  It is anticipated that forthcoming, next generation, atmospheric Cherenkov
telescope arrays will include a number of medium-sized telescopes that are
constructed using a dual-mirror Schwarzschild-Couder configuration. These
telescopes will sample a wide ($8^{\circ}$) field of view using a densely
pixelated camera comprising over $10^{4}$ individual readout channels. A
readout frequency congruent with the expected single-telescope trigger rates
would result in substantial data rates. To ameliorate these data rates, a
novel, hardware-level Distributed Intelligent Array Trigger (DIAT) is
envisioned. A copy of the DIAT operates autonomously at each telescope and uses
reduced resolution imaging data from a limited subset of nearby telescopes to
veto events prior to camera readout {and any subsequent network transmission of
camera data that is required for centralized storage or aggregation}. We
present the results of Monte-Carlo simulations that evaluate the efficacy of a
"Parallax width" discriminator that can be used by the DIAT to efficiently
distinguish between genuine gamma-ray initiated events and unwanted background
events that are initiated by hadronic cosmic rays.

Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics;High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena