Fourier transform method for imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes

To show the viability of the FT-method, here we apply it to Monte-Carlo simulated bank of TeV proton and gamma-ray EAS images only for the case of a stand-alone telescope and use a simple single-parameter (ALPHA) analysis. Comparing between the FT-method and the currently used 'standard' method for signal enhancement shows that a straightforward use of FT technique within standard parameterization scheme allows a better and systematic enhancement of the gamma-ray signal. The relative difference between these two methods becomes more profound especially for 'photon poor' images, for which the standard method significantly deteriorates. It suggests that the effective EAS detection thresholds could be reduced with implementation of the FT technique for IACTs. This prediction is further supported by a significant noise suppression capability of the method after using simple 'low-pass' filters in the image frequency domain. This new approach allows very deep 'tail' (and 'height') image cuts, differentiation of images, provides frequency spectra, etc., which could be used for development of new effective parameters for the EAS image processing.