Sensipy: simulate gamma-ray observations of transient astrophysical sources

Abstract

We present sensipy, an open-source Python toolkit for simulating observations of transient astrophysical sources, particularly in the high-energy (HE, keV-GeV) and very-high-energy (VHE, GeV-TeV) gamma-ray ranges. The most explosive events in our universe are often short-lived, emitting the bulk of their energy in a relatively narrow time window. Due to often rapidly fading emission profiles, understanding how and when to observe these sources is crucial both to test theoretical predictions and efficiently optimize available telescope time. The information extracted from the tools included in sensipy can be used to help astronomers investigate the detectability of sources considering various theoretical assumptions about their emission processes and mechanisms. This information can further help to justify the feasibility of proposed observations, estimate detection rates (events/year) for various classes of sources, and provide scheduling insight in realtime during gamma-ray and multi-messenger observational campaigns.