Comparative study of CTAO medium-size telescopes array layouts performances in gamma-ray burst observations

The Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO), thanks to its unprecedented sensitivity in the very high-energy gamma-ray band for transient phenomena and short-timescale variability, will significantly improve the temporal and spectral characterization of the emission of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) at the highest energies. The Schwarzschild-Couder Telescope (SCT) is a medium-sized telescope candidate for the CTAO Southern Array endowed with an aplanatic dual-mirror optical system and a compact high-imaging-resolution camera. In this contribution, we aim at quantifying the benefit of adding SCTs to the CTAO-South medium-size array already foreseen in the so-called ‘Alpha’ configuration through a comparative study of the performances of different layout in GRB observations. We report on the simulation and analysis of GRBs from various medium-size array layouts, adopting burst models based on the detections reported by current instruments at different energies. This study is based on CTA Prod3b simulations with an SCT model dating back to 2016. The results will be updated with a new analysis chain that includes the forthcoming updated SCT model from Prod6 simulations. Furthermore, the event reconstruction used for this analysis is a straightforward extension of the analysis that was optimized for telescopes with larger pixels and coarser image resolution. Continuing improvements in the simulation model and analysis approach might present significant future changes.