TACTIC and MACE gamma-ray telescopes

TL;DR

This paper discusses the TACTIC gamma-ray telescope's capabilities and recent observations, and introduces the design and expected performance of the new MACE gamma-ray telescope in India.

Contribution

It presents the operational details and scientific results of the TACTIC telescope and introduces the design and expected performance of the upcoming MACE telescope.

Findings

TACTIC detects gamma rays from sources like Mrk501 and Mrk421.

TACTIC can detect Crab Nebula gamma rays above 1.2 TeV with high significance.

MACE aims to operate at a lower energy threshold of ~30 GeV.

Abstract

The TACTIC gamma-ray telescope, equipped with a tracking light collector of $\sim$9.5m$^2$ area and a 349-pixel imaging camera has been in operation at Mount Abu in Western India since 2001. Having a sensitivity of detecting the Crab Nebula above 1.2 TeV at 5.0$\sigma$ significance level in 25h of observations, this telescope has detected gamma-ray emissions from Mrk501 and Mrk421 and is presently being deployed for monitoring of AGNs. As a new Indian initiative in $\gamma$-ray astronomy we are setting up the 21-m diameter MACE $\gamma$-ray telescope at the high altitude (4200m asl) astronomical site at Hanle in North India. This telescope will deploy a 1408-pixels integrated camera at its focal plane. Designed to operate at a trigger threshold of $\sim$30 GeV, this telescope is expected to be operational in 2011. Some of the salient features of the TACTIC telescope along with the results of its recent observations and the design details of the MACE telescope are presented in this paper.