Ultra fast variability monitoring with CTA

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics – High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena, Variability, Galaxies: Active, Bl Lacertae Objects: Individual: Pks 2155-304

Scientific paper

After three decades of small scale research, very high energy (> 100 GeV) gamma-ray astronomy emerged in 1989 with the detection of the Crab nebula by the Whipple observatory, Arizona, USA. In the '90s, French researchers improved the temporal and spatial sampling of the atmospheric showers initiated by gamma rays, with experiments such as ASGAT, Themistocle, Celeste and CAT. Only a handful of TeV sources had been seen in 2000, the Crab nebula (the standard candle in this field) and five extragalactic sources, mostly detected during flaring periods. The advent of stereoscopy (simultaneous monitoring of a shower with several telescopes) established the domain with observatories such as HEGRA and now H.E.S.S., in which French laboratories are involved. This enabled the detection of > 100 sources and the ability to sample light curves down to the minute time scale during exceptional outbursts, such as the flares of the blazar PKS 2155-304 in July 2006. During the next decade, the first large gamma ray observatory, CTA, will probe the sky above 50 GeV with tens of telescopes. The sensitivity and low-energy threshold of this array will allow the probing of blazar ultra fast variability during exceptional outbursts. We show with simulations that CTA timing capabilities would enable us to resolve the behaviour of PKS 2155-304 down to the second timescale, thus raising puzzling questions on the engine responsible for the TeV emission.

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