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Capital funding for CTA-UK programme

CTA-UK 计划的资本资助

基本信息

批准号：
ST/M006972/1
负责人：
Timothy Greenshaw
金额：
$ 4.58万
依托单位：
University of Liverpool
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Research Grant
财政年份：
2014
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2014 至无数据
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ST%2FM006972%2F1
关键词：
Capital funding CTA UK programme

项目摘要

The Universe is full of particles with such high energies that they are travelling at very close to the speed of light. Theseparticles play a significant role in many areas of astrophysics, from the life-cycles of stars to the evolution of galaxies.The paths of these particles are hard to trace, but they can reveal their presence by producing gamma rays. Like their lower-energy cousins, X-rays, gamma rays do not penetrate the Earth's atmosphere and usually satellite-based telescopes are used to detectthem. However, at very high energies (VHE), gamma rays are extremely rare, and detecting them using spacecraft becomesimpossible - the chance they would hit a reasonably sized satellite is just too small. Luckily, it is possible to observe them from the ground via the flashes of blue light, Cherenkov radiation, they produce when they interact in the atmosphere. The glow of this Cherenkov radiation is 10,000 times fainter than starlight, so telescopes are needed to observe it, and because the flashes last only a few billionths of a second, ultra-fast cameras are needed to record them.We know from current ground-based gamma-ray telescopes such as HESS that there is a wealth of phenomena to bestudied using gamma rays. VHE gamma ray telescopes have detected the remains of supernova explosions, binary star systems, highly energetic jets of particles produced by black holes in distant galaxies, star formation regions, and many other objects. Theseobservations can help us to understand not only what is going on inside these objects, but also answer fundamental physics relating to the nature of dark matter and of space-time itself. However, we have now reached the limit of what can be done with current instruments, and so about 1000 scientists from 29 countries around the world have come together to build a new instrument - the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA).CTA will offer a dramatic increase in sensitivity over current instruments, and extend the range of the gamma rays observed to both lower and higher energies. It is predicted that the catalogue of known VHE emitting objects will expand from the 130 known to over 1000, and we can expect many new discoveries in key areas of astrophysics and fundamental physics research. To achieve the wide energy range we require of CTA, it is necessary to build telescopes of three different sizes: 4 m diameter small-sized telescopes (SSTs), 12 m medium-sized telescopes (MSTs) and 23 m large-sized telescopes (LSTs). CTA will consist of two arrays of telescopes, one in the northern hemisphere and one in the southern hemisphere. The northern array will consist of 4 LSTs and 20 MSTs. The southern array will contain similar numbers of large and medium sized telescopes, but add to them an extensive array of 70 SSTs, specifically to investigate the highest energy phenomena which can be observed preferentially from the southern hemisphere. The SSTs will detect the highest energy photons ever seen, with energies approaching a peta-electronvolt, each a thousand billion times more energetic than an X-ray. Production of prototype CTA telescopes in now underway, with full-scale construction of the arrays expected to start in 2016.There are currently 11 UK universities involved in CTA. The UK groups are concentrating their efforts on the construction ofthe SSTs. We have already produced an innovative dual-mirror SST design, which is now being built in sight of the Eiffel Tower inParis. In this proposal we request funds to further develop the camera we have designed for this telescope and to support development by UK industry of the mirrors needed for it.

宇宙中充满了具有如此高能量的粒子，它们以非常接近光速的速度运动。从恒星的生命周期到星系的演化，这些粒子在天体物理学的许多领域都扮演着重要的角色。这些粒子的路径很难追踪，但它们可以通过产生伽马射线来揭示它们的存在。像它们的低能表亲X射线和伽马射线一样，它们不会穿透地球大气层，通常使用卫星望远镜来探测它们。然而，在非常高的能量（VHE）下，伽马射线是极其罕见的，使用航天器探测它们是不可能的-它们击中合理大小的卫星的机会太小了。幸运的是，通过它们在大气中相互作用时产生的蓝光，切伦科夫辐射，可以从地面观察到它们。切伦科夫辐射的光芒比星光要暗一万倍，因此需要用望远镜来观测它，而且由于闪光只持续十亿分之几秒，因此需要用超高速相机来记录它们。我们从目前的地面伽马射线望远镜（如HESS）中了解到，有大量的现象需要用伽马射线来研究。VHE伽马射线望远镜已经探测到超新星爆炸、双星星星系统、遥远星系中黑洞产生的高能粒子喷流、星星形成区和许多其他物体的残骸。这些观测不仅可以帮助我们理解这些物体内部发生的事情，还可以回答与暗物质和时空本身的性质有关的基本物理学问题。然而，我们现在已经达到了现有仪器所能做的极限，因此来自世界各地29个国家的大约1000名科学家聚集在一起建造了一个新的仪器-切伦科夫望远镜阵列（CTA）。CTA将提供比现有仪器更大的灵敏度，并将观测到的伽马射线的范围扩展到更低和更高的能量。据预测，已知的VHE发射物体的目录将从已知的130个扩展到1000多个，我们可以期待在天体物理和基础物理研究的关键领域有许多新的发现。为了实现CTA所需的宽能量范围，有必要建造三种不同尺寸的望远镜：直径为4米的小型望远镜（SST），12米的中型望远镜（MST）和23米的大型望远镜（LST）。CTA将由两个望远镜阵列组成，一个在北方半球，一个在南半球。北方阵列将由4个LST和20个MST组成。南部阵列将包含类似数量的大型和中型望远镜，但增加了一个由70个SST组成的广泛阵列，专门研究可以优先从南半球观察到的最高能量现象。SST将探测到有史以来能量最高的光子，其能量接近千万亿电子伏，每一个光子的能量都是X射线的1000亿倍。CTA望远镜原型的生产目前正在进行中，预计将于2016年开始全面建造阵列。目前有11所英国大学参与CTA。英国的团体正集中力量建设SST。我们已经生产了一种创新的双镜面SST设计，现在正在建造中，可以看到巴黎的埃菲尔铁塔。在这份提案中，我们要求提供资金，以进一步开发我们为这架望远镜设计的相机，并支持英国工业界开发所需的镜子。