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SUMMARY:Enabling Intensity Interferometry with the CTAO
DTSTART:20260518T133000Z
DTEND:20260518T143000Z
DTSTAMP:20260507T160300Z
UID:indico-event-1817@indico.dfa.unipd.it
CONTACT:elisa.prandini@unipd.it
DESCRIPTION:Speakers: Jonathan Biteau (Université Paris-Saclay\, IJCLab I
 nstitut universitaire de France)\n\nThe Cherenkov Telescope Array Observat
 ory (CTAO) is a new generation of telescope arrays for gamma-ray astronomy
 . The telescopes are designed to collect ultraviolet to red Cherenkov phot
 ons from extensive air showers with nanosecond sampling. The total mirror 
 area of the telescopes exceeds that of the Extremely Large Telescope at ea
 ch CTAO site: Paranal in the Atacama Desert (CTAO-South) and Roque de Los 
 Muchachos in the Canary Islands (CTAO-North). The dozens of CTAO telescope
 s\, their kilometer-long baselines\, and their fast photodetection capabil
 ities make the Observatory an exceptional optical instrument. In particula
 r\, fluctuations in the intensity of optical sources can be measured to pe
 rform interferometric measurements between pairs of telescopes\, through t
 he Hanbury-Brown and Twiss effect.\nThe scientific applications of the CTA
 O in interferometric mode include generalizing cases opened up by its prec
 ursors (HESS\, MAGIC\, and VERITAS)\, such as measurements of the radii of
  massive stars\, limb darkening\, and the flattening of fast rotators. New
  and ambitious applications include observing stellar flares or spots and 
 even possibly multiband imaging of exoplanet transits. Additionally\, the 
 CTAO interferometer could opportunistically characterize the geometry of h
 igh-energy photon emitters\, such as binary systems and nova flares in the
  Milky Way\, as well as supernovae in the Local Group. The successful impl
 ementation of intensity interferometry on the CTAO precursors has shown th
 at only modest adjustments are needed to fulfill the key requirements. The
  first set of minimal modifications to the arrays entails adding dedicated
  optical filters and signal samplers to the cameras\, a high-bandwidth fib
 er optic network\, White Rabbit nodes for synchronization\, and the necess
 ary infrastructure for data computation and storage. These adjustments wou
 ld enable the CTAO to extend its observation time to include full-moon per
 iods\, during which Cherenkov measurements are difficult. To achieve the m
 ost ambitious scientific objectives\, a second step would involve installi
 ng new interferometry-dedicated photosensors in the cameras to increase th
 e bandwidth and the number of channels per camera through spectral multipl
 exing.\nIn this seminar\, I will present the plan to enable intensity inte
 rferometry with the CTAO. Such an implementation offers substantial scient
 ific possibilities\, including those involving other optical telescopes at
  the Paranal and Roque sites.\n\nhttps://indico.dfa.unipd.it/event/1817/
LOCATION:0/0-3 - Sala Rosino (Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia - Edific
 io ex-Rizzato)
URL:https://indico.dfa.unipd.it/event/1817/
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