A Monte Carlo template based analysis for air-Cherenkov arrays

By R. Parsons, J. Hinton. 2014

152 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract We present a high-performance event reconstruction algorithm: an Image Pixel-wise fit for Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (ImPACT). The reconstruction algorithm is based around the likelihood fitting of camera pixel amplitudes to an expected image template. A maximum likelihood fit is performed to find the best-fit shower parameters. A related reconstruction algorithm has already been shown to provide significant improvements over traditional reconstruction for both the CAT and H.E.S.S. experiments. We demonstrate a significant improvement to the template generation step of the procedure, by the use of a full Monte Carlo air shower simulation in combination with a ray-tracing optics simulation to more accurately model the expected camera images. This reconstruction step is combined with an MVA-based background rejection. Examples are shown of the performance of the ImPACT analysis on both simulated and measured (from a strong VHE source) gamma-ray data from the H.E.S.S. array, demonstrating an improvement in sensitivity of more than a factor two in observation time over traditional image moments-fitting methods, with comparable performance to previous likelihood fitting analyses. ImPACT is a particularly promising approach for future large arrays such as the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) due to its improved high-energy performance and suitability for arrays of mixed telescope types.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Nuclear and High Energy Physics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/acbb03ef6cc9f5dcb49168bd233e2a5803763355

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Astronomy and Astrophysics

1. J. Hinton
2. William H. Lee
3. S. Casanova
4. B. Metzger
5. Stephan Rosswog
6. R. Fern'andez
7. E. Berger

In Nuclear and High Energy Physics

1. J. Hinton
2. S. Casanova

Citations in the corpus

• Measurement of the Crab Nebula Spectrum Past 100 TeV with HAWC (2019, methodology): “Techniques used may include look-up ta- bles (Holder 2015) or template-based analyses (Bohec et al. 1998; Parsons & Hinton 2014).”