Events at Physics |
As they speed through the Earth’s atmosphere, very high energy gamma rays have the potential to collide with an air molecule, setting off cascades of particle interactions which are detectable from a characteristic blue glow called Cherenkov light. While these interactions occur on much too short a time scale and produce light too faint for the human eye to observe, a breadth of science analyses become possible using a specially designed telescope with a powerful camera. My work at UW-Madison is focused on the development and commissioning of one such camera for the prototype Schwarzschild-Couder Telescope (pSCT) as part of the upcoming Cherenkov Telescope Array. I will describe the specifications of this novel instrument, the contributions I’ve made to the pSCT’s development, and touch on the science that will be possible once the pSCT is completed.