Astrophysical Seminar (19 June 2026, 11:00)
Posted: 15/06/2026Note the special date – the talk will be on Friday
1) Speaker: Ulisses Barres de Almeida (Brazilian Center for Physics Research; Latin-American Center for Physics)
Title: Description and Status of the Southern Wide-Field Gamma-ray Observatory (SWGO) in Atacama
Abstract: The Southern Wide-field Gamma-ray Observatory (SWGO) will be the first km2-scale water Cherenkov detector array in the Southern Hemisphere. SWGO will be located in the Atacama Astronomical Park in Chile, at 4770 m above sea level, with a direct view of the Galactic Center and ample coverage of the Southern Sky. The array is designed to detect Very to Ultra-High-Energy gamma rays and will consist of a high fill-factor core and a sparse outer array (2-4% fill-factor) devoted to the detection and reconstruction of the highest energy events, up to the PeV scale, matching the capabilities of the LHAASO Chinese array, with a view to the Southern sky. This talk will present in detail the proposed observatory design. Simulations and optimization studies, as well as the status of the hardware and technology will be detailed, and the medium-term prospects for implementation will be discussed. We will also show the next-steps for the upcoming SWGO pathfinder, to be installed at the final observatory site in 2027, with the goal of testing and validating the detector solutions and construction plans proposed for the array.
