Abstract
The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is the next generation ground-based observatory for γ-ray astronomy at energies above 30 GeV. Thanks to its unique capabilities, CTA observations will address a plethora of open questions in astrophysics, ranging from the origin of cosmic messengers to the exploration of the frontiers of physics. In this note, we present a comprehensive sensitivity study to assess the potential of CTA to measure the γ-ray absorption on the extragalactic background light (EBL), to constrain or detect intergalactic magnetic fields (IGMFs), and probe physics beyond the standard model such as axion-like particles (ALPs) and Lorentz invariance violation (LIV), which could modify the γ-ray spectra features expected from EBL absorption. Our results suggest that CTA will have unprecedented sensitivity to detect IGMF signatures and will probe so-far unexplored regions of the LIV and ALP parameter space. Furthermore, an indirect measurement of the EBL and of its evolution will be performed with unrivaled precision.
Original language | English |
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Publication status | Published - 2019 |
Externally published | Yes |
Event | 36th International Cosmic Ray Conference, ICRC 2019 - Madison, United States Duration: 24 Jul 2019 → 1 Aug 2019 |
Conference
Conference | 36th International Cosmic Ray Conference, ICRC 2019 |
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Country/Territory | United States |
City | Madison |
Period | 24/7/19 → 1/8/19 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This work was conducted in the context of the CTA Physics Working Group. We gratefully acknowledge financial support from the agencies and organizations listed here: http://www.cta-observatory.org/consortium_acknowledgments/. HMH acknowledges FAPESP support No. 2015/15897-1 and 2017/03680-3 and the National Laboratory for Scientific Computing (LNCC/MCTI, Brazil) for providing HPC resources of the SDumont supercomputer (sdumont.lncc.br).
Publisher Copyright:
© Copyright owned by the author(s) under the terms of the Creative Commons
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- General