The Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS)
astro-ph
/ Authors
S. M. Bradbury, I. H. Bond, A. C. Breslin, J. H. Buckley, D. A. Carter-Lewis, M. Catanese, S. Criswell, B. L. Dingus, D. J. Fegan, J. P. Finley
and 25 more authors
J. Gaidos, J. Grindlay, A. M. Hillas, K. Harris, G. Hermann, P. Kaaret, D. Kieda, J. Knapp, F. Krennrich, S. LeBohec, R. W. Lessard, J. Lloyd-Evans, B. McKernan, D. Mueller, R. Ong, J. J. Quenby, J. Quinn, G. Rochester, H. J. Rose, M. Salamon, G. H. Sembroski, T. Sumner, S. Swordy, V. V. Vassiliev
/ Abstract
We give an overview of the current status and scientific goals of VERITAS, a proposed hexagonal array of seven 10 m aperture imaging Cherenkov telescopes. The selected site is Montosa Canyon (1390 m a.s.l.) at the Whipple Observatory, Arizona. Each telescope, of 12 m focal length, will initially be equipped with a 499 element photomultiplier camera covering a 3.5 degree field of view. A central station will initiate the readout of 500 MHz FADCs upon receipt of multiple telescope triggers. The minimum detectable flux sensitivity will be 0.5% of the Crab Nebula flux at 200 GeV. Detailed simulations of the array's performance are presented elsewhere at this meeting. VERITAS will operate primarily as a gamma-ray observatory in the 50 GeV to 50 TeV range for the study of active galaxies, supernova remnants, pulsars and gamma-ray bursts.