The ASTRI Mini-Array: preliminary results and science perspectives

Abstract:

The Universe is populated by extreme particle accelerators. The gamma-ray photons they are able to produce, with energies above 100 GeV, could be used as probes to investigate the laws of Nature at the highest energies. Within this science framework, INAF is leading the international ASTRI Mini-Array Project. The ASTRI Mini-Array consists of nine dual-mirror small-sized Cherenkov telescopes, being deployed at the Observatorio del Teide (Spain) and currently in its commissioning phase. The ASTRI Mini-Array has a large field of view of about 10 degrees, a wide energy range from 1 TeV to 200 TeV, an angular resolution of 3 arc-minutes, and an energy resolution of 10 percent. The ASTRI Mini-Array will probe the most powerful astrophysical particle accelerators in our Galaxy, and will investigate current open issues of fundamental physics, studying high energy physics processes much beyond the reach of man-made particle accelerators on Earth. I will discuss both the preliminary results obtained by the ASTRI Mini-Array in its current telescope configuration and its Galactic and extra-galactic scientific goals.