The Major Gamma-ray Imaging Cherenkov Telescopes (MAGIC)

TL;DR

The MAGIC telescopes are two advanced gamma-ray observatories that have significantly enhanced our ability to detect and analyze very high energy gamma rays from cosmic sources, leading to new astrophysical insights and constraints on fundamental physics.

Contribution

This paper details the design, upgrades, and scientific achievements of the MAGIC telescopes, highlighting their role in advancing VHE gamma-ray astronomy.

Findings

Detection of VHE emission from gamma-ray bursts and pulsars

Improved sensitivity through hardware upgrades and analysis techniques

Constraints on dark matter, quantum gravity, and extragalactic background light

Abstract

The MAGIC telescopes, located at Observatorio El Roque de los Muchachos (La Palma, Spain) are two Imaging Air Cherenkov Telescopes observing the Very High Energy (VHE) gamma rays. They are run by an international collaboration composed of over 40 institutions from 12 countries. The first telescope was inaugurated in October 2003. The commissioning of the second finished in 2008. The MAGIC telescopes were designed to lower the energies to which ground based telescopes had access as well as to be able to point to any direction in the sky in less than 25 seconds. The former required the large reflective surface of 17 meters as well as an effort to optimise the mirror reflectivity and photo sensor sensitivity. The latter was achieved by minimising the weight of the full instrument using for instance carbon fibre reinforced plastic tubes for the mirror frame. The sensitivity of the MAGIC telescopes have been improving over the years thanks to hardware upgrades as well as new analysis techniques, which allowed the collaboration to keep a rich scientific program. The discovery of VHE emission from Gamma Ray Bursts and pulsars have called for a revision of the models that explain the production of gamma rays there. Both the observation of sources in flaring state as well as a systematic monitoring of sources have provided valuable data to better understand astrophysical sources both in our Galaxy and outside it. Relevant constraints on fundamental quantities like dark matter cross-section, quantum gravity scale and density of extragalactic background light have also been extracted from the observations.