A. Borodin

TAIGA experiment: present status and perspectives

The TAIGA observatory addresses ground-based gamma-ray astronomy at energies from a few TeV to several PeV, as well as cosmic ray physics from 100 TeV to several EeV . TAIGA will be located in the Tunka valley, ~ 50 km West from Lake Baikal. The different detectors of the TAIGA will be grouped in 6 arrays to measure Cherenkov and radio emission as well as electron and muon components of atmospheric showers. The combination of the wide angle Cherenkov detectors of the TAIGA-HiSCORE array and the 4-m Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes of the TAIGA-IACT array with their FoV of 10×10 degrees and underground muon detectors offers a very cost effective way to construct a 5 km2 array for gamma-ray astronomy.

The TAIGA Experiment: From Cosmic Ray Physics to Gamma Astronomy in the Tunka Valley

The article presents the relevance and advantages of the new gamma observatory TAIGA (Tunka Advanced Instrument for cosmic ray physics and Gamma Astronomy), which is being constructed in the Tunka Valley 50 km from Lake Baikal. Various detectors of the six TAIGA gamma observatory arrays register the Cherenkov and radio radiation, as well as the electron and muon components of EAS. The primary objective of the TAIGA gamma observatory is to study the high-energy part of the gamma-ray spectrum, in particular, in order to search for Galactic PeVatrons. The energy, direction, and position of the EAS axis are reconstructed in the observatory based on the data of the wide-angle Cherenkov detectors of the TAIGA-HiSCORE experiment. Taking into account this information, the gamma quanta are distinguished from the hadron background using the data obtained by the muon detectors and telescopes that register the EAS image in the Cherenkov light. In this hybrid mode of operation, the atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes can operate in the mono-mode, and the distance between them can be increased to 800–1000 m, which makes it possible to construct an array with an area of 5 km2 and more at relatively low cost and in a short time. By 2019, the first stage of the gamma observatory with an area of 1 km2 will be constructed; its expected integral sensitivity for detecting the gamma radiation with an energy of 100 TeV at observation of the source for 300 hours will be approximately

TAIGA-HiSCORE detection of the CATS-Lidar on the ISS as fast moving point source

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TAIGA - a hybrid detector complex for high energy gamma-ray astro-physics and cosmic ray physics in the Tunka valley

10–13 TeV cm–2s–1.

Camera of the first TAIGA-IACT: construction and calibration

Over the past few years, the TAIGA (Tunka Advanced Instrument for cosmic ray physics and Gamma-ray Astronomy) observatory has been being deployed in the Tunka Valley, Republic of Buryatia. It is designed for studying gamma rays of energy above 30 TeV and performing searches for sources of galactic cosmic rays with energies in the vicinity of 1 PeV, which is an energy region around the classic knee in the cosmic-ray energy spectrum. The first phase of the observatory will be situated at a distance of about 50 km from Lake Baikal at the site of the Tunka-133 array. The TAIGA gamma observatory will include a network of 500 wide-angle (0.6 sr) Cherenkov detectors (TAIGA-HiSCORE array) and up to 16 atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes (ACT) designed for analyzing the EAS images (imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes, or IACT) and positioned within an area of 5 km2. The observatory will also include muon detectors of total area 2000 m2 distributed over an area of 1 km2. Within the next three years, it is planned to enhance the area of the TAIGA-HiSCORE array by a factor of four—from 0.25 km2 to 1 km2; to supplement the existing IACT with two new ones; and to deploy new muon detectors with a total coverage of 200 m2. The structure of the new observatory is described along with the data analysis techniques used. The most interesting physical results are presented, and the research program for the future is discussed.

Commissioning the joint operation of the wide angle timing HiSCORE Cherenkov array with the first IACT of the TAIGA experimen

We report the first ground-based observation of the CATS-LIDAR onboard the ISS by the TAIGA-HiSCORE gamma-ray facility, and the MASTER-Tunka Robotic telescope. HiSCORE detects unscattered laser light directly from the ISS, at up to km-scale distance from the laser beam spot on ground. The ISS-LIDAR turns out to be a unique calibration tool, in particular to verify the absolute astronomical pointing of HiSCORE. We detected the LIDAR for 11 ISS-passages; among these were observations of forward scattering of the laser beam in dense clouds, which might carry information complementary to the LIDAR technique. We expect other air Cherenkov installations like IACTs to benefit from this light source.

Search for gamma-ray emission above 50 TeV from Crab Nebula with the TAIGA detector

The very to ultra high energy gamma-ray regime up to several 100 TeV is the key to spectrally resolve the cutoff regime of the long-sought Pevatrons, the Galactic cosmic-ray PeV accelerators. One component of the TAIGA hybrid detector is the TAIGA-HiSCORE shower-front sampling timing array, which currently consists of 28 wide angle (0.6\,sr) air Cherenkov timing stations distributed on an area of 0.25 km

Software design for the TAIGA-IACT telescope pointing and control system

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