Prospects for the detection of gamma rays using Cherenkov telescopes enhanced by a ground array observatory

TL;DR

This paper explores a hybrid gamma-ray observatory combining Cherenkov telescopes and water-Cherenkov detectors, demonstrating significant sensitivity improvements at high energies through enhanced gamma/hadron separation.

Contribution

It introduces a novel hybrid setup with detailed simulations showing improved flux sensitivity and discusses technical challenges of integrating Cherenkov telescopes with a water-Cherenkov array.

Findings

60% flux sensitivity improvement above 10 TeV for monocular observations

30% flux sensitivity improvement above 10 TeV for stereoscopic observations

Enhanced gamma/hadron separation using combined parameters

Abstract

We consider the Single-Mirror Small-Size imaging atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (SST-1M) to be located inside a high-altitude array of Water-Cherenkov Detectors (WCDs) inspired by the Southern Wide-field Gamma-ray Observatory (SWGO). For such a hybrid observatory, using detailed Monte Carlo simulations, we show an improvement in the flux sensitivity of monocular and stereoscopic SST-1M observation by about 60% and 30% above 10 TeV, respectively, due to the improved gamma/hadron separation when additional parameters from the WCD array are used. We also discuss further benefits of the hybrid SWGO concept and its technical challenges.