Documentation of iact-estimator¶
iact-estimator is a Python3 package which allows
to evaluate the ability of an IACT telescope system
to detect a gamma-ray source.
It started from legacy scripts used by the MAGIC telescopes collaboration to aid users in the development of their observation proposals.
About¶
The output is an estimate of what kind of signal can be observed by the telescope system given a spectral shape. The signal significances of each spectral point are computed according to Eq. 17 definition from [2].
The currently available performance data publicly shipped with the package is summarized by this table:
Instrument |
Zenith range ID |
Zenith range |
Energy range |
References |
|---|---|---|---|---|
MAGIC |
low |
0 to 30 deg |
40 GeV-16 TeV |
|
MAGIC |
mid |
30 to 45 deg |
40 GeV-16 TeV |
|
MAGIC |
high |
~60 deg |
250 GeV-16 TeV |
|
MAGIC+LST1 |
low |
0 to 30 deg |
40 GeV-16 TeV |
|
MAGIC+LST1 |
mid |
30 to 45 deg |
80 GeV-16 TeV |
|
MAGIC+LST1 |
high |
~60 deg |
250 GeV-16 TeV |
Note
MAGIC+LST1 high zenith performance is based on Monte Carlo simulations with conservative background estimates. Please refer to Users guide for detailed caveats when using this dataset.
Current caveats¶
Warning
Please refer to the Users guide for comprehensive information about caveats and limitations. Key points include:
The tool operates on estimated energy by comparing with differential rates from Crab Nebula observations; for sources with soft spectra, energy migration effects may result in different performance
The treatment of extended sources is approximate, accounting only for increased background (without energy-dependent PSF); for sources with extension > 0.4°, camera offset effects will further reduce performance
Significances are given for differential energy bins; in practice, broader energy cuts and optimized analysis yield better integral sensitivity than simple integration of differential bins
The combined significance is a crude approximation of detection capability
High zenith observations have higher energy thresholds and specific limitations (see userguide)