Observations of the Crab Nebula and Pulsar with the Large-Sized Telescope Prototype of the Cherenkov Telescope Array
Creators: name: Project, CTA-LST
name: :
name: Abe, H.
name: Abe, K.
name: Abe, S.
name: Aguasca-Cabot, A.
name: Agudo, I.
name: Crespo, N. Alvarez
name: Antonelli, L. A.
name: Aramo, C.
name: Arbet-Engels, A.
name: Arcaro, C.
name: Artero, M.
name: Asano, K.
name: Aubert, P.
name: Baktash, A.
name: Bamba, A.
name: Larriva, A. Baquero
name: Baroncelli, L.
name: de Almeida, U. Barres
name: Barrio, J. A.
name: Batkovic, I.
name: Baxter, J.
name: González, J. Becerra
name: Bernardini, E.
name: Bernardos, M. I.
name: Medrano, J. Bernete
name: Berti, A.
name: Bhattacharjee, P.
name: Biederbeck, N.
name: Bigongiari, C.
name: Bissaldi, E.
name: Blanch, O.
name: Bonnoli, G.
name: Bordas, P.
name: Borghese, A.
name: Bulgarelli, A.
name: Burelli, I.
name: Buscemi, M.
name: Cardillo, M.
name: Caroff, S.
name: Carosi, A.
name: Cassol, F.
name: Cauz, D.
name: Ceribella, G.
name: Chai, Y.
name: Cheng, K.
name: Chiavassa, A.
name: Chikawa, M.
name: Chytka, L.
name: Cifuentes, A.
name: Contreras, J. L.
name: Cortina, J.
name: Costantini, H.
name: D'Amico, G.
name: Dalchenko, M.
name: De Angelis, A.
name: de Lavergne, M. de Bony
name: De Lotto, B.
name: de Menezes, R.
name: Deleglise, G.
name: Delgado, C.
name: Mengual, J. Delgado
name: della Volpe, D.
name: Dellaiera, M.
name: Depaoli, D.
name: Di Piano, A.
name: Di Pierro, F.
name: Di Tria, R.
name: Di Venere, L.
name: Díaz, C.
name: Dominik, R. M.
name: Prester, D. Dominis
name: Donini, A.
name: Dorner, D.
name: Doro, M.
name: Elsässer, D.
name: Emery, G.
name: Escudero, J.
name: Ramazani, V. Fallah
name: Ferrara, G.
name: Ferrarotto, F.
name: Fiasson, A.
name: Coromina, L. Freixas
name: Fröse, S.
name: Fukami, S.
name: Fukazawa, Y.
name: Garcia, E.
name: López, R. Garcia
name: Gasbarra, C.
name: Gasparrini, D.
name: Geyer, F.
name: Paiva, J. Giesbrecht
name: Giglietto, N.
name: Giordano, F.
name: Giro, E.
name: Gliwny, P.
name: Godinovic, N.
name: Grau, R.
name: Green, D.
name: Green, J.
name: Gunji, S.
name: Hackfeld, J.
name: Hadasch, D.
name: Hahn, A.
name: Hashiyama, K.
name: Hassan, T.
name: Hayashi, K.
name: Heckmann, L.
name: Heller, M.
name: Llorente, J. Herrera
name: Hirotani, K.
name: Hoffmann, D.
name: Horns, D.
name: Houles, J.
name: Hrabovsky, M.
name: Hrupec, D.
name: Hui, D.
name: Hütten, M.
name: Iarlori, M.
name: Imazawa, R.
name: Inada, T.
name: Inome, Y.
name: Ioka, K.
name: Iori, M.
name: Ishio, K.
name: Iwamura, Y.
name: Jacquemont, M.
name: Martinez, I. Jimenez
name: Jurysek, J.
name: Kagaya, M.
name: Karas, V.
name: Katagiri, H.
name: Kataoka, J.
name: Kerszberg, D.
name: Kobayashi, Y.
name: Kong, A.
name: Kubo, H.
name: Kushida, J.
name: Lainez, M.
name: Lamanna, G.
name: Lamastra, A.
name: Flour, T. Le
name: Linhoff, M.
name: Longo, F.
name: López-Coto, R.
name: López-Moya, M.
name: López-Oramas, A.
name: Loporchio, S.
name: Lorini, A.
name: Luque-Escamilla, P. L.
name: Majumdar, P.
name: Makariev, M.
name: Mandat, D.
name: Manganaro, M.
name: Manicò, G.
name: Mannheim, K.
name: Mariotti, M.
name: Marquez, P.
name: Marsella, G.
name: Martí, J.
name: Martinez, O.
name: Martínez, G.
name: Martínez, M.
name: Marusevec, P.
name: Mas-Aguilar, A.
name: Maurin, G.
name: Mazin, D.
name: Guillen, E. Mestre
name: Micanovic, S.
name: Miceli, D.
name: Miener, T.
name: Miranda, J. M.
name: Mirzoyan, R.
name: Mizuno, T.
name: Gonzalez, M. Molero
name: Molina, E.
name: Montaruli, T.
name: Monteiro, I.
name: Moralejo, A.
name: Morcuende, D.
name: Morselli, A.
name: Mrakovcic, K.
name: Murase, K.
name: Nagai, A.
name: Nagataki, S.
name: Nakamori, T.
name: Nickel, L.
name: Nievas, M.
name: Nishijima, K.
name: Noda, K.
name: Nosek, D.
name: Nozaki, S.
name: Ohishi, M.
name: Ohtani, Y.
name: Oka, T.
name: Okazaki, N.
name: Okumura, A.
name: Orito, R.
name: Otero-Santos, J.
name: Palatiello, M.
name: Paneque, D.
name: Pantaleo, F. R.
name: Paoletti, R.
name: Paredes, J. M.
name: Pech, M.
name: Pecimotika, M.
name: Peresano, M.
name: Pérez, A.
name: Pietropaolo, E.
name: Pirola, G.
name: Plard, C.
name: Podobnik, F.
name: Poireau, V.
name: Polo, M.
name: Pons, E.
name: Prandini, E.
name: Prast, J.
name: Principe, G.
name: Priyadarshi, C.
name: Prouza, M.
name: Rando, R.
name: Rhode, W.
name: Ribó, M.
name: Rizi, V.
name: Fernandez, G. Rodriguez
name: Ruiz, J. E.
name: Saito, T.
name: Sakurai, S.
name: Sanchez, D. A.
name: Šarić, T.
name: Sato, Y.
name: Saturni, F. G.
name: Schleicher, B.
name: Schmuckermaier, F.
name: Schubert, J. L.
name: Schussler, F.
name: Schweizer, T.
name: Arroyo, M. Seglar
name: Silvia, R.
name: Sitarek, J.
name: Sliusar, V.
name: Spolon, A.
name: Strišković, J.
name: Strzys, M.
name: Suda, Y.
name: Sunada, Y.
name: Tajima, H.
name: Takahashi, H.
name: Takahashi, M.
name: Takata, J.
name: Takeishi, R.
name: Tam, P. H. T.
name: Tanaka, S. J.
name: Tateishi, D.
name: Tejedor, L. A.
name: Temnikov, P.
name: Terada, Y.
name: Terauchi, K.
name: Terzic, T.
name: Teshima, M.
name: Tluczykont, M.
name: Tokanai, F.
name: Torres, D. F.
name: Travnicek, P.
name: Truzzi, S.
name: Tutone, A.
name: Uhlrich, G.
name: Vacula, M.
name: Vallania, P.
name: van Scherpenberg, J.
name: Acosta, M. Vázquez
name: Verguilov, V.
name: Viale, I.
name: Vigliano, A.
name: Vigorito, C. F.
name: Vitale, V.
name: Voutsinas, G.
name: Vovk, I.
name: Vuillaume, T.
name: Walter, R.
name: Will, M.
name: Yamamoto, T.
name: Yamazaki, R.
name: Yoshida, T.
name: Yoshikoshi, T.
name: Zywucka, N.
name: Bernloehr, K.
name: Gueta, O.
name: Kosack, K.
name: Maier, G.
name: Watson, J.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE)
subject: Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: CTA (Cherenkov Telescope Array) is the next generation ground-based observatory for gamma-ray astronomy at very-high energies. The Large-Sized Telescope prototype (LST-1) is located at the Northern site of CTA, on the Canary Island of La Palma. LSTs are designed to provide optimal performance in the lowest part of the energy range covered by CTA, down to $\simeq 20$ GeV. LST-1 started performing astronomical observations in November 2019, during its commissioning phase, and it has been taking data since then. We present the first LST-1 observations of the Crab Nebula, the standard candle of very-high energy gamma-ray astronomy, and use them, together with simulations, to assess the basic performance parameters of the telescope. The data sample consists of around 36 hours of observations at low zenith angles collected between November 2020 and March 2022. LST-1 has reached the expected performance during its commissioning period - only a minor adjustment of the preexisting simulations was needed to match the telescope behavior. The energy threshold at trigger level is estimated to be around 20 GeV, rising to $\simeq 30$ GeV after data analysis. Performance parameters depend strongly on energy, and on the strength of the gamma-ray selection cuts in the analysis: angular resolution ranges from 0.12 to 0.40 degrees, and energy resolution from 15 to 50%. Flux sensitivity is around 1.1% of the Crab Nebula flux above 250 GeV for a 50-h observation (12% for 30 minutes). The spectral energy distribution (in the 0.03 - 30 TeV range) and the light curve obtained for the Crab Nebula agree with previous measurements, considering statistical and systematic uncertainties. A clear periodic signal is also detected from the pulsar at the center of the Nebula.
description: Accepted in ApJ. v3: updated author list and acknowledgements, fixed typos and other minor issues