Exploring the extreme Universe - the Southern Wide-field Gamma-ray Observatory

宇宙中一些能量最高的现象和神秘物体，包括活动星系核、黑洞、脉冲星、双星系统或超新星，都可以产生携带有关其来源的独特信息的极高能量(VHE)伽马射线。由于Hess、Magic和Veritas等成像空气切伦科夫望远镜的发展，在TeV范围内才有可能在这些极端伽马射线能量范围内进行天文观测。目前正在建造的这些仪器的继任者是切伦科夫望远镜阵列(CTA)。CTA在加那利群岛和智利的两个地点分别拥有超过104米到23米的庞大望远镜阵列，与现有仪器相比，它将提高灵敏度和能量覆盖能力一个数量级以上，小型望远镜(SST)阵列将首次提供100TeV以上的天空景象。CTA还将提供增强的角度和能量分辨率，在非常高的能量下产生无与伦比的成像能力。莱斯特大学领导着英国CTA联盟，该联盟还包括达勒姆大学、利物浦大学和牛津大学，以及阿尔马天文台和天文馆。该英国小组一直负责为SST开发光子计数焦平面相机的原型，这是一个由2048个硅光电倍增管组成的32x32cm2阵列，能够探测和准确测量在离地面许多公里的大气中相互作用的非常高能量的伽马产生的微弱但非常快的切伦科夫闪光。SST方案的生产阶段从2022年开始，将涉及两个地点的30多台SST相机的制造、组装和核查：海德堡的马克斯·普朗克核物理研究所和莱斯特大学的空间研究中心。因为这个项目将在相机开发团队内工作。研究将涉及SST相机探测器和电子子系统的特性，开发分析和控制软件，并将朝着优化生产版相机的方向发展。将帮助开发和改进相机和所有子系统的组装、测试和验证技术。与我们的欧洲伙伴在实验室和望远镜上的验证活动方面密切合作，您将开发必要的专业知识，为在CTA-South安装和调试第一台SST相机做好准备。该项目将为一个主要的国际伽马射线天文学设施提供良好的基础和最先进的仪器方面的丰富经验。来自该仪器的第一批数据也将提供参与CTA早期科学成果交付的机会。“

"Some of the most energetic phenomena and enigmatic objects in the universe, including active galactic nuclei, black holes, pulsars, binary systems or supernovae, can produce very high energy (VHE) gamma rays that carry unique information about their sources. Astronomy at these extreme gamma ray energies in the TeV range has only been possible within the last 25 years owing to the development of imaging air Cherenkov telescopes such as HESS, MAGIC and VERITAS. The successor to these instruments, currently under construction, is the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA). CTA, with its vast arrays of more than one hundred 4m to 23m telescopes on two sites in the Canary Islands and Chile respectively, will improve the sensitivity and energy coverage by over an order of magnitude compared with existing instruments and the small-sized telescope (SST) array will provide the first ever view of the sky above 100 TeV. CTA will also provide enhanced angular and energy resolution, yielding unparalleled imaging capability at very high energies. The University of Leicester leads the UK CTA consortium which also comprises the Universities of Durham, Liverpool and Oxford, as well as the Armagh Observatory and Planetarium. The UK group has been responsible for developing the prototype of the photon-counting focal plane camera for the SST, a 32x 32cm2 array of 2048 silicon photomultipliers able to detect and accurately measure the faint but very fast Cherenkov light flash produced from a very high energy gamma interacting in the atmosphere, many kilometres above the ground. The production phase of the SST programme, beginning in 2022, and will involve the manufacture, assembly, and verification of the 30+ SST cameras across 2 sites: the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg and the Space research Centre at the University of Leicester. For this project will work within the camera development team. Research will involve characterising the SST camera detector and electronics subsystems, developing analysis and control software, and will progress towards optimising the production version camera. Will help to develop and refine techniques for the assembly, test and verification of camera and all subsystems. Working closely with our European partners on both laboratory and on-telescope verification campaigns you will develop the necessary expertise ready for the installation and commissioning of the first SST cameras at CTA-South. This project will give an excellent grounding and a wealth of experience in state-of-the-art instrumentation for a major international gamma-ray astronomy facility. The first-light data from the instrument will also provide the opportunity to be involved in the delivery of early science results from CTA. "