About the Project
Some of the most energetic phenomena and enigmatic objects in the universe, including active galactic nuclei, black holes, pulsars, binary systems or supernovae, can produce very high energy (VHE) gamma rays that carry unique information about their sources. Astronomy at these extreme gamma ray energies in the TeV range has only been possible within the last 25 years owing to the development of imaging air Cherenkov telescopes such as HESS, MAGIC and VERITAS. These facilities have shown that there is a wealth of phenomena to be studied. However, we have reached the limit of what can be done with current instruments, and so about 1000 scientists from 29 countries around the world have come together to build a new instrument – the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA).
CTA will offer a dramatic increase in sensitivity over current instruments and extend the energy range of the gamma rays observed to both lower and higher values. It is predicted that the catalogue of known VHE emitting objects will expand from the 130 known now to over 1000, and we can expect many new discoveries in key areas of astrophysics and fundamental physics. To achieve the energy coverage of CTA, telescopes of three different sizes are needed: Small (~4 m diameter), Medium (12 m) and Large (23 m) Sized Telescopes (SSTs, MSTs and LSTs, respectively). CTA will have arrays in the northern and southern hemispheres. The northern array will consist of 4 LSTs and 25 MSTs. The southern array will add to its 4 LSTs and 25 MSTs an extensive array of 70 SSTs, to investigate the highest energy phenomena, visible mainly in the southern sky. The construction of the first telescopes on the CTA southern site is expected to start in 2018.
The UK effort on CTA is focussed among 5 main consortium members; Durham, Leicester, Liverpool, Liverpool John Moore’s, and Oxford. Within this consortium the University of Leicester has led development of the prototype focal plane camera for the high energy SST instruments, a 35x 35cm2 array of 2048 photon counting pixels each read out by a very high speed 1 GHz digitiser and complex trigger electronics. The next phase of the CTA-UK mission is to develop and deliver a pre-production camera for the SST instruments, the first of 35 such cameras. The project will involve characterisation of existing cameras, and using the lessons learnt and expertise gained to inform the pre-production camera design and manufacture, leading to installation of the camera and testing of an entire SST instrument at one of the CTA sites. The first light data from the instrument will be available for data analysis by the student, giving them the opportunity to be one of the privileged few to deliver early science results from CTA.
Funding Notes
For UK Students: Fully funded Leicester Institute for Space and Earth Observation studentship available, 3 year duration.
For EU Students: Leicester Institute for Space and Earth Observation studentship available, 3 year duration
For International (Non-EU) Students: Stipend and Home/EU level fee waiver available, 3 years duration. International students will need to provide additional funds for remainder of tuition fees.
References
Acharya, B. S., et al. "Introducing the CTA concept." Astroparticle Physics 43 (2013): 3-18.
Lapington, J. S., et al. "The GCT Camera for the Cherenkov Telescope Array." NIM-A (2016).