ICECUBE CTA SST-1M NUSES
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Welcome to the
High-Energy Multi-Messenger group of
Prof. T. Montaruli and MER M. Heller

Montaruli's group photo

 

Our group has the unique feature of combining activities on gamma-ray, neutrino and cosmic-ray astrophysics, from ground-based and space-born experiments, and laboratory works, and advanced data analyses which ultimately include artificial intelligence on GPUs or FPGA, and model interpretation.

Our group is conducting experimental research activities in high-energy astroparticle physics. Our main research project concerns the contribution to the next-generation ground-based very-high-energy (VHE) gamma-ray instruments, namely the Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO) . Specifically, we are involved in the construction and commissioning of the Large-Sized Telescopes (LSTs), including simulations and data analysis. The first telescope, LST-1 is now taking data and LST-2-4 are under construction and they are about ready to be provided to CTAO! We also have a very important task on the calibration of the array of telescopes of CTAO. We are developing the pipeline to calibrate the raw data of the arrays of telescopes which is part of the Data Processing and Preservation (DPPS) system of CTAO, named the CalibPipe. We are also starting to work on the Quality Pipeline that validates the data as good.

 

Prof. Montaruli coordinates CTAO activities in Switzerland.

 

Here below you can find a Brochure that describes our work and our goals:

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We are now working on a very exciting project for the construction of the Advanced Cameras based on SiPMs for Large Size Telescopes that requires advanced technology, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and simulation work. On AI we are working on a smart trigger that could process the data and filter the noise, tagging the particles, as close as possible to the sensors which are Silicon PhotoMultipliers (SiPMs). You read more here. We have many projects of Thesis (Master and Ph.D.) on the CTAO topics! Do not hesitate to ask to Teresa Montaruli and  Matthieu Heller.

We developed a new data processing named LHFit for CTA telescope data. This is very stable and performant at low energy, between 10-100 TeV, for processing the data and discovering TeV gamma-ray sources or analyzing the flares of existing sources and measuring their spectra in energy. Read more on this here.

Our group has built two cool gamma-ray telescopes, which have cameras prototypes of the LST Advanced camera, the SST-1M telescopes now at the Ondřejov Observatory. We are now commissioning the telescopes and this is a lot of fun for students who could directly perform observations of black holes shooting out of the core of galaxies; jets of particles, also named blazars. The SST-1M is a mini-array that can offer a platform for tests of new technologies and analysis methods. Read more on the SST-1M here and here.

The camera of the SST-1M has been built by the UNIGE group, proving excellent performance with a quite innovative fully digital philosophy. It employs SiPMs, directly designed by our group. The same technology used for the SST-1M project for the photo-detection plane has also been adopted for the LHAASO Cherenkov/Fluorescence Telescopes (WFCTA). Since members of our group are members of the LHAASO gamma-ray observatory.

Thanks to our experience in building SiPM cameras we joined an exciting satellite project named NUSES, with leading Institute GSSI. It will host two payloads, Ziré dedicated to low energy cosmic rays below a few hundreds of MeV, and Terzina, a new prototype for Cherenkov light emission from space. We are responsible for the photo-sensing plane of the Terzina telescope. We work on the payload TERZINA, a Cherenkov telescope for space, that will measure UHECR events beyond 100 PeV detecting for the first time Cherenkov light from the limb of the atmosphere. The project is financed by the Italian Ministry as a joint effort with THALES Alenia Space Italy. This is a prototype for the future of UHECRs and neutrino skimming from Earth at > PeV energies. We offer Master theses on this project!

 

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Terzina telescope on board NUSES in two views.

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A SST-1M telescope at Ondřejov.

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IceCube Neutrino Observatory is the world largest particle detector buried in the Antarctic ice located at the South Pole at the depth of 1.5-2.5 km. It is especially tailored to search for neutrinos of energy > 100 GeV from the most violent astrophysical sources: events like exploding stars, gamma ray bursts, and cataclysmic phenomena involving black holes and neutron stars.

Our group contributed significantly to one of the most recent breakthrough papers in IceCube: the 10 year data analysis where we found a significant excess from the source NGC1068 and the TXS 0506+056 evidence from blazar flare of high energy neutrinos in coincidence with gamma rays.

The sample we analysed represents a milestone data set of IceCube and is publicly released from this page.

 

>> Read more...

 

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The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) project will be the world's largest observatory composed of Cherenkov telescopes. This new generation of ground-based very-high-energy gamma-ray instruments will improve notably our capabilities of studying the most extreme phenomena in the Universe.

Our group is part of the worldwide community working on this project and is mainly involved in the construction and first data analysis of the first telescope of the CTA array, the first Large Size Telescope (LST). We lead also two working packages: one on system engineering and one on the R&D development of a future camera with SiPM.

 

 

>> Read more... 

 

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Our group offers exciting opportunities for Ph.D. and Bachelor and Master level thesis projects.


 

We participated in the H2020 project with the SENSE FET-OPEN project, on the development of the ultimate low-level sensing sensors, and we were active in gender and diversity issues through the H2020 project GENERA.

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Welcome to the High-Energy Multi-Messenger group of Prof. T. Montaruli and MER M. Heller