12 research outputs found
Simulations of Galactic Cosmic Rays Impacts on the Herschel/PACS Photoconductor Arrays with Geant4 Code
We present results of simulations performed with the Geant4 software code of
the effects of Galactic Cosmic Ray impacts on the photoconductor arrays of the
PACS instrument. This instrument is part of the ESA-Herschel payload, which
will be launched in late 2007 and will operate at the Lagrangian L2 point of
the Sun-Earth system. Both the Satellite plus the cryostat (the shield) and the
detector act as source of secondary events, affecting the detector performance.
Secondary event rates originated within the detector and from the shield are of
comparable intensity. The impacts deposit energy on each photoconductor pixel
but do not affect the behaviour of nearby pixels. These latter are hit with a
probability always lower than 7%. The energy deposited produces a spike which
can be hundreds times larger than the noise. We then compare our simulations
with proton irradiation tests carried out for one of the detector modules and
follow the detector behaviour under 'real' conditions.Comment: paper submitted to Experimental Astronomy in March 200
Simulations of Galactic Cosmic Ray Impacts on the Herschel/PACS bolometer Arrays with Geant4 Code
The effects of the in-flight behaviour of the bolometer arrays of the
Herschel/PACS instrument under impacts of Galactic cosmic rays are explored.
This instrument is part of the ESA-Herschel payload, which will be launched at
the end of 2008 and will operate at the Lagrangian L2 point of the Sun-Earth
system. We find that the components external to the detectors (the spacecraft,
the cryostat, the PACS box, collectively referred to as the `shield') are the
major source of secondary events affecting the detector behaviour. The impacts
deposit energy on the bolometer chips and influence the behaviour of nearby
pixels. 25% of hits affect the adjacent pixels. The energy deposited raises the
bolometer temperature by a factor ranging from 1 to 6 percent of the nominal
value. We discuss the effects on the observations and compare simulations with
laboratory tests.Comment: Experimental Astronomy, 2008, in pres