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Register a new userThe COMPTEL instrumental line background
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Added by
Georg Weidenspointner
Publication date
2000
fields
Physics
and research's language is
English
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The instrumental line background of the Compton telescope COMPTEL onboard the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory is due to the activation and/or decay of many isotopes. The major components of this background can be attributed to eight individual isotopes, namely 2D, 22Na, 24Na, 28Al, 40K, 52Mn, 57Ni, and 208Tl. The identification of instrumental lines with specific isotopes is based on the line energies as well as on the variation of the event rate with time, cosmic-ray intensity, and deposited radiation dose during passages through the South-Atlantic Anomaly. The characteristic variation of the event rate due to a specific isotope depends on its life-time, orbital parameters such as the altitude of the satellite above Earth, and the solar cycle. A detailed understanding of the background contributions from instrumental lines is crucial at MeV energies for measuring the cosmic diffuse gamma-ray background and for observing gamma-ray line emission in the interstellar medium or from supernovae and their remnants. Procedures to determine the event rate from each background isotope are described, and their average activity in spacecraft materials over the first seven years of the mission is estimated.
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We present a new algorithm, called Multiresolution Regularized Expectation Maximization (MREM), for the reconstruction of gamma-ray intensity maps from COMPTEL data. The algorithm is based on the iterative Richardson-Lucy scheme to which we added a wavelet thresholding step in order to eliminate image-noise in the reconstruction. The wavelet thresholding explicitly accounts for spatial correlations in the data, and adapts the angular resolution locally, depending on the significance of the signal in the data. We compare the performance of MREM to that of the maximum entropy and the Richardson-Lucy algorithms by means of Monte-Carlo simulations of COMPTEL 1.809 MeV gamma-ray line observations. The simulations demonstrate that the maximum entropy and Richardson-Lucy algorithms provide virtually identical reconstructions which are heavily disturbed by image noise. MREM largely suppresses this noise in the reconstructions, showing only the significant structures that are present in the data. Application of MREM to COMPTEL 1.8 MeV gamma-ray line data results in a 1.809 MeV sky map that is much smoother than the maximum entropy or Richardson-Lucy reconstructions presented previously. The essential features of this map are (1) an asymmetric galactic ridge emission reaching from l=45 deg to l=240 deg, (2) a bright localised emission feature in the Cygnus region around (l,b)=(80 deg,0 deg), (3) two emission spots at l=317 deg and l=332 deg situated in the galactic plane, and (4) an extended emission region around (l,b)=(160 deg, 0 deg). Comparison of the MREM map to the simulated reconstructions demonstrates that the 1.809 MeV emission is confined to the galactic plane.
The observation of cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies is one of the key probes of physical cosmology. The weak nature of this signal has driven the construction of increasingly complex and sensitive experiments observing the sky at multiple frequencies with thousands of polarization sensitive detectors. Given the high sensitivity of such experiments, instrumental systematic effects can become the limiting factor towards the full scientific exploitation of their data. In this paper we present s4cmb (Systematics for CMB), a Python package designed to simulate raw data streams in time domain of modern CMB experiments based on bolometric technology, and to inject in these realistic instrumental systematics effects. The aim of the package is to help assessing the contamination due to instrumental systematic effects on real data, to guide the design of future instruments, as well as to increase the realism of simulated data sets required in the development of accurate data analysis methods.
Understanding and reducing the in-orbit instrumental backgrounds are essential to achieving high sensitivity in hard X-ray astronomical observations. The observational data of the Hard X-ray Imager (HXI) on board the Hitomi satellite provides useful information on the background components, owing to its multi-layer configuration with different atomic numbers: the HXI consists of a stack of four layers of Si (Z = 14) detectors and one layer of CdTe (Z = 48, 52) detector surrounded by well-type BGO (Bi4Ge3O12) active shields. Based on the observational data, the backgrounds of top Si layer, the three underlying Si layers, and the CdTe layer are inferred to be dominated by different components, namely, low-energy electrons, albedo neutrons, and proton-induced radioactivation, respectively. Monte Carlo simulations of the in-orbit background of the HXI reproduce the observed background spectrum of each layer well, thereby verifying the above hypothesis quantitatively. In addition, we suggest the inclusion of an electron shield to reduce the background.
With a direct demodulation method, we have reanalyzed the data from COMPTEL/CGRO observation of PKS0528+134 during the 1993 March flare in gamma-rays. Our results show that during the flare gamma-rays were detected at a level approximately 2.4-3.8 times greater than the observed intensity in two earlier COMPTEL observations VP 0 and VP 1 in the energy range 3 MeV to 30 MeV. The 3-30 MeV time variability of the flux follows well the trend as observed by EGRET/CGRO at higher energies. No convincing excess can be found around the position of PKS0528+134 in the energy range 0.75 MeV to 3 MeV, which indicates a spectral break around 3 MeV. The detections and non-detections in the four standard COMPTEL energy bands are consistent with the earlier reports given by Collmar et al., while the feature that gamma-rays of the quasar still kept on flaring at energies down to 3 MeV is clearly found.
We report on a study of the gamma-ray continuum emission from the Crab supernova nebula and on a search for nuclear de-excitation gamma-ray lines. Crab is the brightest continuum source in the 1-10 MeV gamma-ray sky, and its continuum radiation is most likely of synchrotron origin. It is a likely source of cosmic rays through shock acceleration and thus a potential candidate for gamma-ray line emission from nuclear interactions. Five years of COMPTEL observations enable a fine spectral binning to investigate the behaviour of the 0.75-30 MeV emission in detail and to search for nuclear de-excitation lines on top of the continuum. The nebular spectrum shows a break at the edge of the COMPTEL energy range and connects well to the EGRET spectrum, probably reflecting electron energy losses in the synchrotron emission scenario. Such a smooth continuum model alone may not be sufficient to explain the observations. A weak bump in the spectrum at 1-2 MeV may be present. No significant evidence for distinct line emission is seen, but the presence of a blend of line features or another synchrotron component cannot be excluded.
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