Mainz 2014 – scientific programme
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T: Fachverband Teilchenphysik
T 73: Gammaastronomie 4
T 73.6: Talk
Wednesday, March 26, 2014, 18:05–18:20, P2
Monte Carlo studies of cosmic ray background in Imaging Air Cherenkov Telescopes — •Uta Menzel1, Razmik Mirzoyan1, and Emiliano Carmona2 — 1Max-Planck-Institut für Physik, München, Deutschland — 2CIEMAT, Madrid, Spain
Imaging air Cherenkov telescopes (IACTs) like MAGIC detect high energy gamma rays by observing Cherenkov light emission from extensive air showers produced in the atmosphere. The main source of background in this technique is due to numerous hadronic cosmic rays, which also produce air showers. To be able to reduce this background, it is important to study the properties of hadronic showers, which mimick images of gamma-rays in the IACT camera. We use CORSIKA, the standard Monte Carlo simulation program used by the MAGIC collaboration, with additional output providing more information about the Cherenkov photon emitters and parent particles in hadronic showers. This allows us to visualize Cherenkov light distributions from single particles (electron, muon, etc.) and from sub-showers. We use this information for studying the potential of reducing the misclassified cosmic-ray induced background.