83 research outputs found
A Combined Compton and Coded-aperture Telescope for Medium-energy Gamma-ray Astrophysics
A future mission in medium-energy gamma-ray astrophysics would allow for many
scientific advancements, e.g. a possible explanation for the excess positron
emission from the Galactic Center, a better understanding of nucleosynthesis
and explosion mechanisms in Type Ia supernovae, and a look at the physical
forces at play in compact objects such as black holes and neutron stars.
Additionally, further observation in this energy regime would significantly
extend the search parameter space for low-mass dark matter. In order to achieve
these objectives, an instrument with good energy resolution, good angular
resolution, and high sensitivity is required. In this paper we present the
design and simulation of a Compton telescope consisting of cubic-centimeter
Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CdZnTe) detectors as absorbers behind a silicon tracker
with the addition of a passive coded mask. The goal of the design was to create
a very sensitive instrument that is capable of high angular resolution. The
simulated telescope showed achievable energy resolutions of 1.68 FWHM at
511 keV and 1.11 at 1809 keV, on-axis angular resolutions in Compton mode
of 2.63 FWHM at 511 keV and 1.30 FWHM at 1809 keV, and is
capable of resolving sources to at least 0.2 at lower energies with
the use of the coded mask. An initial assessment of the instrument in Compton
imaging mode yields an effective area of 183 cm at 511 keV and an
anticipated all-sky sensitivity of 3.6 x 10 photons cm s
for a broadened 511 keV source over a 2-year observation time. Additionally,
combining a coded mask with a Compton imager to improve point source
localization for positron detection has been demonstrated
Validation of Geant4-based Radioactive Decay Simulation
Radioactive decays are of concern in a wide variety of applications using
Monte-Carlo simulations. In order to properly estimate the quality of such
simulations, knowledge of the accuracy of the decay simulation is required. We
present a validation of the original Geant4 Radioactive Decay Module, which
uses a per-decay sampling approach, and of an extended package for Geant4-based
simulation of radioactive decays, which, in addition to being able to use a
refactored per-decay sampling, is capable of using a statistical sampling
approach. The validation is based on measurements of calibration isotope
sources using a high purity Germanium (HPGe) detector; no calibration of the
simulation is performed. For the considered validation experiment equivalent
simulation accuracy can be achieved with per-decay and statistical sampling
Radioactive Decays in Geant4
The simulation of radioactive decays is a common task in Monte-Carlo systems
such as Geant4. Usually, a system either uses an approach focusing on the
simulations of every individual decay or an approach which simulates a large
number of decays with a focus on correct overall statistics. The radioactive
decay package presented in this work permits, for the first time, the use of
both methods within the same simulation framework - Geant4. The accuracy of the
statistical approach in our new package, RDM-extended, and that of the existing
Geant4 per-decay implementation (original RDM), which has also been refactored,
are verified against the ENSDF database. The new verified package is beneficial
for a wide range of experimental scenarios, as it enables researchers to choose
the most appropriate approach for their Geant4-based application
Characterizing and correcting electron and hole trapping in germanium cross-strip detectors
We present measurements of electron and hole trapping in three COSI germanium
cross-strip detectors. By characterizing the relative charge collection
efficiency (CCE) as a function of interaction depth, we show that intrinsic
trapping of both electrons and holes have significant effects on the
spectroscopic performance of the detectors. We find that both the electron and
hole trapping vary from detector to detector, demonstrating the need for
empirical trapping measurements and corrections. Using our measurements of
charge trapping, we develop a continuous depth-dependent second-order energy
correction procedure. We show that applying this empirical trapping correction
produces significant improvements to spectral resolution and to the accuracy of
the energy reconstruction.Comment: 17 pages, 3 figures, 1 table, in press in NIM
Broadband X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy of the Crab Nebula and Pulsar with NuSTAR
We present broadband (3 -- 78 keV) NuSTAR X-ray imaging and spectroscopy of
the Crab nebula and pulsar. We show that while the phase-averaged and spatially
integrated nebula + pulsar spectrum is a power-law in this energy band,
spatially resolved spectroscopy of the nebula finds a break at 9 keV in
the spectral photon index of the torus structure with a steepening
characterized by . We also confirm a previously reported
steepening in the pulsed spectrum, and quantify it with a broken power-law with
break energy at 12 keV and . We present spectral
maps of the inner 100\as\ of the remnant and measure the size of the nebula as
a function of energy in seven bands. These results find that the rate of
shrinkage with energy of the torus size can be fitted by a power-law with an
index of , consistent with the predictions of Kennel
and Coroniti (1984). The change in size is more rapid in the NW direction,
coinciding with the counter-jet where we find the index to be a factor of two
larger. NuSTAR observed the Crab during the latter part of a -ray
flare, but found no increase in flux in the 3 - 78 keV energy band
The Hard X-Ray View of the Young Supernova Remnant G1.9+0.3
NuSTAR observed G1.9+0.3, the youngest known supernova remnant in the Milky
Way, for 350 ks and detected emission up to 30 keV. The remnant's X-ray
morphology does not change significantly across the energy range from 3 to 20
keV. A combined fit between NuSTAR and CHANDRA shows that the spectrum steepens
with energy. The spectral shape can be well fitted with synchrotron emission
from a power-law electron energy distribution with an exponential cutoff with
no additional features. It can also be described by a purely phenomenological
model such as a broken power-law or a power-law with an exponential cutoff,
though these descriptions lack physical motivation. Using a fixed radio flux at
1 GHz of 1.17 Jy for the synchrotron model, we get a column density of N = cm, a spectral index of
, and a roll-off frequency of Hz. This can be explained by particle
acceleration, to a maximum energy set by the finite remnant age, in a magnetic
field of about 10 G, for which our roll-off implies a maximum energy of
about 100 TeV for both electrons and ions. Much higher magnetic-field strengths
would produce an electron spectrum that was cut off by radiative losses, giving
a much higher roll-off frequency that is independent of magnetic-field
strength. In this case, ions could be accelerated to much higher energies. A
search for Ti emission in the 67.9 keV line results in an upper limit of
assuming a line width of 4.0 keV (1 sigma).Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, accepted Ap
A Spatially Resolved Study of the Synchrotron Emission and Titanium in Tycho's Supernova Remnant with NuSTAR
We report results from deep observations (~750 ks) of Tycho's supernova
remnant (SNR) with NuSTAR. Using these data, we produce narrow-band images over
several energy bands to identify the regions producing the hardest X-rays and
to search for radioactive decay line emission from 44Ti. We find that the
hardest (>10 keV) X-rays are concentrated in the southwest of Tycho, where
recent Chandra observations have revealed high emissivity "stripes" associated
with particles accelerated to the knee of the cosmic-ray spectrum. We do not
find evidence of 44Ti, and we set limits on its presence and distribution
within the SNR. These limits correspond to a upper-limit 44Ti mass of M44 <
2.4x10^-4 M_sun for a distance of 2.3 kpc. We perform spatially resolved
spectroscopic analysis of sixty-six regions across Tycho. We map the best-fit
rolloff frequency of the hard X-ray spectra, and we compare these results to
measurements of the shock expansion and ambient density. We find that the
highest energy electrons are accelerated at the lowest densities and in the
fastest shocks, with a steep dependence of the roll-off frequency with shock
velocity. Such a dependence is predicted by models where the maximum energy of
accelerated electrons is limited by the age of the SNR rather than by
synchrotron losses, but this scenario requires far lower magnetic field
strengths than those derived from observations in Tycho. One way to reconcile
these discrepant findings is through shock obliquity effects, and future
observational work is necessary to explore the role of obliquity in the
particle acceleration process.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figures, ApJ in pres
NuSTAR: system engineering and modeling challenges in pointing reconstruction for a deployable x-ray telescope
The Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) is a NASA Small Explorer mission that will make the first sensitive images of the sky in the high energy X-ray band (6 - 80 keV). The NuSTAR observatory consists of two co-aligned grazing incidence hard X-ray telescopes with a ~10 meter focal length, achieved by the on-orbit extension of a deployable mast. A principal science objective of the mission is to locate previously unknown high-energy X-ray sources to an accuracy of 10 arcseconds (3-sigma), sufficient to uniquely identify counterparts at other wavelengths. In order to achieve this, a star tracker and laser metrology system are an integral part of the instrument; in conjunction, they will determine the orientation of the optics bench in celestial coordinates and also measure the flexures in the deployable mast as it responds to the varying on-orbit thermal environment, as well as aerodynamic and control torques. The architecture of the NuSTAR system for solving the attitude and aspect problems differs from that of previous X-ray telescopes, which did not require ex post facto reconstruction of the instantaneous observatory alignment on-orbit. In this paper we describe the NuSTAR instrument metrology system architecture and implementation, focusing on the systems engineering challenges associated with validating the instantaneous transformations between focal plane and celestial coordinates to within the required accuracy. We present a mathematical solution to photon source reconstruction, along with a detailed error budget that relates component errors to science performance. We also describe the architecture of the instrument simulation software being used to validate the end-to-end performance model
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