Candidate sites in Argentina for air-shower particle detectors at high altitudes

A.C. ROVERO

Puebla

Workshop; Workshop on a wide field-of-view Southern Hemisphere TeV gamma ray observatory; 2016

INAOE

High altitude regions in Argentina are available for water Cherenkov gamma-ray astronomy. In the Northwest of the country areas of ~1 km2 have been identified and studied for astronomical purposes at altitudes greater than 3500 masl. Particularly, a site nearby San Antonio de los Cobres (Salta) is being developed for LLAMA, a project in cooperation with Brasil (50/50). LLAMA is a single dish radiotelescope planed to perform interferometry with ALMA; access roads, power, connectivity and housing is being provided by Argentina in its location at 4850 masl.  In this talk I will describe the site for LLAMA and few others suitable for water Cherenkov gamma-ray astronomy, with good access and availability of water. As done for LLAMA, local support at National and Provincial levels are a plus in Argentina, where several groups have expressed their interest to participate in the development and operation of the new Southern water Cherenkov gamma-ray observatory