Design Considerations for the Next Generation of Atmospheric Imaging Cherenkov Telescopes

TL;DR

This paper models the ideal design parameters for next-generation atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes to optimize detection area and angular resolution, considering atmospheric shower physics and array configuration.

Contribution

It provides an idealized framework for optimizing IACT array design focusing on geometry and configuration without detailed telescope specifics.

Findings

Optimal design varies with target energy range.

Detection area and angular resolution depend on field of view and pixel size.

Simulation results guide ideal array configurations for future telescopes.

Abstract

We estimate the limiting angular resolution and detection area for an array of 3 large-aperture Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes. We consider an idealized IACT system in order to understand the limitations imposed by the intrinsic nature of the atmospheric showers and geometry of the detector configuration. The idealization includes the assumptions of a perfect optical system and the absence of the night sky background with the goal of finding the optimum camera geometry and array configuration independent of detailed assumptions about the telescope design. The showers are simulated using the ALTAI code for the altitude of 2700 m corresponding to one of possible future sites for a new northern-hemisphere array. The optimal design depends on the target energy range; for each energy we vary both the cell length (telescope spacing) and the image processing parameters in order to maximize the signal-to-noise ratio. We then present the resulting values of the detection area and the angular resolution for this energy dependent optimization. We discuss the dependence of these quantities on the field of view of the telescopes and pixel size of the camera.