Performance of the Cherenkov Telescope Array in the presence of clouds

0568927 - ASÚ 2023 RIV IT eng C - Conference Paper (international conference)
Abdalla, H. - Abe, H. - Abe, S. - Araudo, Anabella - Karas, Vladimír … Total 1344 authors
Performance of the Cherenkov Telescope Array in the presence of clouds.
Proceedings of Science. Vol. 395. Trieste: Sissa Medilab srl, 2022, č. článku 773. ISSN 1824-8039.
[International Cosmic Ray Conference /37./. Berlin (DE), 12.07.2021-23.07.2021]
Grant - others:AV ČR(CZ) CONICET-22-06
Program: Bilaterální spolupráce
Institutional support: RVO:67985815
Keywords : astrophysics * high energy * astrophysical phenomena
OECD category: Particles and field physics
https://pos.sissa.it/395/773/pdf

This study presents the impact of various atmospheric conditions on CTA performance. The atmospheric transmission in a cloudy atmosphere in the wavelength range from 203 nm to 1000 nm was simulated for different cloud bases and different optical depths using the MODerate resolution atmospheric TRANsmission (MODTRAN) code. MODTRAN output files were used as inputs for generic Monte Carlo simulations. The analysis was performed using the MAGIC Analysis and Reconstruction Software (MARS) adapted for CTA. As expected, the effects of clouds are most evident at low energies, near the energy threshold. Even in the presence of dense clouds, high-energy gamma rays may still trigger the telescopes if the first interaction occurs lower in the atmosphere, below the cloud base. A method to analyze very high-energy data obtained in the presence of clouds is presented. The systematic uncertainties of the method are evaluated. These studies help to gain more precise knowledge about the CTA response to cloudy conditions and give insights on how to proceed with data obtained in such conditions. This may prove crucial for alert-based observations and time-critical studies of transient phenomena.
Permanent Link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0340206