手嶋政廣(宇宙線研究所)
超高エネルギーガンマ線天文学とその将来
Very High Energy Gamma Ray Astronomy and Future Prospects
Very High Energy gamma-ray astronomy is a newly emerging and very successful branch of astrophysics. Exciting results have been obtained by the current generation Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescope systems (IACTs), such as HESS, MAGIC and VERITAS. MAGIC is now the largest Cherenkov stereo telescope system worldwide, and is sensitive to gamma rays in the energy range from 25GeV to 10TeV due to its large 17m diameter dishes. Many scientific results have been achieved with MAGIC on galactic and extra-galactic sources. Among them, the first detection of pulsed gamma ray emission from the Crab pulsar at 25GeV, and the detection of gamma ray emissions from distant Active Galactic Nuclei, demonstrate the strong advantage and unique features of MAGIC with its low threshold energy setting. The new discoveries and scientific results with the current generation IACTs, mainly with MAGIC, are reviewed and future project CTA (Cherenkov Telescope Array Project) will be discussed.