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1.
A major goal of the MAX program is to detect and measure gamma rays produced following the nuclear reactions that take place in a supernova explosion. To detect a reasonable number of supernovae, sensitivities of the order of a few times 10-7 γ cm-2sec-1 are needed – much better than possible with current instruments. The approach in the MAX program is to use a crystal diffraction lens to collect photons over a large area and concentrate them on a small well-shielded detector, greatly improving the signal to noise ratio. The crystals need to have both high diffraction efficiency and a relatively broad energy bandwidth. With mosaic crystals there is a trade-off between bandwidth and diffraction efficiency – one can have either high efficiency or large bandwidth, but not both without losing too much intensity through atomic absorption. A recent breakthrough in our understanding of crystal diffraction for high-energy gamma rays has made it possible to develop crystals that have both high diffraction efficiency and a relatively broad energy bandwidth. These crystals have near perfect crystal structure, but the crystalline planes are slightly curved. Such curved planes can be obtained in 3 different ways, by using mixed crystals with a composition gradient, by applying a thermal gradient, and by mechanically bending a near perfect crystal. A series of experiments have been performed on all three types of crystals using high-energy x-ray beams from the Advanced Photon Source at the Argonne National Laboratory. Experiments performed at 3 energies, 93 keV, 123 keV and 153 keV, with both the thermal gradient Si crystals and with the mechanically bent Si crystals, demonstrated that one can achieve diffraction efficiencies approaching 100% with moderate energy bandwidths (ΔE/E = 1.4%) and low atomic absorption (transmission = 0.65), in excellent agreement with theory. The use of this type of diffraction crystal is expected to increase the sensitivity of gamma ray telescopes by a factor of 5 over that possible with normal mosaic crystals.  相似文献   

2.
The Solar Maximum Mission Gamma Ray Experiment (SMM GRE) utilizes an actively shielded, multicrystal scintillation spectrometer to measure the flux of solar gamma rays. The instrument provides a 476-channel pulse height spectrum (with energy resolution of 7% at 662 keV) every 16.38 s over the energy range 0.3–9 MeV. Higher time resolution (2 s) is available in three windows between 3.5 and 6.5 MeV to study prompt gamma ray line emission at 4.4 and 6.1 MeV. Gamma ray spectral analysis can be extended to 15 MeV on command. Photons in the energy band from 300–350 keV are recorded with a time resolution of 64 ms. A high energy configuration also gives the spectrum of photons in the energy range from 10–100 MeV and the flux of neutrons 20 MeV. Both have a time resolution of 2 s. Auxiliary X-ray detectors will provide spectra with 1-sec time resolution over the energy range of 10–140 keV. The instrument is designed to measure the intensity, energy, and Doppler shift of narrow gamma ray lines as well as the intensity of extremely broadened lines and the photon continuum. The main objective is to use this time and spectral information from both nuclear gamma ray lines and the photon continuum in a direct study of the dynamics of the solar flare/particle acceleration phenomena.  相似文献   

3.
Gamma-ray astronomy is devoted to study nuclear and elementary particle astrophysics and astronomical objects under extreme conditions of gravitational and electromagnetic forces, and temperature. Because signals from gamma rays below 1 TeV cannot be recorded on ground, observations from space are required. The photoelectric effect is dominant <100 keV, Compton scattering between 100 keV and 10 MeV, and electron–positron pair production at energies above 10 MeV. The sun and some gamma ray burst sources are the strongest gamma ray sources in the sky. For other sources, directionality is obtained by shielding / masks at low energies, by using the directional properties of the Compton effect, or of pair production at high energies. The power of angular resolution is low (fractions of a degree, depending on energy), but the gamma sky is not crowded and sometimes identification of sources is possible by time variation. The gamma ray astronomy time line lists Explorer XI in 1961, and the first discovery of gamma rays from the galactic plane with its successor OSO-3 in 1968. The first solar flare gamma ray lines were seen with OSO-7 in 1972. In the 1980’s, the Solar Maximum Mission observed a multitude of solar gamma ray phenomena for 9 years. Quite unexpectedly, gamma ray bursts were detected by the Vela-satellites in 1967. It was 30 years later, that the extragalactic nature of the gamma ray burst phenomenon was finally established by the Beppo–Sax satellite. Better telescopes were becoming available, by using spark chambers to record pair production at photon energies >30 MeV, and later by Compton telescopes for the 1–10 MeV range. In 1972, SAS-2 began to observe the Milky Way in high energy gamma rays, but, unfortunately, for a very brief observation time only due to a failure of tape recorders. COS-B from 1975 until 1982 with its wire spark chamber, and energy measurement by a total absorption counter, produced the first sky map, recording galactic continuum emission, mainly from interactions of cosmic rays with interstellar matter, and point sources (pulsars and unidentified objects). An integrated attempt at observing the gamma ray sky was launched with the Compton Observatory in 1991 which stayed in orbit for 9 years. This large shuttle-launched satellite carried a wire spark chamber “Energetic Gamma Ray Experiment Telescope” EGRET for energies >30 MeV which included a large Cesium Iodide crystal spectrometer, a “Compton Telescope” COMPTEL for the energy range 1–30 MeV, the gamma ray “Burst and Transient Source Experiment” BATSE, and the “Oriented Scintillation-Spectrometer Experiment” OSSE. The results from the “Compton Observatory” were further enlarged by the SIGMA mission, launched in 1989 with the aim to closely observe the galactic center in gamma rays, and INTEGRAL, launched in 2002. From these missions and their results, the major features of gamma ray astronomy are:
  • Diffuse emission, i.e. interactions of cosmic rays with matter, and matter–antimatter annihilation; it is found, “...that a matter–antimatter symmetric universe is empirically excluded....”
  • Nuclear lines, i.e. solar gamma rays, or lines from radioactive decay (nucleosynthesis), like the 1.809 MeV line of radioactive 26Al;
  • Localized sources, i.e. pulsars, active galactic nuclei, gamma ray burst sources (compact relativistic sources), and unidentified sources.
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    4.
    The next generation of instrumentation for nuclear astrophysics will have to achieve a factor of 10–100 improvement in sensitivity over present technologies. With the focusing gamma-ray telescope MAX we take up this challenge: combining unprecedented sensitivity with high spectral and angular resolution, and the capability of measuring the polarization of the incident photons. The feasibility of such a crystal diffraction gamma-ray lens has recently been demonstrated with the prototype lens CLAIRE. MAX is a proposed mission which will make use of satellite formation flight to achieve 86 m focal length, with the Laue lens being carried by one satellite and the detector by the other. In the current design, the Laue diffraction lens of MAX will consist of 13740 copper and germanium (Ge1−x Si x , x ∼ 0.02) crystal tiles arranged on 36 concentric rings. It simultaneously focuses in two energy bands, each centred on one of the main scientific objectives of the mission: the 800–900 keV band is dedicated to the study of nuclear gamma-ray lines from type Ia supernovae (e.g. 56 Co decay line at 847 keV) while the 450–530 keV band focuses on electron-positron annihilation (511 keV emission) from the Galactic centre region with the aim of resolving potential point sources. MAX promises a breakthrough in the study of point sources at gamma-ray energies by combining high narrow-line sensitivity (better than 10−6 cm−2 s−1) and high energy resolution (E/dE ∼ 500). The mission has successfully undergone a pre-phase A study with the French Space Agency CNES, and continues to evolve: new diffracting materials such as bent or composite crystals seem very promising. PACS: 95.55.Ka, 29.30.Kv, 61.10.-i  相似文献   

    5.
    Polarimetry is an area of high energy astrophysics which is still relatively unexplored, even though it is recognized that this type of measurement could drastically increase our knowledge of the physics and geometry of high energy sources. For this reason, in the context of the design of a Gamma-Ray Imager based on new hard-X and soft gamma ray focusing optics for the next ESA Cosmic Vision call for proposals (Cosmic Vision 2015-2025), it is important that this capability should be implemented in the principal on-board instrumentation. For the particular case of wide band-pass Laue optics we propose a focal plane based on a thick pixelated CdTe detector operating with high efficiency between 60–600keV. The high segmentation of this type of detector (1–2mm pixel size) and the good energy resolution (a few keV FWHM at 500keV) will allow high sensitivity polarisation measurements (a few % for a 10mCrab source in 106s) to be performed. We have evaluated the modulation Q factors and minimum detectable polarisation through the use of Monte Carlo simulations (based on the GEANT 4 toolkit) for on and off-axis sources with power law emission spectra using the point spread function of a Laue lens in a feasible configuration.  相似文献   

    6.
    The basic features of crystal diffraction and their application to the construction of a crystal diffraction lens for focusing energetic gamma rays are described using examples from the work performed at the Argonne National Laboratory. Both on-axis and off-axis performance are discussed. The review includes the use of normal crystals, bent crystals, and crystals with variable crystal-plane spacing to develop both condenser-type lenses and point-to-point imaging lenses.  相似文献   

    7.
    The “Fast X-ray Monitor” (BRM) instrument operated in the complex of the scientific instruments onboard the CORONAS-PHOTON satellite from February 19, 2009, until December 1, 2009. The instrument is intended for the registration of the hard X-ray radiation of solar flares in the 20–600 keV energy range in six differential energy channels (20–30, 30–40, 40–50, 50–70, 70–130, and 130–600 keV) with temporal resolution to 1 ms. In the instrument, a detector based on the YAP: Ce scintillator is used; this detector is 70 mm in diameter and 10 mm thick (the decay time is about 28 ns). For the decrease of the back-ground charge of the detector, the collimator limiting the angle of view of the instrument of value 12° is mounted over the scintillator. The effective area of the detector amounts to 27.7 cm2 (at the X-ray radiation energy 80 keV), and the dead time of the detector is 1 μs. Over the operation onboard the CORONAS-PHOTON satellite, the BRM instrument has registered gamma ray burst series and, perhaps, one solar flare of the class C1.3 on October 26, 2009.  相似文献   

    8.
    MAX is a proposed Laue lens gamma-ray telescope taking advantage of Bragg diffraction in crystals to concentrate incident photons onto a distant detector. The Laue lens and the detector are carried by two separate satellites flying in formation. Significant effort is being devoted to studying different types of crystals that may be suitable for focusing gamma rays in two 100 keV wide energy bands centered on two lines which constitute the prime astrophysical interest of the MAX mission: the 511 keV positron annihilation line, and the broadened 847 keV line from the decay of 56Co copiously produced in Type Ia supernovae. However, to optimize the performance of MAX, it is also necessary to optimize the detector used to collect the source photons concentrated by the lens. We address this need by applying proven Monte Carlo and event reconstruction packages to predict the performance of MAX for three different Ge detector concepts: a standard coaxial detector, a stack of segmented detectors, and a Compton camera consisting of a stack of strip detectors. Each of these exhibits distinct advantages and disadvantages regarding fundamental instrumental characteristics such as detection efficiency or background rejection, which ultimately determine achievable sensitivities. We conclude that the Compton camera is the most promising detector for MAX in particular, and for Laue lens gamma-ray telecopes in general.  相似文献   

    9.
    We report the observation of nearest quasar 3C273 made with LASE instrument on November 20th, 1998 as a part of our continuing programme of balloon borne hard X-ray observations in the 20–200 keV band using high sensitivity Large Area Scintillation counter Experiment. Our data clearly show a steep spectrum in the 20–200 keV with power law spectral indexα = 2.26 ± 0.07. This is in complete contrast to the reported data from OSSE and BeppoSAX which suggest the value of 1.3 to 1.6 for the power law index in the X-ray energy band, but is quite consistent with the value derived for the high energy gamma ray data. A single power law fit in the X-ray and gamma ray energy bands points to a common origin of these photons and the absence of spectral break around 1 MeV as suggested in literature. We have reanalyzed the available data to study the temporal variability of the spectrum in the hard X-ray band. Our analysis reveals that 50 keV flux from the source, shows a strong modulation with a period of about 13.5 years. The analysis of the optical light curve of the source also supports the 5000 day period. We discuss the emission mechanism and the possible sites for X-ray photons along with the implications of the long term periodicity with respect to source geometry.  相似文献   

    10.
    The observation of the time delay between the soft emission and the high-energy radiation from cosmological gamma ray bursts can be used as an important observational test of multi-dimensional physical theories. The main source of the time delay is the variation of the electromagnetic coupling, due to dimensional reduction, which induces an energy dependence of the speed of light. For photons with energies around 1 TeV, the time delay could range from a few seconds in the case of Kaluza–Klein models to a few days for models with large extra-dimensions. Based on these results we suggest that the detection of the 18-GeV photon ∼4500 s after the keV/MeV burst in GRB 940217 provides a strong evidence for the existence of extra-dimensions. The time delay of photons, if observed by the next generation of high energy detectors, like, for example, the SWIFT and GLAST satellite based detectors, or the VERITAS ground-based TeV gamma-ray instrument, could differentiate between the different models with extra-dimensions.  相似文献   

    11.
    The field-to-particle method of H. P. Robertson as applied by Noonan, in order to obtain the general relativistic equations describing the trajectory of a photon in a refractive medium, is compared with Synge’s general relativistic Hamiltonian theory of waves and rays. For a photon in vacuum it is known that both approaches yield the same equation for the trajectory, i.e., a null geodesic. However for a photon in a medium, in contradistinction to the Hamiltonian theory, the field-to-particle method (a) yields equations of the photon trajectory valid only in a nondispersive medium, (b) the time component u0 of the tangent to the ray remains an undetermined quantity, (c) agreement with the Hamiltonian theory is achieved by substituting into Noonan’s equations the Hamiltonian expression for u 0. Published in Astrofizika, Vol. 42, No. 3, pp. 449–455, July–September, 1999.  相似文献   

    12.
    Measurements were made of the time-averaged gamma ray energy loss spectrum in the energy range 360 keV to 7 MeV by the gamma ray detector on the OSO-7 satellite during the 3B flare on August 4, 1972. The differential photon spectrum unfolded from this spectrum after subtracting the background spectrum and contributions from gamma ray lines is best described by a power law with spectral index of 3.4±0.3 between 360–700 keV and by an exponential law of the form exp (-E/E 0) with E 0 = 1.0±0.1 MeV above 700 keV. It is suggested that this spectrum is due to nonthermal electron bremsstrahlung from a population of electrons, with a strong break in the spectrum at 2 MeV. Since the observational data indicates that the matter number density must be n H ? 5 × 1010 cm-3 in the production region, the number of electrons above 100 keV required to explain the results is ?2 × 1034.  相似文献   

    13.
    The objective of the R&D project CLAIRE was to prove the principle of a gamma-ray lens for nuclear astrophysics. CLAIRE's Laue diffraction lens has a diameter of 45 cm and a focal length of 277 cm; 556 germanium-silicon crystals are tuned to focus 170 keV photons onto a 1.5 cm diameter focal spot. Laboratory measurements of the individual crystals and the entire lens have been used to validate a numerical model that we use to estimate the lens performance for a source at infinity. During a stratospheric balloon flight on 2001 June 14, CLAIRE was directed at the Crab nebula by a pointing system able to stabilize the lens to within a few arcseconds of the target. In 72 min of valid pointing time, 33 photons from the Crab were detected in the 3 keV bandpass of the lens: CLAIRE's first light! The performance of CLAIRE's gamma-ray lens, namely the peak reflectivity for a polychromatic source (9±1%), has been confirmed by ground data obtained on a 205 meter long test range. CLAIRE's measured performance validates the principle of a Laue lens for nuclear astrophysics, opening the way for a space-borne gamma-ray lens telescope that will achieve one to two orders of magnitude improvement in sensitivity over present technologies.  相似文献   

    14.
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    15.
    With focusing of gamma rays in the nuclear-line energy regime starting to establish itself as a feasible and very promising approach for high-sensitivity γ-ray (line) studies of individual sources, optimizing the focal plane instrumentation for γ-ray lens telescopes is a prime concern. Germanium detectors offer the best energy resolution available at ∼2 keV FWHM at 1 MeV and thus constitute the detector of choice for a spectroscopy mission in the MeV energy range. Using a Compton detector focal plane has three advantages over monolithic detectors: additional knowledge about (Compton) events enhances background rejection capabilities, the inherently finely pixellated detector naturally allows the selection of events according to the focal spot size and position, and Compton detectors are inherently sensitive to γ-ray polarization. We use the extensive simulation and analysis package assembled for the ACT vision mission study to explore achievable sensitivities for different Ge Compton focal plane configurations as a first step towards determining an optimum configuration.CBW thanks the Townes Fellowship at UCB and NASA Grant NNG05WC28G for Support.  相似文献   

    16.
    The Reuven Ramaty High Energy Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI) X-ray data base (February 2002 – May 2006) has been searched to find solar flares with weak thermal components and flat photon spectra. Using a regularized inversion technique, we determine the mean electron flux distribution from count spectra for a selection of events with flat photon spectra in the 15 – 20 keV energy range. Such spectral behavior is expected for photon spectra either affected by photospheric albedo or produced by electron spectra with an absence of electrons in a given energy range (e.g., a low-energy cutoff in the mean electron spectra of nonthemal particles). We have found 18 cases that exhibit a statistically significant local minimum (a dip) in the range of 13 – 19 keV. The positions and spectral indices of events with low-energy cutoff indicate that such features are likely to be the result of photospheric albedo. It is shown that if the isotropic albedo correction is applied, all low-energy cutoffs in the mean electron spectrum are removed, and hence the low-energy cutoffs in the mean electron spectrum of solar flares above ∼ 12 keV cannot be viewed as real features. If low-energy cutoffs exist in the mean electron spectra, their energies should be less than ∼ 12 keV.  相似文献   

    17.
    Benz  Arnold O.  Grigis  Paolo C. 《Solar physics》2002,210(1-2):431-444
    Open-shutter RHESSI observations of 3–15 keV X-rays are found to exhibit active-region transient brightenings and microflares at a rate of a least 10 per hour occurring even during the periods of lowest solar activity so far in the mission. A thermal component fitted by temperatures of 6–14 MK dominates from 3 keV to about 9 keV, but can be traced up to 14 keV in some cases, and has an average duration of 131(±103) s at 7–8 keV. The duration increases with decreasing photon energy. The peak count rate defined by cross-correlation is delayed at low energies. The temperature peaks early in the event and then decreases, whereas the emission measure increases throughout the event. The properties are consistent with thermal conduction dominating the evolution. In some of the bigger events, a second component was found in the 11–14 keV range extending down to 8 keV in some cases. The duration is typically 3 times shorter and ends near the peak time of the thermal component consistent with the Neupert effect of regular flares. Therefore the second component is suggested to be of non-thermal origin, presumably causing the beam-driven evaporation of the first component. The two components can be separated and analyzed in detail for the first time. Low-keV measurements allow a reliable estimate of the energy input by microflares necessary to assess their relevance for coronal heating. Supplementary material to this paper is available in electronic form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1022496515506  相似文献   

    18.
    Measurements have been made on the cosmic gamma rays of energy between 0.25 and 4.2 MeV from a balloon experiment made near the geomagnetic equator using a collimated 7.6 cm×7.6 cm NaI(T1) crystal assembly. The depth-intensity curves obtained were used to estimate the contribution due to the diffuse cosmic gamma rays in the above energy interval; an unfolding of the counting rates was then performed to obtain the energy spectrum. It is found that a power law fitted to the present data points has a spectral index of –1.8±0.2. A critical examination is then made of all the observational data between 1 keV and 100 MeV to deduce information on the spectral shape in this energy region. Upper limits on low energy gamma ray fluxes from Sco X-1 and the Galactic centre region are also reported.  相似文献   

    19.
    Doing space Astronomy on lunar surface has several advantages. We present here feasibility of an All Sky Monitoring Payload for Spectro-photometry in X-rays (SPHINX) which can be placed on a lander on the moon or in a space craft orbiting around the moon. The Si–PIN photo-diodes and CdTe crystals are used to detect solar flares, bright gamma bursts, soft gamma-ray repeaters from space and also X-ray fluorescence (XRF) from lunar surface. We present the complete Geant4 simulation to study the feasibility of such an instrument in presence of Cosmic Diffused X-Ray Background (CDXRB). We find that the signal to noise ratio is sufficient for moderate to bright GRBs (above 5 keV), for the quiet sun (up to 100 keV), solar flares, soft gamma-ray repeaters, X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) of lunar surface etc. This is a low-cost system which is capable of performing multiple tasks while stationed at the natural satellite of our planet.  相似文献   

    20.
    Details of the discovery (in February 2004) and results of subsequent (in 2004–2009) INTEGRAL observations of the transient X-ray burster IGR J17380-3749 (IGR J17379-3747) are presented. Over the period of its observations, the INTEGRAL observatory recorded two hard X-ray flares and one type I X-ray burst from the source, which allowed the nature of IGR J17380-3749 to be determined. The burster radiation spectrum during the flares was hard—a power law with a photon index α = 1.8–2.0 or bremsstrahlung corresponding to a plasma with a temperature kT = 90–140 keV. The spectral shape at the flare peaks turned out to be the same, despite a more than twofold difference in flux (the peak flux recorded in the energy range 18–100 keV reached ∼20 mCrab). The upper limit on the flux from the source in its quiescent (off) state in the range of 18–40 keV was 0.15 mCrab (3σ).  相似文献   

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