The Status and future of ground-based TeV gamma-ray astronomy. A White Paper prepared for the Division of Astrophysics of the American Physical Society

Abstract

In recent years, ground-based TeV gamma-ray observatories have made spectacular discoveries including imaging spectroscopy observations of galactic sources of different classes, and the discovery of rapid gamma-ray flares from radio galaxies and active galactic nuclei containing supermassive black holes. These discoveries, and the fact that gamma-ray astronomy has the potential to map the radiation from dark matter annihilation in our Galaxy and in extragalactic systems, have attracted the attention of the wider scientific community. The Division of Astrophysics of the American Physical Society requested the preparation of a white paper on the status and future of ground-based gamma-ray astronomy to define the science goals of a future observatory, to determine the performance specifications, to identify the areas of necessary technology development, and to lay out a clear path for proceeding beyond the near term. The white paper was written with broad community input, including discussions on several dedicated open meetings, and a number of APS or other conferences. It contains an executive summary, detailed reports from the science working groups, and appendices with supplementary material including the full author lists for the different sections of the white paper and a glossary.

Individual working-group reports are also available at http://cherenkov.physics.iastate.edu/wp/

References in corpus (8)

• Long Term Evolution of Magnetic Turbulence in Relativistic Collisionless Shocks: Electron-Positron Plasmas
• Modeling The Structure And Dynamics of Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies with Dark Matter And Tides
• Optimal angular window for observing Dark Matter annihilation from the Galactic Center region: the case of gamma-ray lines
• Performance Limits for Cherenkov Instruments
• Status of Identification of VHE gamma-ray sources
• Gamma Ray Emission from Merger Shocks in the Coma Cluster of Galaxies
• Long term monitoring of bright TeV Blazars with the MAGIC telescope
• Energetic Particles in Clusters of Galaxies and Starburst Galaxies

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Imaging Very High Energy Gamma-Ray Telescopes
• Primordial Black Hole as a Source of the Boost Factor
• Monte Carlo simulations of alternative sky observation modes with the Cherenkov Telescope Array
• Gamma Ray Astronomy and the Origin of Galactic Cosmic Rays
• The Next Generation of Photo-Detectors for Particle Astrophysics
• Section on Extragalactic Science Topics of the White Paper on the Status and Future of Ground-Based TeV Gamma-Ray Astronomy