Status update of MACE Gamma-ray telescope

TL;DR

The MACE gamma-ray telescope, recently installed at high altitude in India, is a large, sensitive instrument designed to explore gamma-ray sources in the 20-100 GeV energy range, with initial results demonstrating its operational status.

Contribution

This paper presents the design, construction, and initial operational status of the MACE telescope, a new high-altitude gamma-ray observatory in India.

Findings

Successful installation and commissioning of MACE at Hanle.

Initial trial observations confirm operational readiness.

The telescope's specifications enable exploration of unexplored gamma-ray energies.

Abstract

MACE (Major Atmospheric Cherenkov Experiment), an imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescope, has recently been installed by the HiGRO (Himalayan Gamma-Ray Observatory) collaboration at Hanle (32.8$^\circ$N, 78.9$^\circ$E, 4270m asl) in Ladakh region of North India. The telescope has a 21m diameter large light collector consisting of indigenously developed 1424 square-shaped diamond turned spherical aluminum mirror facets of size $\sim$ 0.5m$\times$0.5m. MACE is the second largest Cherenkov telescope at the highest altitude in the northern hemisphere. The imaging camera of the telescope consists of 1088 photo-multiplier tubes with a uniform pixel resolution of $\sim 0.125^\circ$ covering a field of view of $\sim$ 4.0$^\circ$ $\times$ 4.0$^\circ$. The main objective of the MACE telescope is to study gamma-ray sources mainly in the unexplored energy region 20 -100 GeV and beyond with high sensitivity. In this paper, we describe the key design features and current status of MACE including results from the trial observations of the telescope.