The Square Kilometer Cerenkov Telescope Array: Bridging the gap between Particle Physics and Astronomy

The Cerenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is designed to consist of more than 100 HESS type telescopes (12 meter diameter telescopes),  covering nearly 10 square kilometers in effective collecting area. It will  be sensitive to the detection of photon energies in the range 10 GeV to 100 TeV and with only four of these telescopes operational, HESS already opened a new spectral window (200 GeV to 50 TeV) on the Universe and was awarded the Descartes Science Prize of the European Union in 2006. Thus, another quantum leap from CTA is not unexpected! This project is listed as one of the few science flagship projects of the European Union,  which will be constructed in either South Africa, Namibia or Argentina. One of the key science drivers is the indirect detection of dark  matter annihilation signals from dark matter dominated galaxies, which will draw on Particle Physics expertise from experiments like CERN, as well as the South  African MeerKAT/SKA project. This and other science drivers for CTA will be discussed.