. E.: 1989a, submitted to Astrophys. J.
Brazier, K. T., Carramiñana, A., Chadwick, P. M., Dipper, N. A., Lincoln, E. W., Mannings, V. G., McComb, T. J. L., Orford, K. J., Rayner, S. M., and Turver, K. E.: 1989b, in preparation.
Brazier, K. T., Carramiñana, A., Chadwick, P. M., Dipper, N. A., Lincoln, E. W., Mannings, V. G., McComb, T. J. L., Orford, K. J., Rayner, S. M., and Turver, K. E.: 1989c, in preparation.
Brazier, K. T., Carramiñana, A., Chadwick, P. M., Dipper, N. A., Lincoln, E. W., Mannings, V. G., McComb, T. J. L., Orford, K. J., Rayner, S. M., and Turver, K. E.: 1989d, in preparation.
Cawley M. F., Fegan D. J., Gibbs K., Gorham P. N., Hillas A. M., Lamb R. C., Leibing D. F., MacKeown P. K., Porter N. A., Stenger V. J., and Weekes T. C.: 1985, Proc. 19th Int. Cosmic Ray Conf., La Jolla, 3, 453–456.
Carramiñana A., Chadwick P. M., Dipper N. A., Lincoln E. W., Mannings V. G., McComb T. J. L., Orford K. J., Rayner S. M., Turver K. E., and Williams D. G.: 1989a, in Timing Neutron Stars, ed. H.Ögelman and E. P. J. van den Heuvel, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, pp. 369–374.
Carramiñana, A., Chadwick, P. M., Dipper, N. A., Lincoln, E. W., Mannings, V. G., McComb, T. J. L., Orford, K. J., Rayner, S. M., Turver, K. E., and Williams, D. G.: 1989b, accepted for publication in Astrophys. J.
Chadwick P. M., Dipper N. A., Dowthwaite J. C., Gibson A. I., Harrison A. B., Kirkman I. W., Lotts A. P., Macrae J. H., McComb T. J. L., Orford K. J., Turver K. E., and Walmsley M.: 1985, Nature 318, 642–644.
Chadwick P. M., Dipper N. A., Dowthwaite J. C., McComb T. J. L., Orford K. J., and Turver K. E.: 1987, Very High Energy Gamma Ray Astronomy, ed. K. E.Turver, D. Reidel Publ. Co., Dordrecht, Holland, pp. 115–119.
Chadwick P. M., Dipper N. A., Lincoln E. W., Mannings V. G., McComb T. J. L., Rayner S. M., Orford K. J., Turver K. E., and Williams D. G.: 1988, Astrophys. J. 333, L19-L21.
Dowthwaite, J. C.: 1987, Ph. D. Thesis, Durham: University of Durham.
Dowthwaite J. C., Harrison A. B., Kirkman I. W., Macrae H. J., McComb T. J. L., Orford K. J., Turver K. E., and Walmsley M.: 1984, Astrophys. J. 286, L35-L38.
Gibson A. I., Harrison A. B., Kirkman I. W., Lotts A. P., Macrae J. H., Orford K. J. Turver K. E., and Walmsley M.: 1982, Proc. Int. Workshop on Very High Energy Gamma Ray Astronomy, ed. P. V.Ramana Murthy and T. C.Weekes, Bombay: Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, pp. 97–115.
Grindlay J. E., Helmken H. F., Hanbury Brown R., Davis J., and Allen L. R.: 1975, Astrophys. J. 197, L9-L12.
Gupta S. K., Ramana Murthy P. V., Sreekantan B. V., and Tonwar S. C.: 1977, Proc. 15th. Int. Conf. Cosmic Rays, Plovdiv, 1, 114–120.
Jelley J. V.: 1976, Prog. Elementary Particle and Cosmic Ray Phys. 9, 40–159.
Lamb R. C., Godfrey C. P., Wheaton W. A., and Tumer T.: 1982, Nature 296, 543–545.
Macrae, J. H. K.: 1985, Ph. D. Thesis, Durham: University of Durham.
North A. C., Raubenheimer B. C., deJager O. C., vanTonder A. J., and vanUrk G.: 1987, Nature 326, 567–569, 1987.
Resvanis L., Tzarnarias S., Voulgaris G., Learned J., Stenger V., Weeks D., Gaidos J., Loeffler F., Olson J., Palfrey T., Sembroski G., Wilson C., Camerini U., Finley J., Frankowski M., Fry W., Jaworski M., Jennings J., Kenter A., Koepsel R., Lomperski M., Loveless R., March R., Matthews J., Morse R., Reeder D., Sandler P., Slane P., and Szentgyorgyi A.: 1987, Very High Energy Gamma Ray Astronomy, ed. K. E.Turver, D. Reidel Publ. Co., Dordrecht, Holland, pp. 225–229.
Tornabene H. S.: 1977, Proc. 15th. Int. Conf. Cosmic Rays, Plovdiv, 9, 156–161.
Turver K. E. (ed.): 1987, Very High Energy Gamma Ray Astronomy, Reidel Publ. Co., Dordrecht, Holland.
Vladimirskii B. M., Stepanian A. A., and Fomin V. P.: 1973, Proc. 13th. Int. Conf. Cosmic Rays, Denver, 1, 456–462.
Weekes T. C.: 1988, Phys. Reports 160, 1–121.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Brazier, K.T., Carramiñana, A., Chadwick, P.M. et al. The University of Durham Southern Hemisphere VHE gamma ray telescope. Exp Astron 1, 77–99 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00457984
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00457984