Title: Performance of a small size telescope (SST-1M) camera for gamma-ray astronomy with the Cherenkov Telescope Array,
Abstract: The foreseen implementations of the Small Size Telescopes (SST) in CTA will
provide unique insights into the highest energy gamma rays offering fundamental
means to discover and under- stand the sources populating the Galaxy and our
local neighborhood. Aiming at such a goal, the SST-1M is one of the three
different implementations that are being prototyped and tested for CTA. SST-1M
is a Davies-Cotton single mirror telescope equipped with a unique camera
technology based on SiPMs with demonstrated advantages over classical
photomultipliers in terms of duty-cycle. In this contribution, we describe the
telescope components, the camera, and the trigger and readout system. The
results of the commissioning of the camera using a dedicated test setup are
then presented. The performances of the camera first prototype in terms of
expected trigger rates and trigger efficiencies for different night-sky
background conditions are presented, and the camera response is compared to
end-to-end simulations.