Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser. 138, 601-602

The MAGIC Telescope - prospects for GRB research

D. Petry¹ for the MAGIC Telescope Collaboration

Send offprint request: D. Petry

1 - Institut de Física d'Altes Energies, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain
e-mail: petry@ifae.es

Received December 29, 1998; accepted March 15, 1999

Abstract:

The Major Atmospheric Gamma-ray Imaging Cherenkov (MAGIC) Telescope collaboration is constructing a large Cherenkov telescope (17 m diameter) for the exploration of the gamma-ray energy regime above 10 GeV with high sensitivity. One of the highlights in the science program of this future observatory are the plans for fast follow-up observations of of GRBs. By "fast'' we mean delays of less than 30 s between notification and the beginning of observations. The expected gamma counting rates are of the order of 100 Hz for a EGRET counting rate of 0.1 Hz above 100 MeV and a spectral index of 2.0 (this would correspond to a fluence of 10^-5 erg cm^-2 for 60 s burst duration).

The good photon statistics will permit determination of spectra, search for cutoffs and measurement of light-curves with a time resolution of the order of 1 s.

Key words: gamma-rays: bursts -- gamma-rays: observations