Gamma connection: Building the CTAO Community in Latin America
The first edition of the “Gamma connection” conference will be held in Santiago de Chile from 9 to 12 December 2026.
The meeting is organised by the CTAO (Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory) with the support of ESO (European Southern Observatory), the CLAF (Latin-American Center for Physics) and SOCHIAS (Astronomical Society of Chile).
This conference takes place at a particularly timely moment for the field. Major facilities such as the CTAO have officially started the construction of its Southern Array with the first telescopes being assembled and commissioned by next year, while projects like SWGO (The Southern Wide-Field Gamma-Ray Observatory) are gaining momentum. At the same time, the rapid development of multi-messenger and multi-wavelength astronomy is reshaping the scientific landscape, and the growing engagement of the Latin American community is playing an increasingly important role in these efforts.
The conference will therefore focus on key topics in gamma-ray and astroparticle physics, with particular emphasis on developments in Latin America and on the evolving multi-messenger framework. The scientific programme will cover the current status of gamma-ray astronomy, future scientific capabilities, updates on the CTAO project and its early science opportunities, as well as the status of SWGO and community involvement.
The meeting will run over 3.5 days, starting at noon on 9 December. The programme will include invited and contributed talks. The final day (12 December) will be fully dedicated to hands-on training sessions on very high-energy (VHE) gamma-ray data analysis, including tutorials and tool demonstrations.
The conference is addressed to scientists in the field, including PhD and graduate students, with the aim of fostering lively discussions and strengthening collaboration within the community.
Registration for in-person attendance will remain open until the maximum capacity of 100 participants is reached. There is no registration fee for this event, and complimentary lunches will be provided by the organisers. Please note that in-person participants will be required to confirm their attendance via email one month prior to the event. For those wishing to attend virtually, a remote connection option will be available from Wednesday Dec. 9 until Friday Dec. 11. No registration is required for online attendance.
More information: https://gammaconnection.ctao.org/
Download the poster here.