Monte Carlo Performance Studies for the Site Selection of the Cherenkov Telescope Array

Understand

The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) represents the next generation of ground-based instruments for very-high-energy (VHE) gamma-ray astronomy, aimed at improving on the sensitivity of current-generation experiments by an order of magnitude and providing coverage over four decades of energy.

• The current CTA design consists of two arrays of tens of imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes, comprising Small, Medium and Large-Sized Telescopes, with one array located in each of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.
• To study the effect of the site choice on the overall \gls{cta} performance and support the site evaluation process, detailed Monte Carlo simulations have been performed.
• These results show the impact of different site-related attributes such as altitude, night-sky background and local geomagnetic field on CTA performance for the observation of VHE gamma rays.