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OATS-DAUT SEMINAR
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Speaker: Alessandro De Angelis (Univ. Udine)

Title: Gamma astroparticle physics and the MAGIC telescope

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Abstract: Because of the Earth's atmosphere shield, gamma-ray astronomy could not develop until it was possible to get detectors on spacecrafts, and to build large and sensitive ground-based detectors. The first gamma-ray telescope carried into orbit, on the Explorer XI satellite in 1961, picked up less than 100 cosmic gamma photons. Additional gamma-ray experiments flew on the OGO, OSO, Vela, and Cosmos series of satellites, and in the 80's we had the first missions completely dedicated to the exploration of the gamma universe. New unexpected phenomena were discovered by satellite observations, as for example gamma-ray bursts and gamma-ray emission from blazars. The expectations from the next generation of ground-based and space-borne high energy gamma-ray projects are very exciting both for quantity and quality of data that will be produced. The great vitality of this field in the current ``post-EGRET era'' is witnessed by the large number of ongoing and forthcoming gamma-ray experiments, complementary to various cosmic- ray, neutrino and astroparticle projects, and to X-ray missions. Italy is involved, in particular, in the GLAST and AGILE space missions, and in the MAGIC and ARGO ground-based experiments. The first results from MAGIC are already available, and they open a new window in space observations.
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