Improving the performance of the single-dish Cherenkov telescope MAGIC through the use of signal timing

Aliu, E.; Anderhub, H.; Antonelli, L. A.; Antoranz, P.; Backes, M.; Baixeras, C.; Barrio, J. A.; Bartko, H.; Bastieri, D.; Becker, J. K.; Bednarek, W.; Berger, K.; Bernardini, E.; Biland, A.; Bock, R. K.; Bonnoli, G.; Bordas, P.; Borla Tridon, D.; Bosch-Ramon, V.; Bretz, T.; Britvitch, I.; Camara, M.; Carmona, E.; Chilingarian, A.; Commichau, S.; Contreras, J. L.; Cortina, J.; Costado, M. T.; Covino, S.; Curtef, V.; Dazzi, F.; de Angelis, A.; de Cea Del Pozo, E.; de Los Reyes, R.; de Lotto, B.; de Maria, M.; de Sabata, F.; Delgado Mendez, C.; Dominguez, A.; Dorner, D.; Doro, M.; Elsässer, D.; Errando, M.; Fagiolini, M.; Ferenc, D.; Fernández, E.; Firpo, R.; Fonseca, M. V.; Font, L.; Galante, N.; García López, R. J.; Garczarczyk, M.; Gaug, M.; Goebel, F.; Hadasch, D.; Hayashida, M.; Herrero, A.; Höhne, D.; Hose, J.; Hsu, C. C.; Huber, S.; Jogler, T.; Kranich, D.; La Barbera, A.; Laille, A.; Leonardo, E.; Lindfors, E.; Lombardi, S.; Longo, F.; López, M.; Lorenz, E.; Majumdar, P.; Maneva, G.; Mankuzhiyil, N.; Mannheim, K.; Maraschi, L.; Mariotti, M.; Martínez, M.; Mazin, D.; Meucci, M.; Meyer, M.; Miranda, J. M.; Mirzoyan, R.; Moles, M.; Moralejo, A.; Nieto, D.; Nilsson, K.; Ninkovic, J.; Otte, N.; Oya, I.; Paoletti, R.; Paredes, J. M.; Pasanen, M.; Pascoli, D.; Pauss, F.; Pegna, R. G.; Perez-Torres, M. A.; Persic, M.; Peruzzo, L.; Piccioli, A. et al.
Bibliographical reference

Astroparticle Physics, Volume 30, Issue 6, p. 293-305.

Advertised on:
1
2009
Number of authors
147
IAC number of authors
5
Citations
107
Refereed citations
73
Description
The Cherenkov light flashes produced by extensive air showers are very short in time. A high bandwidth and fast digitizing readout, therefore, can minimize the influence of the background from the light of the night sky, and improve the performance in Cherenkov telescopes. The time structure of the Cherenkov image can further be used in single-dish Cherenkov telescopes as an additional parameter to reduce the background from unwanted hadronic showers. A description of an analysis method which makes use of the time information and the subsequent improvement on the performance of the MAGIC telescope (especially after the upgrade with an ultra fast 2 GSamples/s digitization system in February 2007) will be presented. The use of timing information in the analysis of the new MAGIC data reduces the background by a factor two, which in turn results in an enhancement of about a factor 1.4 of the flux sensitivity to point-like sources, as tested on observations of the Crab Nebula.
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Particle Astrophysics
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, designed to measure the Cherenkov radiation associated with
Ramón
García López