DANIEL MAZIN - Astroparticle physics with high energy gamma rays

MAGIC

→ OFFICIAL MAGIC WEBSITE

MAGIC (Major Atmosheric Gamma-ray Cherenkov) is a pair of 17m diameter Cherenkov telescopes measuring gamma rays in the energy range from 30 GeV to more than 50 TeV. The MAGIC telescopes are located in La Palma, at the height of 2200m above the sea level at the Observatorio del Roque de Los Muchachos.

I joined MAGIC in 2003 and worked in basically all aspects of the experiment: data analysis, data interpretation, software development, hardware development, subsystem development, subsystem maintenance, upgarde manager, time allocation committee member, and working group convener. I am currently serving as the Technical Coordinator of the experiment and one of the three AGN conveners.

CTA

→ OFFICIAL CTA WEBSITE

CTA is the next generation experiment in the ground base gamma-ray astronomy. It envisions a factor 10 better sensitivity that the current instruments (MAGIC, HESS and VERITAS) and an energy coverage from 20 GeV up to more than 300 TeV. The CTA should be built in two sites, one in the North, another in the South to have the full sky coverage. It will be operated as an observatory, with most of the time as open access to the community. CTA will consist of three types of telescopes:

Large size telescopes (LSTs), 4 of 23m diameter single to cover low gamma-ray energies
Middle size telescopes (MSTs), 15-50 of 12m diameter each to cover middle gamma-ray energies
Small size telescopes (SSTs), some 70 of 4m to 6m diameter telescopes with single and dual mirror design to cover the highest gamma-ray energies

Also, several (order of 25) Schwarzschild Couder dual mirror telescopes (SCTs) are considered to strengthen the array in the intermediate energies. The basic concept is introduced in the special issue of the Astroparticle Physics journal: click here.

I joined CTA in 2007 and mainly worked so far in the science working group to prepare extragalactic science cases for CTA. Right now I am one of the three extragalactic group conveners and the project manager of LSTs.