The Fermi Large Area Telescope

TL;DR

The Fermi Large Area Telescope is a highly sensitive gamma-ray instrument that has operated for over 13 years, providing detailed observations of the gamma-ray sky across a broad energy range from 20 MeV to 2 TeV.

Contribution

This paper reviews the design, data acquisition, calibration, and performance of the Fermi Large Area Telescope, highlighting improvements and its extensive scientific achievements.

Findings

Provides the most detailed gamma-ray sky images to date.

Operates effectively over a broad energy range from 20 MeV to 2 TeV.

Has been in operation for over 13 years, contributing significantly to gamma-ray astronomy.

Abstract

The Large Area Telescope, the primary instrument on the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, is an imaging, wide field-of-view gamma-ray telescope. After many improvements to the data acquisition and event analysis procedures, it now covers the broad energy range from $\sim 20$ MeV to $\sim 2$ TeV. After more than 13 years of operation since its launch in June 11, 2008, it has provided the best-resolved and deepest portrait of the gamma-ray sky. In this chapter we review the design of the instrument, the data acquisition system, calibration, and performance.