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| Paper: |
Pulsars at Very-High Energies: Prospects for CTA |
| Volume: |
466, Electromagnetic Radiation from Pulsars and Magnetars |
| Page: |
267 |
| Authors: |
de los Reyes, R.; Rudak, B.; CTA Consortium |
| Abstract: |
Observations of pulsars (PSRs) have been conducted at Very High Energies (VHE; E>0.1 TeV) during the last two decades using the last generation of imaging air Cherenkov arrays.
Recently, two Cherenkov telescope observatories - VERITAS and MAGIC - have revealed the emission of pulsed gamma-rays from Crab pulsar at energies above 100 GeV. This finding has seriously constrained the theoretical models of pulsed emission. Moreover, it opens the possibility of the existence of a VHE pulsar population. The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) will be the most sensitive (∼ 1mCrab) open gamma-ray observatory at very high energies with an energy threshold at E> 30 GeV.
An introduction to the CTA project is presented here, including an overview of
its current preparatory phase and the main science topics that have been considered in its design. In particular, we provide the scientific motivation for the
observation of pulsars, based on computations of the CTA sensitivity to the spectra extrapolated from the measured Fermi LAT pulsar population. |
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