arXiv subjects

John E. Ward

Publications and source records attributed to John E. Ward.

2 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2017

First combined studies on Lorentz Invariance Violation from observations of astrophysical sources

Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes study the highest energy (up to tens of TeV) photon emission coming from nearby and distant astrophysical sources, thus providing valuable results from searches for Lorentz Invariance Violation (LIV) effects. Highly variable, energetic and distant sources such as Pulsars and AGNs are the best targets for the Time-of-Flight LIV studies. However, the limited number of observations of AGN flares or of high-energy pulsed emission greatly restricts the potential of such studies, especially any potential LIV effects as a function of redshift. To address these issues, an inter-experiment working group has been established by the three major collaborations taking data with Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (H.E.S.S., MAGIC and VERITAS) with the aim to increase sensitivity to any effects of LIV, together with an improved control of systematic uncertainties, by sharing data samples and developing joint analysis methods. This will allow an increase in the number of available sources and to perform a sensitive search for redshift dependencies. This presentation reviews the first combined maximum likelihood method analyses using simu- lations of published source observations done in the past with H.E.S.S., MAGIC and VERITAS. The results from analyses based on combined maximum likelihood methods, the strategies to deal with data from different types of sources and instruments, as well as future plans will be presented.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2015

The Instrument Response Function Format for the Cherenkov Telescope Array

The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is a future ground-based observatory (with two locations, in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres) that will be used in the study of the very-high-energy gamma-ray sky. CTA observations will be proposed by external users or initiated by the observatory, with the resulting measurements being processed by the CTA observatory and the reduced data made accessible to the corresponding proposer. Instrument Response Functions (IRFs) will also be provided to convert the quantities measured by the array(s) into relevant science products (i.e. spectra, sky maps, light curves). As the response of the telescopes depend on many correlated observational and physical quantities (e.g. gamma-ray arrival direction, energy, telescope orientation, background light, weather conditions etc.) the CTA IRFs could grow into increasingly larger and larger file sizes, which can become unwieldy or impractical for use in specific observation cases. To this end, a customized IRF format (complying with the FITS standard) is under development to reduce the IRF file sizes into more manageable levels. This proposed format is attractive due to its ability to store multiple parameters (in chosen ranges) relating to instrument performance in both binned and parameterized formats, for various array and observing conditions. Details of the format, preliminary design and testing of the prototype will be provided below.

astro-ph.IM↗