A first EGRET-UNID-related agenda for the next-generation Cherenkov telescopes

Abstract

The next generation of Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs) will open the regime between approx. 30 GeV and 200 GeV to ground-based gamma observations with unprecedented point source sensitivity and source location accuracy. I examine the prospects of observing the unidentified objects (UNIDs) of the Third EGRET Catalog using the IACT observatories currently under construction by the CANGAROO, HESS, MAGIC and VERITAS collaborations. Assuming a modest spectral steepening similar to that observed in the inverse Compton component of the Crab Nebula spectrum and taking into account the sensitivity of the instruments and its zenith angle dependence, a detailed list of 78 observable objects is derived which is then further constrained to 38 prime candidates. The characteristics of this agenda are discussed.

21 pages, 5 figures, to be published in Carraminana, Reimer & Thompson (eds.) Proc. "The nature of unidentified high-energy gamma-ray sources (Tonantzintla, Mexico, October 2000)", Kluwer Academic