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The Short GAmma Ray Front Air-Cherenkov Experiment (SGARFACE) uses the Whipple 10 m telescope to search for bursts of gamma rays. Bursts can be detected on time scales from a few ns to 20 !s and with gamma-ray energy above 100 MeV. SGARFACE began operating in March 2003 and has acquired 2.2 million events since. A search for explosions of primordial black holes (PBH) was carried out using the recorded time-resolved images. No unambiguous burst detection could be made due to background events produced by cosmic rays. Upper limits on the PBH explosion rare are presented and compared to other experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Advanced Gamma-Ray Imaging System (AGIS) is a concept for the next generation observatory in ground-based very high energy gamma-ray astronomy. Design goals are ten times better sensitivity, higher angular resolution, and a lower energy threshold than existing Cherenkov telescopes. Simulations show that a substantial improvement in angular resolution may be achieved if the pixel diameter is reduced to the order of 0.05 deg, i.e. two to three times smaller than the pixel diameter of current Cherenkov telescope cameras. At these dimensions, photon detectors with smaller physical dimensions can be attractive alternatives to the classical photomultiplier tube (PMT). Furthermore, the operation of an experiment with the size of AGIS requires photon detectors that are among other things more reliable, more durable, and possibly higher efficiency photon detectors. Alternative photon detectors we are considering for AGIS include both silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) and multi-anode photomultipliers (MAPMTs). Here we present results from laboratory testing of MAPMTs and SiPMs along with results from the first incorporation of these devices into cameras on test bed Cherenkov telescopes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is a short report on the preliminary findings of the gamma ray burst (GRB) working group for the white paper on the status and future of very high energy (VHE;>50 GeV) gamma-ray astronomy. The white paper discusses the status of past and current attempts to observe GRBs at GeV-TeV energies, including a handful of low-significance, possible detections. The white paper concentrates on the potential of future ground-based gamma-ray experiments to observe the highest energy emission ever recorded for GRBs, particularly for those that are nearby and have high Lorentz factors in the GRB jet. It is clear that the detection of VHE emission would have strong implications for GRB models, as well as cosmic ray origin. In particular, the extended emission phase (including both afterglow emission and possible flaring) of nearby long GRBs could provide the best possibility for detection. The difficult-to-obtain observations during the prompt phase of nearby long GRBs and short GRBs could also provide particularly strong constraints on the opacity and bulk Lorentz factors surrounding the acceleration site. The synergy with upcoming and existing observatories will, of course, be critical for both identification of GRBs and for multiwavelength/multimessenger studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gamma-ray Burst (GRB) observations at Very High Energies (VHE, E > 100 GeV) can impose tight constraints on some GRB emission models. Many GRB after-glow models predict a VHE component similar to that seen in blazars and supernova remnants, in which the GRB spectral energy distribution has a double-peaked shape extending into the VHE regime. Consistent with this afterglow scenario, EGRET detected delayed high energy emission from all five bright BATSE GRBs that occurred within its field of view. GRB observations have had high priority in the observing program at the Whipple 10m Telescope and will continue to be high priority targets when the next generation observatory VERITAS comes online. Upper limits on the VHE emission from ten GRBs observed with the Whipple Telescope are reported here. © 2005 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]