甚高能 γ 射线天文观测的利器——成像大气切伦科夫望远镜 postprint

Abstract: Very high energy(VHE) γ-ray are considered as the best “messengers” to study the extreme Universe and its physical processes because their production mechanisms are closely related to the particles interaction and the transmission process are not influenced by the star magnetic field. The window of VHE γ-ray was opened only in 1989 by the Whipple collaboration, reporting the observation of TeV γ-ray from the Crab nebula. After a slow start, this new field of research is now rapidly expanding with the discovery of more than 200 VHE γ-ray emitting sources. Due to the limitation of effective area, space experiments can only detect γ-ray with en#2;ergy below TeV directly, the higher energy γ-ray can only be detected indirectly by ground experiments. Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescope (IACT) array is one of the key detection technology of ground-based VHE γ-ray astronomical observation and widely used in the existing and planned γ-ray ground exploration because of the most sensitive view of the very high energy γ-ray sky (50 GeV ― 20 TeV), excellent γ/p discrimination ability, coupled with relatively good angular and spectral resolution, to some extent the achieve#2;ment of ground-based VHE γ-ray astronomical observation results are closely related to the developments of IACT. The potential of atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes for γ-ray astronomy was first ex#2;plored by Jelley and Galbraith in the 1950s, the key technology image of the Cherenkov emission from air showers and stereo observation technology made important breakthroughs in the late 1980s and 1990s, and gradually developed and matured at the beginning of this century. We summarized and prospected the developments and evolutions of atmospheric Cherenkov telescope, introduced the status of VHE γ-ray detection, the principle of atmo#2;spheric Cherenkov telescope, the development, evolution and key breakthroughs of the three generation Cherenkov telescope technology, the main IACT arrays in working and some of their work highlights, compared the advantages of different ground-based detection devices. Finally, the development of the next generation IACT technology is briefly prospected.