MEGA: the next generation Medium Energy Gamma-ray Telescope

James M. Ryan; Robert Andritschke; Peter Forbes Bloser; James P. Cravens; Michael L. Cherry; Guido Di Cocco; T. G. Guzik; Dieter H. Hartmann; Stanley H. Hunter; Gottfried Kanbach; R. Marc Kippen; James Kurfess; John R. Macri; Mark L. McConnell; Richard S. Miller; William S. Paciesas; Bernard Phlips; Victor Reglero; J. Gregory Stacy; Mark Strickman; W. Thomas Vestrand; John P. Wefel; Eric Wulf; Andreas Zoglauer; Allen D. Zych

doi:10.1117/12.551891

11 October 2004 MEGA: the next generation Medium Energy Gamma-ray Telescope

James M. Ryan, Robert Andritschke, Peter Forbes Bloser, James P. Cravens, Michael L. Cherry, Guido Di Cocco, T. G. Guzik, Dieter H. Hartmann, Stanley H. Hunter, Gottfried Kanbach, R. Marc Kippen, James Kurfess, John R. Macri, Mark L. McConnell, Richard S. Miller, William S. Paciesas, Bernard Phlips, Victor Reglero, J. Gregory Stacy, Mark Strickman, W. Thomas Vestrand, John P. Wefel, Eric Wulf, Andreas Zoglauer, Allen D. Zych

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 5488, UV and Gamma-Ray Space Telescope Systems; (2004) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.551891
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2004, Glasgow, United Kingdom

Abstract

The MEGA mission would enable a sensitive all-sky survey of the medium-energy ?-ray sky (0.3-50 MeV). This mission will bridge the huge sensitivity gap between the COMPTEL and OSSE experiments on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, the SPI and IBIS instruments on INTEGRAL and the visionary ACT mission. It will, among other things, serve to compile a much larger catalog of sources in this energy range, perform far deeper searches for supernovae, better measure the galactic continuum emission as well as identify the components of the cosmic diffuse emission. The large field of view will allow MEGA to continuously monitor the sky for transient and variable sources. It will accomplish these goals with a stack of Si-strip detector (SSD) planes surrounded by a dense high-Z calorimeter. At lower photon energies (below ~30 MeV), the design is sensitive to Compton interactions, with the SSD system serving as a scattering medium that also detects and measures the Compton recoil energy deposit. If the energy of the recoil electron is sufficiently high (> 2 MeV), the track of the recoil electron can also be defined. At higher photon energies (above ~10 MeV), the design is sensitive to pair production events, with the SSD system measuring the tracks of the electron and positron. We will discuss the various types of event signatures in detail and describe the advantages of this design over previous Compton telescope designs. Effective area, sensitivity and resolving power estimates are also presented along with simulations of expected scientific results and beam calibration results from the prototype instrument.

Citation Download Citation

James M. Ryan, Robert Andritschke, Peter Forbes Bloser, James P. Cravens, Michael L. Cherry, Guido Di Cocco, T. G. Guzik, Dieter H. Hartmann, Stanley H. Hunter, Gottfried Kanbach, R. Marc Kippen, James Kurfess, John R. Macri, Mark L. McConnell, Richard S. Miller, William S. Paciesas, Bernard Phlips, Victor Reglero, J. Gregory Stacy, Mark Strickman, W. Thomas Vestrand, John P. Wefel, Eric Wulf, Andreas Zoglauer, and Allen D. Zych "MEGA: the next generation Medium Energy Gamma-ray Telescope", Proc. SPIE 5488, UV and Gamma-Ray Space Telescope Systems, (11 October 2004); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.551891

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available