Scientific objectives and first results from COMPTEL

The imaging Compton telescope (COMPTEL) is the first imaging telescope in space to explore the MeV gamma ray range. At present it is performing a complete sky survey. In later phases of the mission, selected celestial objects will be studied in more detail. Targets of special interest in the COMPTEL energy range are radio pulsars, X-ray binaries, novae, supernova remnants, molecular clouds, and the interstellar medium within the Milky Way, as well as the nuclei of active galaxies, supernovae, and the diffuse cosmic background radiation in extragalactic space. The first four months of operation demonstrated that COMPTEL basically performs as expected. The Crab is clearly seen at its proper position in the first images of the anticenter region of the Galaxy. The Crab pulsar lightcurve was measured with unprecedented accuracy. The quasar 3C273 was seen for the first time at MeV-energies. Several cosmic bursts within the COMPTEL field of view could be located to an accuracy of about 1 degree. On June 9, 11, and 15, 1991 COMPTEL observed gamma ray (continuum and line) emission from three solar flares. Neutrons were also detected from the June 9 flare. At the present state of analysis, COMPTEL achieves the prelaunch predictions of its sensitivity within a factor of 2. Based on the present performance of COMPTEL, the team is confident that COMPTEL will fulfill its primary mission of surveying and exploring the MeV sky

COMPTEL: Instrument description and performance

The imaging Compton telescope (COMPTEL) is one of the four gamma ray detectors aboard the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (GRO). COMPTEL is sensitive to gamma rays from 800 keV to 30 MeV with a field of view of approximately 1 sr. Its angular resolution ranges between 1 and 2 degrees depending on the energy and incidence angle. The energy resolution of better than 10 percent FWHM enables COMPTEL to provide spectral resolution in the regime of astrophysical nuclear lines. The effective area varies typically from 10 to 50 cm(exp 2) depending on the energy and event selections made. In its telescope mode, COMPTEL is able to study a wide variety of objects, pointlike as well as extended in space. With 0.125 msec timing resolution, pulsed emission can be studied. In the single detector mode, COMPTEL uses two of its detectors to study the temporal spectral evolution of strong gamma ray bursts or transients

COMPTEL measurements of MeV gamma-ray burst spectra

We present results from the on-going spectral analysis of gamma-ray bursts measured by the COMPTEL instrument in its main Compton “Telescope” observing mode (0.75–30 MeV). Thus far, 18 bursts have been analyzed from three years (April 1991–April 1994) of observations. The time-averaged spectra of these events above 1 MeV are all consistent with a simple power law model with spectral index in the range 1.5–3.5. Exponential, thermal bremsstrahlung and thermal synchrotron models are statistically inconsistent with the burst sample, although they can adequately describe some of the individual burst spectra. We find good agreement between burst spectra measured simultaneously by BATSE, COMPTEL and EGRET, which typically show a spectral transition or “break” in the BATSE energy range around a few hundred keV followed by simple power law emission extending to hundreds of MeV. However, the temporal relation between MeV and GeV (e.g., as measured by EGRET) burst emission is still unclear. Measurement of rapid variability at MeV energies in the stronger bursts provides evidence that either the sources are nearby (within the Galaxy) or the gamma-ray emission is relativistically beamed

Data analysis of the COMPTEL instrument on the NASA gamma ray observatory

The Compton imaging telescope (COMPTEL) on the Gamma Ray Observatory (GRO) is a wide field of view instrument. The coincidence measurement technique in two scintillation detector layers requires specific analysis methods. Straightforward event projection into the sky is impossible. Therefore, detector events are analyzed in a multi-dimensional dataspace using a gamma ray sky hypothesis convolved with the point spread function of the instrument in this dataspace. Background suppression and analysis techniques have important implications on the gamma ray source results for this background limited telescope. The COMPTEL collaboration applies a software system of analysis utilities, organized around a database management system. The use of this system for the assistance of guest investigators at the various collaboration sites and external sites is foreseen and allows different detail levels of cooperation with the COMPTEL institutes, dependent on the type of data to be studied

The angular distribution of COMPTEL Gamma-Ray bursts

The superior burst location capability of the COMPTEL instrument aboard the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory allows us to study the small-scale angular distribution of burst sources with good sensitivity even though the number of burst detections is small. We accumulate four years (April 1991–April 1995) of observations to form a catalog of 27 burst locations whose mean 1σ uncertainty is ∼1°. We find that the COMPTEL bursts are consistent with an isotropic distribution of sources, yet the spatial coincidence of two of the bursts within COMPTEL’s angular resolution indicates the possibility of repetition. This possibility is studied using the two-point angular correlation function and the nearest neighbor statistic. Model dependent upper limits on the fraction of repeating sources are derived

MeV measurements of γ-ray bursts by CGRO-COMPTEL: Revised catalog

The imaging COMPTEL telescope has accumulated 0.1–30 MeV spectra, time-histories, and positions of more than forty γ-ray bursts within its ∼3 sr field of view in the eight years since its launch. CGRO-COMPTEL measures in both imaging “telescope” and single detector “burst spectroscopy” mode. In an ongoing collaboration with BACODINE/GCN, bursts are imaged automatically, with localizations relayed to a global network of multiwavelength observers in near real time (∼10 minutes). We have updated our burst search procedure in two ways: 1) using more sensitive search algorithms; and 2) using data from more detectors. The first are double change-point algorithms. With these we can find regions of significant excess flux with no assumptions on the wide range of burst time-scales (e.g., rise-times or decay-times) or intensities, and only one adjustable parameter (the time-averaged count-rate of the detectors). This makes it simpler to combine information on burst time-histories from the larger effective area (but cruder time bins) burst spectroscopy detectors, and hence better pinpoint the best times for imaging each burst. We report the eight bursts detected during 1998–1999

MeV measurements of gamma-ray bursts by CGRO-COMPTEL

Since the launch of the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory in April 1991, the imaging COMPTEL telescope has accumulated positions and 0.75–30 MeV spectra of more than thirty gamma-ray bursts within its ∼π sr field of view. In an ongoing collaboration with BACODINE/GCN, COMPTEL positions are relayed to a global network of multiwavelength observers in near real time (∼10 minutes). Here we summarize the MeV properties, and present spatial, spectral, and temporal data for the latest of these events, GRB 970807. In concurrence with earlier SMM and current BATSE, OSSE, and EGRET measurements, COMPTEL data add to the accumulating evidence that GRB spectra do seem to have a characteristic shape: a peak (inE2F(E) ) around several hundred keV; and a power law above (spectral index 1.5–3.5) extending beyond the COMPTEL energy range

Spectra of a recent bright burst measured by CGRO-COMPTEL: GRB 990123

CGRO-COMPTEL measures gamma-ray burst positions, time-histories and spectra in the 0.1–30 MeV energy range, in both imaging “telescope” and single detector “burst spectroscopy” mode. GRB 990123, one of the most recent bright bursts seen by COMPTEL, was caught in the optical while the gamma-ray emission was ongoing. The burst spectral shape can be characterized by a peak in ν−Fν just below 1 MeV and a power-law tail above(photon index∼−2.4,) and flattening below. There is also spectral evolution by downward movement of the peak and/or softening of the power laws. We present light-curves, time resolved spectra and an image map for this burst

Spectral properties of gamma‐ray bursts observed by COMPTEL

During the first year of operation, the COMPTEL instrument on board the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory detected 22 γ‐ray bursts within its field of view. Spectra and time histories for the strongest 7 of these bursts have been obtained from both the main instrument (0.75–30 MeV) and the burst modules (0.1–10 MeV). The deconvolved photon spectra for the majority of bursts are fit by a single power law model with spectral index between −1.6 and −2.8. One strong burst, GRB 910814, exhibited significant curvature and could not be fit by a single power law model. A broken power law model with a break in slope at ∼2 MeV is a good fit to the time averaged spectrum of this burst. There is evidence, at the 2.8σ level, for a change in the break energy of GRB 910814, from above 2 MeV to below 1 MeV during the first 9 s of the burst

Neutron induced background in the COMPTEL detector on the Gamma Ray Observatory

Interactions of neutrons in a prototype of the Compton imaging telescope (COMPTEL) gamma ray detector for the Gamma Ray Observatory were studied to determine COMPTEL's sensitivity as a neutron telescope and to estimate the gamma ray background resulting from neutron interactions. The IUCF provided a pulsed neutron beam at five different energies between 18 and 120 MeV. These measurements showed that the gamma ray background from neutron interactions is greater than previously expected. It was thought that most such events would be due to interactions in the upper detector modules of COMPTEL and could be distinguished by pulse shape discrimination. Rather, the bulk of the gamma ray background appears to be due to interactions in passive material, primarily aluminum, surrounding the D1 modules. In a considerable fraction of these interactions, two or more gamma rays are produced simultaneously, with one interacting in the D1 module and the other interacting in the module of the lower (D2) detector. If the neutron interacts near the D1 module, the D1 D2 time of flight cannot distinguish such an event from a true gamma ray event. In order to assess the significance of this background, the flux of neutrons in orbit has been estimated based on observed events with neutron pulse shape signature in D1. The strength of this neutron induced background is estimated. This is compared with the rate expected from the isotropic cosmic gamma ray flux