International School of Cosmic Ray Astrophysics

16^th  Course: "Gamma Ray and Cosmic Ray Astrophysics: From below GeV to beyond EeV Energies"

 5-12 July 2008
Ettore Majorana Centre
Erice, Sicily, Italy

Topic: TeV Gamma Ray Astronomy with Air Shower Telescopes
Lecturer: Gaurang B. Yodh, Physics and Astronomy, UC Irvine

High Energy gamma rays are produced in energetic astrophysical sources by either accelerated electrons or nuclei interacting with magnetic fields, photons or matter. TeV gamma rays are excellent probes for understanding cosmic ray sources and their acceleration to high energies. Milagro air shower gamma ray telescope, in the New Mexico mountains, is a unique instrument which operates 24/7 and scans the entire overhead sky. Exciting new results involving observation of new Galactic point sources and that of diffuse emission from the Galaxy on different angular scales will be presented. Future plans for a High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) detector and its capabilities will be discussed.