The Gamma-ray Cherenkov Telescope for the Cherenkov Telescope Array

The Cherenkov Telescope Array(CTA) is a forthcoming ground-based observatory for very-high-energy gamma rays. CTA will consist of two arrays of imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopesin the Northern and Southern hemispheres, and will combine telescopesof different types to achieve unprecedented performance and energy coverage. The Gamma-ray Cherenkov Telescope(GCT) is one of the small-sized telescopesproposed for CTA to explore the energy range from a few TeV to hundreds of TeV with a field of view ≳ 8° and angular resolutionof a few arcminutes. The GCT design features dual-mirror Schwarzschild-Couder optics and a compact camera based on densely-pixelated photodetectors as well as custom electronics. In this contribution we provide an overview of the GCT project with focus on prototype development and testing that is currently ongoing. We present results obtained during the first on- telescopecampaign in late 2015 at the Observatoire de Paris-Meudon, during which we recorded the first Cherenkov ima...