Published October 7, 2001 | Version v1
Journal article

The current status and future plans of the STACEE observatory

  • 1. Department of Physics, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027 (United States)
  • 2. Barnard College, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027 (United States)
  • 3. Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics, University of California, Santa Cruz, California 95064 (United States)
  • 4. Enrico Fermi Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637 (United States)
  • 5. Department of Physics, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio 44106 (United States)
  • 6. Department of Physics, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec H3A 2T8 (Canada)
  • 7. TRIUMF, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 2A3 (Canada)
  • 8. Centre for Subatomic Research, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2N5 (Canada)
  • 9. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095 (United States)

Description

The Solar Tower Atmospheric Cherenkov Effect Experiment (STACEE) represents a new type of atmospheric Cherenkov detector that achieves a low energy threshold for γ-ray detection by using heliostat mirrors in a pre-existing solar research facility. STACEE is designed to study astrophysical sources of γ-rays in the energy range of 50 to 500 GeV. A prototype of the experiment using 32 heliostats (STACEE-32) has previously detected the Crab nebula at high significance, demonstrating the viability of the technique. The completed version of STACEE will use 64 heliostats, and will have a total collection area of ∼2300 m2. Astrophysics in the 10 to 300 GeV regime has proved to be elusive to both ground-based and satellite experiments and STACEE has the potential of filling an important niche in high energy astrophysics. Here we describe the current status and future goals of STACEE

Additional details

Identifiers

Publishing Information

Journal Title
AIP Conference Proceedings
Journal Volume
587
Journal Issue
1
Journal Page Range
p. 932-936
ISSN
0094-243X
CODEN
APCPCS

Conference

Title
Gamma-ray astrophysics 2001
Acronym
6. Compton symposium
Dates
4-6 Apr 2001
Place
Baltimore, MD (United States)

Optional Information

Notes
(c) 2001 American Institute of Physics.