The Astrophysical Journal (Jan 2023)

Observations of the Crab Nebula and Pulsar with the Large-sized Telescope Prototype of the Cherenkov Telescope Array

  • H. Abe,
  • K. Abe,
  • S. Abe,
  • A. Aguasca-Cabot,
  • I. Agudo,
  • N. Alvarez Crespo,
  • L. A. Antonelli,
  • C. Aramo,
  • A. Arbet-Engels,
  • C. Arcaro,
  • M. Artero,
  • K. Asano,
  • P. Aubert,
  • A. Baktash,
  • A. Bamba,
  • A. Baquero Larriva,
  • L. Baroncelli,
  • U. Barres de Almeida,
  • J. A. Barrio,
  • I. Batkovic,
  • J. Baxter,
  • J. Becerra González,
  • E. Bernardini,
  • M. I. Bernardos,
  • J. Bernete Medrano,
  • A. Berti,
  • P. Bhattacharjee,
  • N. Biederbeck,
  • C. Bigongiari,
  • E. Bissaldi,
  • O. Blanch,
  • G. Bonnoli,
  • P. Bordas,
  • A. Borghese,
  • A. Bulgarelli,
  • I. Burelli,
  • M. Buscemi,
  • M. Cardillo,
  • S. Caroff,
  • A. Carosi,
  • F. Cassol,
  • D. Cauz,
  • G. Ceribella,
  • Y. Chai,
  • K. Cheng,
  • A. Chiavassa,
  • M. Chikawa,
  • L. Chytka,
  • A. Cifuentes,
  • J. L. Contreras,
  • J. Cortina,
  • H. Costantini,
  • G. D’Amico,
  • M. Dalchenko,
  • A. De Angelis,
  • M. de Bony de Lavergne,
  • B. De Lotto,
  • R. de Menezes,
  • G. Deleglise,
  • C. Delgado,
  • J. Delgado Mengual,
  • D. della Volpe,
  • M. Dellaiera,
  • D. Depaoli,
  • A. Di Piano,
  • F. Di Pierro,
  • R. Di Tria,
  • L. Di Venere,
  • C. Díaz,
  • R. M. Dominik,
  • D. Dominis Prester,
  • A. Donini,
  • D. Dorner,
  • M. Doro,
  • D. Elsässer,
  • G. Emery,
  • J. Escudero,
  • V. Fallah Ramazani,
  • G. Ferrara,
  • F. Ferrarotto,
  • A. Fiasson,
  • L. Freixas Coromina,
  • S. Fröse,
  • S. Fukami,
  • Y. Fukazawa,
  • E. Garcia,
  • R. Garcia López,
  • C. Gasbarra,
  • D. Gasparrini,
  • F. Geyer,
  • J. Giesbrecht Paiva,
  • N. Giglietto,
  • F. Giordano,
  • E. Giro,
  • P. Gliwny,
  • N. Godinovic,
  • R. Grau,
  • D. Green,
  • J. Green,
  • S. Gunji,
  • J. Hackfeld,
  • D. Hadasch,
  • A. Hahn,
  • K. Hashiyama,
  • T. Hassan,
  • K. Hayashi,
  • L. Heckmann,
  • M. Heller,
  • J. Herrera Llorente,
  • K. Hirotani,
  • D. Hoffmann,
  • D. Horns,
  • J. Houles,
  • M. Hrabovsky,
  • D. Hrupec,
  • D. Hui,
  • M. Hütten,
  • M. Iarlori,
  • R. Imazawa,
  • T. Inada,
  • Y. Inome,
  • K. Ioka,
  • M. Iori,
  • K. Ishio,
  • Y. Iwamura,
  • M. Jacquemont,
  • I. Jimenez Martinez,
  • J. Jurysek,
  • M. Kagaya,
  • V. Karas,
  • H. Katagiri,
  • J. Kataoka,
  • D. Kerszberg,
  • Y. Kobayashi,
  • A. Kong,
  • H. Kubo,
  • J. Kushida,
  • M. Lainez,
  • G. Lamanna,
  • A. Lamastra,
  • T. Le Flour,
  • M. Linhoff,
  • F. Longo,
  • R. López-Coto,
  • M. López-Moya,
  • A. López-Oramas,
  • S. Loporchio,
  • A. Lorini,
  • P. L. Luque-Escamilla,
  • P. Majumdar,
  • M. Makariev,
  • D. Mandat,
  • M. Manganaro,
  • G. Manicò,
  • K. Mannheim,
  • M. Mariotti,
  • P. Marquez,
  • G. Marsella,
  • J. Martí,
  • O. Martinez,
  • G. Martínez,
  • M. Martínez,
  • P. Marusevec,
  • A. Mas-Aguilar,
  • G. Maurin,
  • D. Mazin,
  • E. Mestre Guillen,
  • S. Micanovic,
  • D. Miceli,
  • T. Miener,
  • J. M. Miranda,
  • R. Mirzoyan,
  • T. Mizuno,
  • M. Molero Gonzalez,
  • E. Molina,
  • T. Montaruli,
  • I. Monteiro,
  • A. Moralejo,
  • D. Morcuende,
  • A. Morselli,
  • K. Mrakovcic,
  • K. Murase,
  • A. Nagai,
  • S. Nagataki,
  • T. Nakamori,
  • L. Nickel,
  • M. Nievas,
  • K. Nishijima,
  • K. Noda,
  • D. Nosek,
  • S. Nozaki,
  • M. Ohishi,
  • Y. Ohtani,
  • T. Oka,
  • N. Okazaki,
  • A. Okumura,
  • R. Orito,
  • J. Otero-Santos,
  • M. Palatiello,
  • D. Paneque,
  • F. R. Pantaleo,
  • R. Paoletti,
  • J. M. Paredes,
  • M. Pech,
  • M. Pecimotika,
  • M. Peresano,
  • A. Pérez,
  • E. Pietropaolo,
  • G. Pirola,
  • C. Plard,
  • F. Podobnik,
  • V. Poireau,
  • M. Polo,
  • E. Pons,
  • E. Prandini,
  • J. Prast,
  • G. Principe,
  • C. Priyadarshi,
  • M. Prouza,
  • R. Rando,
  • W. Rhode,
  • M. Ribó,
  • V. Rizi,
  • G. Rodriguez Fernandez,
  • J. E. Ruiz,
  • T. Saito,
  • S. Sakurai,
  • D. A. Sanchez,
  • T. Šarić,
  • Y. Sato,
  • F. G. Saturni,
  • B. Schleicher,
  • F. Schmuckermaier,
  • J. L. Schubert,
  • F. Schussler,
  • T. Schweizer,
  • M. Seglar Arroyo,
  • R. Silvia,
  • J. Sitarek,
  • V. Sliusar,
  • A. Spolon,
  • J. Strišković,
  • M. Strzys,
  • Y. Suda,
  • Y. Sunada,
  • H. Tajima,
  • H. Takahashi,
  • M. Takahashi,
  • J. Takata,
  • R. Takeishi,
  • P. H. T. Tam,
  • S. J. Tanaka,
  • D. Tateishi,
  • L. A. Tejedor,
  • P. Temnikov,
  • Y. Terada,
  • K. Terauchi,
  • T. Terzic,
  • M. Teshima,
  • M. Tluczykont,
  • F. Tokanai,
  • D. F. Torres,
  • P. Travnicek,
  • S. Truzzi,
  • A. Tutone,
  • G. Uhlrich,
  • M. Vacula,
  • P. Vallania,
  • J. van Scherpenberg,
  • M. Vázquez Acosta,
  • V. Verguilov,
  • I. Viale,
  • A. Vigliano,
  • C. F. Vigorito,
  • V. Vitale,
  • G. Voutsinas,
  • I. Vovk,
  • T. Vuillaume,
  • R. Walter,
  • M. Will,
  • T. Yamamoto,
  • R. Yamazaki,
  • T. Yoshida,
  • T. Yoshikoshi,
  • N. Zywucka,
  • K. Bernlöhr,
  • O. Gueta,
  • K. Kosack,
  • G. Maier,
  • J. Watson

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ace89d
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 956, no. 2
p. 80

Abstract

Read online

The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is a next-generation ground-based observatory for gamma-ray astronomy at very high energies. The Large-Sized Telescope prototype (LST-1) is located at the CTA-North site, on the Canary Island of La Palma. LSTs are designed to provide optimal performance in the lowest part of the energy range covered by CTA, down to ≃20 GeV. LST-1 started performing astronomical observations in 2019 November, during its commissioning phase, and it has been taking data ever since. We present the first LST-1 observations of the Crab Nebula, the standard candle of very-high-energy gamma-ray astronomy, and use them, together with simulations, to assess the performance of the telescope. LST-1 has reached the expected performance during its commissioning period—only a minor adjustment of the preexisting simulations was needed to match the telescope’s behavior. The energy threshold at trigger level is around 20 GeV, rising to ≃30 GeV after data analysis. Performance parameters depend strongly on energy, and on the strength of the gamma-ray selection cuts in the analysis: angular resolution ranges from 0.°12–0.°40, and energy resolution from 15%–50%. Flux sensitivity is around 1.1% of the Crab Nebula flux above 250 GeV for a 50 hr observation (12% for 30 minutes). The spectral energy distribution (in the 0.03–30 TeV range) and the light curve obtained for the Crab Nebula agree with previous measurements, considering statistical and systematic uncertainties. A clear periodic signal is also detected from the pulsar at the center of the Nebula.

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