VERITAS status

Stephan LeBohec and Brian Humensky for the VERITAS collaboration

Adelaide, December 2006

Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory *Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory * Adler PlanetariumAdler Planetarium Purdue University *Purdue University * Barnard College, NYBarnard College, NY Iowa State University *Iowa State University * DePauw University, INDePauw University, IN Washington University, St. Louis *Washington University, St. Louis * Grinnell College, IAGrinnell College, IA University of Chicago *University of Chicago * University of California, Santa CruzUniversity of California, Santa Cruz

University of Utah *University of Utah * University of MassachussettsUniversity of Massachussetts University of California, Los Angeles *University of California, Los Angeles * Cork Institute of TechnologyCork Institute of Technology McGill University, Montreal *McGill University, Montreal * Galway-Mayo Institute of TechnologyGalway-Mayo Institute of Technology National University of Ireland, Dublin *National University of Ireland, Dublin * National University of Ireland, GalwayNational University of Ireland, Galway University of Leeds *University of Leeds * Associate Members Associate Members

Project office: Whipple observatory SAO Project office: Whipple observatory SAO

VERITAS Collaboration VERITAS Collaboration ~65 members in more than 20 institutions~65 members in more than 20 institutions

Funding from Funding from NSF/DOE/Smithsonian/PPARC/SFI/NSERCNSF/DOE/Smithsonian/PPARC/SFI/NSERC

85 m

109 m

85 m

35 m

T2

T1

T3

T4

Fall 2006

Since

January

2006January

2007

0.5o 0.5o 0.5o

0.15o

pixel

340 Hexagonal Facets 0.60m 340 Hexagonal Facets 0.60m acrossacrossDavies-Cotton Davies-Cotton Diameter = 12mDiameter = 12mFocal Length = 12mFocal Length = 12mTime dispersion < 5nsTime dispersion < 5ns

Bias alignmentPSF

FWHM0.06o

Light collecting cones toIncrease light collection& shield from stray light

499 pixel camera3.5O FOV 0.15O pixels

Photonis XP29702x105 Gain

Custom preamplifier installed in Base:

6.66 Effective Gain AC DC output for current

monitoring Programmable test pulse

input

Camera

PMT

Current monitor

ChargeInjection

Telescope Electronics

500MHzDigitization8(+3) bits

8s deepmemory

x

CFDPattern

SensitiveTrigger

Readout140ft75RG59

~200mfiber

Array Control Building

Delays ArrayTrigger

VERITAS ELECTRONICS

Telescope and Array Triggers

Telescope: any 3 adjacent pixels within

10 ns

Array:multiple telescope triggers

within 100ns geometry telescope-delay

(a tradition since March 2006).

Trigger rate ~ 100 Hz

Deadtime ~ 5 %

20ns/event

6ns frame

every 2ns

85m

3.5o

VERITASOPticalTelescope Injection and CalibrationSystem

Pedestal

Single photo-electron

Raw data

Time and gain corrected data

-15 -5 5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115 125

-20

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

avg FADC, right

sample

dig

ital

cou

nts

Rayleigh attenuation

Ray

leig

h S

catt

erin

g

Rayleigh scattering based AbsoluteCalibration

7 /min16.5 /hr1/2

Two telescope stereo observation of the Crab Nebula

Mrk421: 5.6 gamma/minute over 7.2 hours

Mrk501: 0.8 gamma/minute over 11.4 hours

Conclusions:

* VERITAS FULLY OPERATIONAL IN 2007:Four 12m telescopes with 500 pixel cameras (3.5°) in southern Az (1800m)

*SPECIFICATIONS:Energy threshold ~ 100GeVAngular resolution ~ 4'-6'Energy resolution ~ 10-15%Collecting area ~ 4×104 m2

Crab rate ~ 40/min

1996 First Proposal to Smithsonian (Buckley, Catanese, Weekes & Krennrich) 1998 VERITAS selected for internal support at SAO1999 PPARC/EI approve funding for VERITAS2000 Lehman review --> passed2000 DOE funds VERITAS R&D2000 VERITAS proposal to NSF/DOE --> NSF lacks funds2001 Dec. 3 agencies appear ready to fund VERITAS --> OMB disapproves2002 Decadel Survey by Nat. Academy --> endorses VERITAS2003 Montosa canyon approved! --> lawsuit by environmental group decision to go to Kitt Peak instead!2003 March VERITAS funded for 4 telescopes in U.S. by DoE & NSF!2004 Feb. Prototype Telescope at testsite operational 2005 Feb. telescope 1 operational2004 July site at Kitt Peak approved! 2005 Feb. infrastructure for VERITAS in place at Kitt Peak2005 Tohono O’odham Nation files complaint --> site shutdown --> NSF volunteers to do a new EA --> resolution expected by Dec 052005 Fall Telescope 1 & 2 start operations @ FLWO basecamp2006 Decision to built VERITAS-4 at basecamp + operate 2007 - 2009 2006 Dec. Kitt Peak site issue still unresolved …

1996 First Proposal to Smithsonian (Buckley, Catanese, Weekes & Krennrich) 1998 VERITAS selected for internal support at SAO1999 PPARC/EI approve funding for VERITAS2000 Lehman review --> passed2000 DOE funds VERITAS R&D2000 VERITAS proposal to NSF/DOE --> NSF lacks funds2001 Dec. 3 agencies appear ready to fund VERITAS --> OMB disapproves2002 Decadel Survey by Nat. Academy --> endorses VERITAS2003 Montosa canyon approved! --> lawsuit by environmental group decision to go to Kitt Peak instead!2003 March VERITAS funded for 4 telescopes in U.S. by DoE & NSF!2004 Feb. Prototype Telescope at testsite operational 2005 Feb. telescope 1 operational2004 July site at Kitt Peak approved! 2005 Feb. infrastructure for VERITAS in place at Kitt Peak2005 Tohono O’odham Nation files complaint --> site shutdown --> NSF volunteers to do a new EA --> resolution expected by Dec 052005 Fall Telescope 1 & 2 start operations @ FLWO basecamp2006 Decision to built VERITAS-4 at basecamp + operate 2007 - 2009 2006 Dec. Kitt Peak site issue still unresolved …

1996 First Proposal to Smithsonian (Buckley, Catanese, Weekes & Krennrich) 1998 VERITAS selected for internal support at SAO1999 PPARC/EI approve funding for VERITAS2000 Lehman review --> passed2000 DOE funds VERITAS R&D2000 VERITAS proposal to NSF/DOE --> NSF lacks funds2001 Dec. 3 agencies appear ready to fund VERITAS --> OMB disapproves2002 Decadel Survey by Nat. Academy --> endorses VERITAS2003 Montosa canyon approved! --> lawsuit by environmental group decision to go to Kitt Peak instead!2003 March VERITAS funded for 4 telescopes in U.S. by DoE & NSF!2004 Feb. Prototype Telescope at testsite operational 2004 July site at Kitt Peak approved! 2005 Feb. telescope 1 operational 2005 Feb. infrastructure for VERITAS in place at Kitt Peak2005 Tohono O’odham Nation files complaint --> site shutdown --> NSF volunteers to do a new EA --> resolution expected by Dec 052005 Fall Telescope 1 & 2 start operations @ FLWO basecamp2006 Decision to built VERITAS-4 at basecamp + operate 2007 - 2009 2006 Dec. Kitt Peak site issue still unresolved …

1996 First Proposal to Smithsonian (Buckley, Catanese, Weekes & Krennrich) 1998 VERITAS selected for internal support at SAO1999 PPARC/EI approve funding for VERITAS2000 Lehman review --> passed2000 DOE funds VERITAS R&D2000 VERITAS proposal to NSF/DOE --> NSF lacks funds2001 Dec. 3 agencies appear ready to fund VERITAS --> OMB disapproves2002 Decadel Survey by Nat. Academy --> endorses VERITAS2003 Montosa canyon approved! --> lawsuit by environmental group decision to go to Kitt Peak instead!2003 March VERITAS funded for 4 telescopes in U.S. by DoE & NSF!2004 Feb. Prototype Telescope at testsite operational 2004 July site at Kitt Peak approved! 2005 Feb. telescope 1 operational 2005 Feb. infrastructure for VERITAS in place at Kitt Peak2005 Tohono O’odham Nation files complaint --> site shutdown --> NSF volunteers to do a new EA --> resolution expected by Dec 052005 Fall Telescope 1 & 2 start operations @ FLWO basecamp2006 Decision to built VERITAS-4 at basecamp + operate 2007 - 2009 2006 Dec. Kitt Peak site issue still unresolved …

1996 First Proposal to Smithsonian (Buckley, Catanese, Weekes & Krennrich) 1998 VERITAS selected for internal support at SAO1999 PPARC/EI approve funding for VERITAS2000 Lehman review --> passed2000 DOE funds VERITAS R&D2000 VERITAS proposal to NSF/DOE --> NSF lacks funds2001 Dec. 3 agencies appear ready to fund VERITAS --> OMB disapproves2002 Decadel Survey by Nat. Academy --> endorses VERITAS2003 Montosa canyon approved! --> lawsuit by environmental group decision to go to Kitt Peak instead!2003 March VERITAS funded for 4 telescopes in U.S. by DoE & NSF!2004 Feb. Prototype Telescope at testsite operational 2004 July site at Kitt Peak approved! 2005 Feb. telescope 1 operational 2005 Feb. infrastructure for VERITAS in place at Kitt Peak2005 Tohono O’odham Nation files complaint --> site shutdown --> NSF volunteers to do a new EA --> resolution expected by Dec 052005 Fall Telescope 1 & 2 start operations @ FLWO basecamp2006 Decision to built VERITAS-4 at basecamp + operate 2007 - 2009 2006 Dec. Kitt Peak site issue still unresolved …

NEAR FUTURE PLANS:

Two year program at FLWO: 2007 & 2008* Galactic plane sky survey* AGN search & monitoring, EBL studies* SNR, PWN searches and studies* Dark matter search* GRB follow-up

Move in 2009 to permanent site at Kitt Peak