Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory

The Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO) will be the first very high-energy gamma-ray observatory to cover both hemispheres and to be open to the entire scientific community. Compared with existing instruments (H.E.S.S., MAGIC, VERITAS), CTAO offers an order of magnitude gain in sensitivity, a broadening of the spectral range from a few tens of GeV to 300 TeV and an improvement in angular resolution to around 2 arcminutes.
CTAO will explore the origin of cosmic rays and their impact on the interstellar medium by studying galactic particle accelerators. It will investigate the nature and variety of particle acceleration around supermassive black holes and gamma-ray bursts by studying the production and propagation of extragalactic gamma rays. It will examine the ultimate nature of matter and physics beyond the Standard Model by searching for signatures of dark matter and the effects of quantum gravity.
These objectives will be achieved by combining two observation sites in the northern hemisphere (La Palma in Spain) and the southern hemisphere (near Paranal in Chile, on the ESO site) into a single observatory. Each site will be equipped with several dozen Cherenkov telescopes in the final configuration. In order to cover a wide spectral band, CTAO will comprise large telescopes (LST ; 23 metres in diameter) for low energies, medium telescopes (MST ; 12 metres in diameter) for medium energies, and small telescopes (SST ; 4 metres in diameter) for the highest energies.
In France, CTAO benefits from IR* funding from the MESR, which will cover future hardware and software contributions to the observatory. The LUX team is involved in the preparation of CTAO’s scientific programme, particularly with regard to the physics of active galactic nuclei, gamma-ray bursts and cosmic ray acceleration sites (PeVatrons, galaxies with outburst stars, etc.). We contribute directly to the development of the archive and the portal for disseminating data and analysis software, as well as to the production of SST telescopes.