No Arabic abstract
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 $sim 21%$ when an unbinned, maximum likelihood method 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, non-ideal 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 maximum likelihood method is used instead of the standard method.
In this Astro2020 APC White Paper, we describe a Small Explorer (SMEX) mission concept called the Compton Spectrometer and Imager. COSI is a Compton telescope that covers the bandpass often referred to as the MeV Gap because it is the least explored region of the whole electromagnetic spectrum. COSI provides a significant improvement in sensitivity along with high-resolution spectroscopy, enabling studies of 511 keV electron-positron annihilation emission and measurements of several radioactive elements that trace the Galactic history of supernovae. COSI also measures polarization of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), accreting black holes, and pulsars as well as detecting and localizing multimessenger sources. In the following, we describe the COSI science, the instrument, and its capabilities. We highlight many Astro2020 science WPs that describe the COSI science in depth.
The Compton Spectrometer and Imager (COSI) is a balloon-borne gamma-ray (0.2-5 MeV) telescope designed to study astrophysical sources. COSI employs a compact Compton telescope design utilizing 12 high-purity germanium double-sided strip detectors and is inherently sensitive to polarization. In 2016, COSI was launched from Wanaka, New Zealand and completed a successful 46-day flight on NASAs new Super Pressure Balloon. In order to perform imaging, spectral, and polarization analysis of the sources observed during the 2016 flight, we compute the detector response from well-benchmarked simulations. As required for accurate simulations of the instrument, we have built a comprehensive mass model of the instrument and developed a detailed detector effects engine which applies the intrinsic detector performance to Monte Carlo simulations. The simulated detector effects include energy, position, and timing resolution, thresholds, dead strips, charge sharing, charge loss, crosstalk, dead time, and detector trigger conditions. After including these effects, the simulations closely resemble the measurements, the standard analysis pipeline used for measurements can also be applied to the simulations, and the responses computed from the simulations are accurate. We have computed the systematic error that we must apply to measured fluxes at certain energies, which is 6.3% on average. Here we describe the detector effects engine and the benchmarking tests performed with calibrations.
Compton telescope is a promising technology to achieve very high sensitivity in the soft gamma-ray band (0.1-10 MeV) by utilizing Compton kinematics. Compton kinematics also enables polarization measurement which will open new windows to study gamma-ray production mechanism in the universe. CdTe and Si semiconductor technologies are key technologies to realize the Compton telescope in which their high energy resolution is crucial for high angular resolution and background rejection capability. We have assembled a prototype module using a double-sided silicon strip detector and CdTe pixel detectors. In this paper, we present expected polarization performance of a proposed mission (NeXT/SGD). We also report results from polarization measurements using polarized synchrotron light and validation of EGS4 MC simulation.
A long duration gamma-ray burst, GRB 160530A, was detected by the Compton Spectrometer and Imager (COSI) during the 2016 COSI Super Pressure Balloon campaign. As a Compton telescope, COSI is inherently sensitive to the polarization of gamma-ray sources in the energy range 0.2-5.0 MeV. We measured the polarization of GRB 160530A using 1) a standard method (SM) based on fitting the distribution of azimuthal scattering angles with a modulation curve, and 2) an unbinned, maximum likelihood method (MLM). In both cases, the measured polarization level was below the $99%$ confidence minimum detectable polarization levels of $72.3 pm 0.8%$ (SM) and $57.5 pm 0.8%$ (MLM). Therefore, COSI did not detect polarized gamma-ray emission from this burst. Our most constraining $90%$ confidence upper limit on the polarization level was $46%$ (MLM).
An electron beam polarization of 80% or greater will be a key feature of a 1 TeV Linear Collider. Accurate measurements of the beam polarization will therefore be needed. We discuss design considerations and capabilities for a Compton-scattering polarimeter located in the extraction line from the Interaction Point. Polarization measurements with 1% accuracy taken parasitic to collision data look feasible, but detailed simulations are needed. Polarimeter design issues are similar for both electron-positron and electron-electron collider modes, though beam disruption creates more difficulties for the electron-electron mode.