A Space-based All-sky MeV γ-ray Survey with the Electron Tracking Compton Camera

Thumbnail Image

Files

1907.06658.pdf (1.22 MB)

Links to Files

https://arxiv.org/abs/1907.06658

Permanent Link

http://hdl.handle.net/11603/16291

Collections

UMBC Center for Space Sciences and Technology (CSST) / Center for Research and Exploration in Space Sciences & Technology II (CRSST II)
UMBC Faculty Collection

Author/Creator

Author/Creator ORCID

Date

2019-07

Type of Work

journal articles preprints
Text

Department

Program

Citation of Original Publication

Kenji Hamaguchi and Toru Tanimori and Atsushi Takada and John F. Beacom and Shuichi Gunji and Masaki Mori and Takeshi Nakamori and Chris R. Shrader and David M. Smith and Toru Tamagawa and Bruce T. Tsurutani, A Space-based All-sky MeV gamma-ray Survey with the Electron Tracking Compton Camera, 2019, https://arxiv.org/abs/1907.06658

Rights

This item is likely protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. Unless on a Creative Commons license, for uses protected by Copyright Law, contact the copyright holder or the author.

Subjects

electron tracking compton camera
MeV γ-ray

Abstract

Thematic Activity/Project/state of the Profession Consideration Area: A sensitive survey of the MeV γ-ray sky is needed to understand important astrophysical problems such as γ-ray bursts in the early universe, progenitors of Type Ia supernovae, and the nature of dark matter. However, the study has not progressed remarkably since the limited survey by COMPTEL onboard CGRO in the 1990s. Tanimori et al. have developed a Compton camera that tracks the trajectory of each recoil electron in addition to the information obtained by the conventional Compton cameras, leading to superior imaging. This Electron Tracking Compton Camera (ETCC) facilitates accurate reconstruction of the incoming direction of each MeV photon from a wide sky at ∼degree angular resolution and with minimized particle background using trajectory information. The latest ETCC model, SMILE-2+, made successful astronomical observations during a day balloon flight in 2018 April and detected diffuse continuum and 511 keV annihilation line emission from the Galactic Center region at a high significance in ∼2.5 hours. We believe that MeV observations from space with upgraded ETCCs will dramatically improve our knowledge of the MeV universe. We advocate for a space-based all-sky survey mission with multiple ETCCs onboard and detail its expected benefits.