Current Status of CTA

• Gavin Rowell (School of Physical Sciences, University of Adelaide)

I will present a brief status report on CTA from the perspective of the CTA Consortium (CTAC), the CTA Observatory (CTAO) and the Small Sized Telescope Camera (SST-Cam) sub-consortium.

Updates from CTA Analysis

• Sabrina Einecke (The University of Adelaide, Australia)

Project Update: Towards a Cherenkov Telescope Ring

• Simon Lee (School of Physical Sciences, University of Adelaide)

The extreme and often varying nature of Active Galactic Nuclei can be investigated by observations of very-high-energy gamma rays. Studying their long-term behaviour and flaring episodes requires the ability to take continuous observations over large spans of time. The Cherenkov Telescope Ring is thus a project to establish a worldwide network of Imaging Air Cherenkov Telescopes (IACT). This will allow for long-term continuous observations and 24-hour follow-up availability in case of transient events. Establishing a site in Australia will be crucial to obtain a full-sky coverage. The performance of an IACT site depends on the number of telescopes, their layout, and their height. To investigate possibilities for an Australian site, simulations need to be made and analysed. In this talk the concept and science cases of a Cherenkov Telescope Ring will be briefly introduced, and preliminary comparisons of simulated site performance will be presented.

Selection of an Australian Telescope Site - Update

• Paddy McGee (University of Adelaide)
• Sabrina Einecke (The University of Adelaide, Australia)

CTA's Multi-wavelength Contributions from the Australian Perspective

• Gavin Rowell (School of Physical Sciences, University of Adelaide)

Australian radio and optical facilities will play major roles in supporting CTA's Key Science Projects (KSPs), as well as other proposed observations. My talk will outline the plans to link various MWL faciliites into the KSPs via a task force jointly led by the CTAC and the CTAO, and the areas where Australia can contribute.

GASKAP Update

• Katie Jameson (CSIRO)

I will present a quick update on the status of GASKAP HI and OH observations from Phase 1 and the plans for GASKAP-HI for Phase 2 of the Pilot Survey.

CTA-Pol: A Polarimetry Capability for CTA-Oz

• Nick Tothill (Western Sydney University)

Polarimetric monitoring is an important ancillary science theme for CTA, since it shows the state of blazars. Provision of an Australian polarimetric monitoring capability will extend the time coverage of these sources. A major element of the current CTA LIEF grant is the construction and commissioning of a polarimeter, and its deployment to Australian telescopes. This polarimeter will be based on the HIPPI and PICSARR polarimetry methods developed by Jeremy Bailey at UNSW, optimised for the CTA monitoring use case. We summarise the science drivers and design progress for this instrument, and look ahead to programme possibilities.

Update on MM surveys of the Small Magellanic Cloud

• Miroslav Filipovic (Western Sydney University)

I will review new multi-messenger surveys of the Small Magellanic Cloud with the special emphasis on radio-continuum and gamma-rays surveys.

HCO+ mapping with ATCA

• Nick Tothill (Western Sydney University)

Cosmic rays are important drivers of molecular gas ionisation, and molecular gas ionisation is in turn a diagnostic of cosmic ray astrophysics. Although DCO+ is widely regarded as the most useful molecular tracer of cosmic ray ionisation, HCO+ is far more accessible to telescopes. A large-scale programme of HCO+ mapping of sites of interest in the Milky Way will therefore lay the groundwork for the greater understanding of the role of cosmic rays in the interstellar medium that we will derive from CTA. We have completed one run on ATCA, using it as 5 separate telescopes, and have more time scheduled this winter. We show preliminary results of our mapping programme.

Dark Matter Search with CTA

• Csaba Balazs (School of Physics and Astronomy, Monash University)

CTA will search for dark matter in the centre of our galaxy and in dwarf spheroidal satellites. I show preliminary results on how we plan to distinguish the astrophysical background from the dark matter signal and which dark matter candidates CTA might have a chance to detect.

Accreting White Dwarfs as CTA Sources

• Ashley Ruiter (UNSW Canberra)

Over 95% of stars end their lives as white dwarfs - many of which are found in binary star systems that are interacting. Accreting white dwarfs are responsible for some of the most energetic phenomena in the Universe (Type Ia supernovae), though most accreting white dwarfs will not explode. However, the periodic eruptions of some accreting systems (e.g. cataclysmic variables) have recently been of interest since gamma ray emission (>100 MeV) has been detected arising from several nova events. I will give a brief overview of binary systems that host novae, and give an estimate of how many nova events we may expect in the Local Universe.

Updates from Adelaide Students

• Kirsty Feijen (School of Physical Sciences, University of Adelaide)
• Adnaan Thakur (The University of Adelaide)
• Rami Alsulami (The University of Adelaide)
• Peter Marinos (The University of Adelaide)
• Tiffany Collins (The University of Adelaide)

In this contribution, we will provide updates of various projects of the Adelaide students. Rami Alsulami investigates the outflow towards LS 5039 using multiple survey. Tiffany Collins is modelling the background interstellar medium and magnetic field towards and around HESS J1825-137 to understand the observed gamma-ray emission. Kirsty Feijen aims to reveal the origin of HESS J1804−216, by modelling both the spectral and spatial gamma-ray morphology from SNRs in the hadronic scenario. Peter Marinos aims to simulate the Galactic TeV diffuse gamma-ray emission with GALPROP for a variety of model parameters. Comparisons between these models and the diffuse emission measured by the H.E.S.S. telescope array will also be made by taking longitudinal profiles of each dataset. Adnaan Thakur aims to understand the origin of cosmic rays in SNRs by determining the ionisation rate in the gas clouds surrounding SNR RXJ1713.7-3946.