Particle Astrophysics

    General
    Description

    The members of the Particle Astrophysics Group of the IAC participate actively in three large international collaborations of high-energy astrophysics: AMS-02 (Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer), the Cherenkov radiation telescopes MAGIC I and II and the Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO). We also participate in the ASTRI mini-array, the gamma-ray experiment Fermi-LAT and the gravitational wave follow-up optical telescopes GOTO.

    AMS-02 is a particle detector designed to operate in space, onboard the International Space Station. It was successfully installed on the station on May 2011, and will operate during its lifetime till at least 2030. It is aimed at carrying out a high precision and high statistics study of the spectrum and composition of primary cosmic rays within a wide range of energies, as well as to look for primordial antimatter and dark matter in an indirect way.

    The MAGIC Collaboration is integrated by 20 research institutes and university departments from Armenia, Bulgaria, Finland, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, Switzerland and USA. The collaboration comprises two 17m diameter telescopes, located at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (ORM), designed to measure the Cherenkov radiation associated with atmospheric showers from very high-energy gamma rays.

    In the context of gamma ray observations at very high energies, the IAC also participates in the international consortium of the array of Cherenkov telescopes CTAO, with the objective to build two large observatories in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. The Roque de los Muchachos Observatory in La Palma was selected to host the CTA North observatory. The first telescope of 23 metres in diameter of the type "Large Size Telescope" of CTAO, know as LST1, was inaugurated in October 2018. This telescope was constructed by the "LST Collaboration" of CTAO, which consists of 300 scientists from 12 countries, where the IAC has a very relevant role. Currently the commissioning of the LST1 telescope is coming to and end and the scientific exploitation of the data is already given rise to new discoveries. The IAC is currently in the phase of constructing 3 more LST telescopes (LST2-LST4) in the ORM.

    The ASTRI project is being currently built at the Teide Observatory. Its final design consist of 9 small size Cherenkov telescopes. The first telescope, ASTRI-1, is nowadays in commissioning phase.

    Principal investigator
    Collaborators

    Related publications

    MAGIC very large zenith angle observations of the Crab Nebula up to 100 TeV 2020A&A...635A.158M
    Fermi Large Area Telescope Fourth Source Catalog 2020ApJS..247...33A
    New Hard-TeV Extreme Blazars Detected with the MAGIC Telescopes 2020ApJS..247...16A
    The Great Markarian 421 Flare of 2010 February: Multiwavelength Variability and Correlation Studies 2020ApJ...890...97A
    Quasi-periodic behaviour in the optical and γ-ray light curves of blazars 3C 66A and B2 1633+38 2020MNRAS.492.5524O
    Monitoring of the radio galaxy M 87 during a low-emission state from 2012 to 2015 with MAGIC 2020MNRAS.492.5354M
    Statistics of VHE γ-rays in temporal association with radio giant pulses from the Crab pulsar 2020A&A...634A..25M
    Properties of Cosmic Helium Isotopes Measured by the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer 2019PhRvL.123r1102A
    Observation of inverse Compton emission from a long γ-ray burst 2019Natur.575..459M
    Towards Understanding the Origin of Cosmic-Ray Electrons 2019PhRvL.122j1101A
    Towards Understanding the Origin of Cosmic-Ray Positrons 2019PhRvL.122d1102A
    Teraelectronvolt emission from the γ-ray burst GRB 190114C 2019Natur.575..455M
    Testing emission models on the extreme blazar 2WHSP J073326.7+515354 detected at very high energies with the MAGIC telescopes 2019MNRAS.490.2284M
    Constraints on Gamma-Ray and Neutrino Emission from NGC 1068 with the MAGIC Telescopes 2019ApJ...883..135A
    The afterglow and kilonova of the short GRB 160821B 2019MNRAS.489.2104T
    Measurement of the extragalactic background light using MAGIC and Fermi-LAT gamma-ray observations of blazars up to z = 1 2019MNRAS.486.4233A
    Monte Carlo studies for the optimisation of the Cherenkov Telescope Array layout 2019APh...111...35A
    A fast, very-high-energy γ-ray flare from BL Lacertae during a period of multi-wavelength activity in June 2015 2019A&A...623A.175M
    MAGIC and Fermi-LAT gamma-ray results on unassociated HAWC sources 2019MNRAS.485..356A
    Observation of Fine Time Structures in the Cosmic Proton and Helium Fluxes with the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer on the International Space Station 2018PhRvL.121e1101A
    Observation of Complex Time Structures in the Cosmic-Ray Electron and Positron Fluxes with the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer on the International Space Station 2018PhRvL.121e1102A
    Precision Measurement of Cosmic-Ray Nitrogen and its Primary and Secondary Components with the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer on the International Space Station 2018PhRvL.121e1103A
    Multimessenger observations of a flaring blazar coincident with high-energy neutrino IceCube-170922A 2018Sci...361.1378I
    Observation of New Properties of Secondary Cosmic Rays Lithium, Beryllium, and Boron by the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer on the International Space Station 2018PhRvL.120b1101A
    Deep observations of the globular cluster M15 with the MAGIC telescopes 2019MNRAS.484.2876M
    Extreme HBL behavior of Markarian 501 during 2012 2018A&A...620A.181A
    New GTC spectroscopic data and a statistical study to better constrain the redshift of the BL Lac RGB J2243 + 203 2019MNRAS.482.5422R
    Discovery of TeV γ-ray emission from the neighbourhood of the supernova remnant G24.7+0.6 by MAGIC 2019MNRAS.483.4578M
    Multi-wavelength characterization of the blazar S5 0716+714 during an unprecedented outburst phase 2018A&A...619A..45M
    Detection of persistent VHE gamma-ray emission from PKS 1510-089 by the MAGIC telescopes during low states between 2012 and 2017 2018A&A...619A.159M
    Periastron Observations of TeV Gamma-Ray Emission from a Binary System with a 50-year Period 2018ApJ...867L..19A
    Gamma-ray flaring activity of NGC1275 in 2016-2017 measured by MAGIC 2018A&A...617A..91M
    Constraining very-high-energy and optical emission from FRB 121102 with the MAGIC telescopes 2018MNRAS.481.2479M
    Constraining dark matter lifetime with a deep gamma-ray survey of the Perseus galaxy cluster with MAGIC 2018PDU....22...38A
    Detection of the blazar S4 0954+65 at very-high-energy with the MAGIC telescopes during an exceptionally high optical state 2018A&A...617A..30M
    The Blazar TXS 0506+056 Associated with a High-energy Neutrino: Insights into Extragalactic Jets and Cosmic-Ray Acceleration 2018ApJ...863L..10A
    The broad-band properties of the intermediate synchrotron peaked BL Lac S2 0109+22 from radio to VHE gamma-rays 2018MNRAS.480..879M
    Limits on the flux of tau neutrinos from 1 PeV to 3 EeV with the MAGIC telescopes 2018APh...102...77A
    Constraints on particle acceleration in SS433/W50 from MAGIC and H.E.S.S. observations 2018A&A...612A..14M
    First multi-wavelength campaign on the gamma-ray-loud active galaxy IC 310 2017A&A...603A..25A

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    Related projects
    CTAO 3D simulation. Credit: Gabriel Pérez Díaz (IAC)
    IACTEC Large Telescopes: Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory - CTAO
    The CTAO is an initiative which is planning the construction of a new generation of Cherenkov Telescopes to study the universe in very high energy gamma-rays. Gamma-rays carry information about the most violent and extreme events in the universe.
    Ramón
    García López