CTAO | Australia Meeting #1 2026

Tuesday 28 Apr 2026, 10:30 → 20:30 Australia/Adelaide

Gavin Rowell (University of Adelaide), Sabrina Einecke (University of Adelaide)

This will be a one-day online meeting, on Tuesday April 28th.

Start time is 11:00 CST, with a nominal 17:00 CST finish time.

Main topics: CTAO status and Australia's involvements (now & future).

For continuing updates on the CTAO, please visit the CTAO news website for more details.

Link to full timetable.

Zoom access: https://adelaide.zoom.us/j/84052035644?pwd=Jeaz7IVbDPbc5PJ46oZul4DMPNAQrZ.1

Please note that there is no registration fee for this event.

For those in Adelaide, we will use Room 121 in the Physics building, and we'll have a local morning tea at 10:30.

 

Scientific Organising Committee

Gavin Rowell, Adelaide University, Australia

Sabrina Einecke, Adelaide University, Australia

Local Organising Committee

Gavin Rowell, Adelaide University, Australia

Sabrina Einecke, Adelaide University, Australia

Simon Lee, Adelaide University, Australia

Paddy McGee, Adelaide University, Australia

 

10:30 → 11:00 Morning tea (for those in Adelaide)

11:00 → 11:30 CTAO Status and Update

This talk will give a brief update on CTAO and Australia's involvements.

Speaker: Prof. Gavin Rowell (University of Adelaide)

gpr-CTAStatus.pdf

11:30 → 12:00 SSTCAM Updates

In July 2025 the initial build of a quarter camera (QCAM-i) designed for the Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO) Small Sized Telescope (SST) was tested on Tenerife, Canary Islands. This was the first field test of the camera hardware which will be used for the SSTs at CTAO-South in Chile. Dark field observations and trigger threshold scans were taken, which can be compared with simulated cosmic ray shower images and night-sky background trigger rates. This talk will present an update on the progress comparing data taken on Tenerife with QCAM-i with Monte Carlo simulations.

In addition, updates from the development of SSTCAM will be presented.

Speaker: Simon Lee

2026-04_CTAO-Aus_Simon.pdf

12:00 → 12:10 CTAO's Science Data Challenge

Speaker: Sabrina Einecke (University of Adelaide)

SDC-Status.pdf

12:10 → 12:30 CTA-Pol Update

TBD

Speaker: Nick Tothill (Western Sydney University)

12:30 → 13:30 Lunch

13:30 → 13:45 AAL's Role in CTAO

TBD

Speaker: Grace Lawrence

13:45 → 14:15 SKAO Science Operations Update

The Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO) Science Operations Team is focused on the development and implementation of various workflows and procedures to ensure that SKA-Low and SKA-Mid will be operationally ready for transformational science. In this talk, I will give an update on the telescope capability rollout, as well as plans for the upcoming Science Verification phase.

Speaker: Jess Broderick

14:15 → 14:30 An Australian Radio Transients Facility

Speaker: James Miller-Jones

14:30 → 15:00 Afternoon tea

15:00 → 15:15 Searching for New Physics with CTAO

TBD

Speaker: Hayden James (The University of Adelaide)

CTAO_MSP_HJ_2804.pdf

15:15 → 15:35 Resolving point sources in diffuse backgrounds using Microcanonical Langevin Monte Carlo with Parametric Cataloging

Using IceCube neutrino skies as an example, we show how this method can resolve large numbers of weak sources from high diffuse backgrounds.

Speaker: Gary Hill (University of Adelaide)

CTAO_Presentation_Caleb_Gary_2.pptx

15:35 → 15:50 Clustering the Interstellar Medium for Galactic Gamma-Ray Modelling

In this update, we will present preliminary results from our 3D molecular hydrogen distributions of ISM cloud structures, derived over the entire Mopra Southern Galactic Plane CO Survey. We will introduce our novel cloud identification method used to create these distributions. This involves Gaussian decompositions and clustering, as well as combining measurements from different gas tracers (12CO and 13CO).

Speaker: Imogen Barnsley (University of Adelaide)

Imogen_Barnsley_CTA_Apr_2026.pptx

15:50 → 16:05 Update: Searching for Escaped Cosmic Rays from Supernova Remnants

The detection of gamma-ray emission outside the shell of a supernova remnant (SNR) can be critical evidence for cosmic-ray acceleration in, and escape from, SNRs. In this contribution, we present an analysis of the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) gamma-ray data towards middle-aged Galactic SNR W51C. We perform both a morphological and spectral analysis to search for evidence of gamma-ray emission outside the SNR shell. We also look for a spatial correlation between the observed gamma rays and surrounding molecular clouds.

Speaker: Jemma Pilossof (University of Adelaide)

JemmaPilossof_CTAoz_April2026.pdf

16:05 → 16:15 Opportunities for Deep Learning With IACTs : Update

TBD

Speaker: Lydia Castellucci

ctameeting2.pptx

18:30 → 20:30 Dinner (British Hotel) : Time TBC