Soft-gamma-ray repeaters (SGRs) are galactic X-ray stars that emit numerous short-duration (about 0.1 s) bursts of hard X-rays during sporadic active periods. They are thought to be magnetars: ...strongly magnetized neutron stars with emissions powered by the dissipation of magnetic energy. Here we report the detection of a long (380 s) giant flare from SGR 1806-20, which was much more luminous than any previous transient event observed in our Galaxy. (In the first 0.2 s, the flare released as much energy as the Sun radiates in a quarter of a million years.) Its power can be explained by a catastrophic instability involving global crust failure and magnetic reconnection on a magnetar, with possible large-scale untwisting of magnetic field lines outside the star. From a great distance this event would appear to be a short-duration, hard-spectrum cosmic gamma-ray burst. At least a significant fraction of the mysterious short-duration gamma-ray bursts may therefore come from extragalactic magnetars.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Astrophysical polarization measurements in the soft gamma-ray band are becoming more feasible as detectors with high position and energy resolution are deployed. Previous work has shown that the ...minimum detectable polarization (MDP) of an ideal Compton polarimeter can be improved by ∼21% when an unbinned, maximum likelihood method (MLM) is used instead of the standard approach of fitting a sinusoid to a histogram of azimuthal scattering angles. Here we outline a procedure for implementing this maximum likelihood approach for real, nonideal polarimeters. As an example, we use the recent observation of GRB 160530A with the Compton Spectrometer and Imager. We find that the MDP for this observation is reduced by 20% when the MLM is used instead of the standard method.
The Compton Spectrometer and Imager (COSI), formerly known as the Nuclear Compton Telescope (NCT), is a balloon-borne soft gamma-ray telescope (0.2–5MeV) designed to study astrophysical sources of ...nuclear-line emission and gamma-ray polarization. The heart of COSI is a compact array of cross-strip germanium detectors (GeDs), providing excellent spectral resolution (~0.2–1%) and the capability to track individual photon interactions with full 3D position resolution to 1.6mm3. COSI is built upon considerable heritage from the previous NCT balloon instrument, which has flown successfully on two conventional balloon flights to date. The Crab Nebula was detected at a significance of 6σ in the second flight, which is the first reported detection of an astrophysical source by a compact Compton telescope. COSI has been upgraded from the previous NCT instrument to be an Ultra Long Duration Balloon (ULDB) payload, utilizing a new detector configuration optimized for polarization sensitivity and employing a mechanical cryocooler to remove consumables (LN2) for ULDB flights. The instrument is being integrated for a ULDB flight in December 2014 from Antarctica on a superpressure balloon. Here we will present the redesign of the instrument and our current progress in preparing for the flight.
Hybrid imaging systems, comprising PET and Compton camera modules, have recently gained in interest, due to their capability to simultaneously detect positron annihilation photons and γ-rays from ...single-photon emitting sources as also used in SPECT. A unique feature of such systems, however, is the capability to also be operated in a so called γ-PET mode. Here, specific β
+
- emitting radioisotopes (such as
44
Sc,
1
°C or
14
O) are used to detect triple-coincidences between two annihilation γ-rays (in PET imaging) and a third, prompt photon (in Compton imaging), that is emitted by the deexcitation of the decay’s daughter nucleus. Consequently, an intersection between the line-of-response (LOR) and the Compton cone can be determined, which (in principle) allows to localize the photons’ emission vertices on a single decay basis. In practice, however, a few tens of events are required to localize a point source, which still results in a considerable sensitivity improvement compared to conventional PET imaging.
For a proof-of-principle study, we used a pixelated GAGG crystal array (16 × 16 crystals; 1.45 × 1.45 × 6 mm
3
crystal volume; 25 μm SPAD SiPMs as readout) as Compton camera scatterer and PET detectors, and a three-layered LYSO crystal array (1.2 × 1.2 × 6.66 mm
3
crystal volume; 50 μm SPAD SiPMs as readout) as Compton camera absorber. We characterized the individual detector components with regard to their energy resolution and the capability to identify the various scintillator array’s individual crystals. Our first γ-PET prototype was tested in PET-only and Compton-only imaging mode, in which spatial resolutions of 3.2–3.5 mm FWHM (PET-only mode) and 14.4–19.3 mm FWHM (Compton-only mode at 1,274 keV) were achieved, respectively, using a
22
Na point source and 10 iterations of an ML-EM reconstruction algorithm. By using triple-coincidences in a γ-PET mode (event-wise intersection of the LOR and the Compton cone), we could demonstrate the capability of the prototype to perform a full 3D point source reconstruction using only 77 events.
The Nuclear Compton Telescope (NCT) is a balloon-borne Compton telescope designed for the study of astrophysical sources in the soft gamma-ray regime (200 keV-20 MeV). NCT's 10 high-purity germanium ...crossed-strip detectors measure the deposited energies and three-dimensional positions of gamma-ray interactions in the sensitive volume, and this information is used to restrict the initial photon to a circle on the sky using the Compton scatter technique. Thus NCT is able to perform spectroscopy, imaging, and polarization analysis on soft gamma-ray sources. NCT is one of the next generation of Compton telescopes--the so-called compact Compton telescopes (CCTs)--which can achieve effective areas comparable to the Imaging Compton Telescope's with an instrument that is a fraction of the size. The Crab Nebula was the primary target for the second flight of the NCT instrument, which occurred on 2009 May 17 and 18 in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. Analysis of 29.3 ks of data from the flight reveals an image of the Crab at a significance of 4 Delta *s. This is the first reported detection of an astrophysical source by a CCT.
PIXE Simulation With Geant4 Pia, M.G.; Weidenspointner, G.; Augelli, M. ...
IEEE transactions on nuclear science,
12/2009, Letnik:
56, Številka:
6
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Particle induced X-ray emission (PIXE) is an important physical effect that is not yet adequately modelled in Geant4. This paper provides a critical analysis of the problem domain associated with ...PIXE simulation; it evaluates the conceptual approach, design and implementations of PIXE modelling so far available in Geant4, and describes a set of software developments to improve PIXE simulation with Geant4. The capabilities of the developed software prototype are illustrated and applied to a study of the passive shielding of the X-ray detectors of the German eROSITA telescope on the upcoming Russian Spectrum-X-Gamma space mission.
The giant flare of 2004 December 27 from SGR 1806-20 represents one of the most extraordinary events captured in over three decades of monitoring the unk-ray sky. One measure of the intensity of the ...main peak is its effect on X- and unk-ray instruments. RHESSI, an instrument designed to study the brightest solar flares, was completely saturated for similar to 0.5 s following the start of the main peak. A fortuitous alignment of SGR 1806-20 near the Sun at the time of the giant flare, however, allowed RHESSI a unique view of the giant flare event, including the precursor, the main-peak decay, and the pulsed tail. Since RHESSI was saturated during the main peak, we augment these observations with Wind and RHESSI particle detector data in order to reconstruct the main peak as well. Here we present detailed spectral analysis and evolution of the giant flare. We report the identification of a relatively soft fast peak just milliseconds before the main peak, whose timescale and size scale indicate a magnetospheric origin. We present the novel detection of emission extending up to 17 MeV immediately following the main peak, perhaps revealing a highly extended corona driven by the hyper-Eddington luminosities. The spectral evolution and pulse evolution during the tail are presented, demonstrating significant magnetospheric twist during this phase, but no apparent magnetospheric evolution. Blackbody radii are derived for every stage of the flare, which show remarkable agreement despite the range of luminosities and temperatures covered. Finally, we confirm the existence of a hard afterglow emission extending up to 2.5 MeV in the hundreds of seconds following the giant flare.
High-energy astrophysics polarimetry may significantly benefit from e-ASTROGAM and from AMEGO mission proposals, since to date limited polarimetric measurements were performed in this domain, ...exclusively under 1 MeV. The polarimetric potential of both missions was analyzed in the Compton regime by Monte Carlo mass model simulations with MEGAlib toolkit. The performance of e-ASTROGAM was analyzed by simulating Si tracker and calorimeter alternative configurations and detection materials, within missions’ volume, mass and power margins. The modulation polarimetric factor,
Q
, and the MDP were calculated for different polarized source types and for variable incidence angle measurement conditions. Finally, the polarimetric performances of both instruments was compared and analyzed.
Q
modulation factors obtained ranged between ~0.2 and ~0.4 in the 0.2–2.0 MeV band and MDP ~0.65% was estimated for a 100% polarized Crab type source, 1 Ms. observation time and 3
σ
significance.
Development and calibration of the tracking Compton/Pair telescope MEGA Kanbach, G.; Andritschke, R.; Zoglauer, A. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
04/2005, Letnik:
541, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
We describe the development and tests of the prototype for a new telescope for Medium Energy Gamma-ray Astronomy (MEGA) in the energy band 0.4–50
MeV. As a successor to COMPTEL and EGRET (at low ...energies), MEGA aims to improve the sensitivity for astronomical sources by at least an order of magnitude. It could thus fill the severe sensitivity gap between scheduled or operating hard-X-ray and high-energy gamma-ray missions and open the way for a future Advanced Compton Telescope. MEGA records and images γ-rays by completely tracking Compton and Pair creation events in a stack of double-sided Si-strip track detectors surrounded by a pixelated CsI calorimeter. A scaled down prototype has been built and we describe technical details of its design and properties. Results from calibrations using radioactive sources and from measurements with an accelerator generated, fully polarized, γ-ray beam are presented and an outlook to future plans with MEGA is given.
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