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X-Ray Polarimetry Workshop SLAC, Stanford, California 9-11 February 2004 |
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Gamma-Ray Polarimetry in the Pair Production Regime
Peter
Bloser
NASA/GSFC
bloser@milkyway.gsfc.nasa.gov
P. F. Bloser S. D. Hunter G. O. Depaola F. Longo
The best angular resolution for a pair production telescope can be achieved using micro-patterned gas detectors, since the scattering of the electron-positron pair is minimized in a low density gas environment. Such an instrument would also be able to measure the azimuthal angle of the electron-positron plane, and thus be sensitive to the polarization of the incoming radiation. We present a concept for such a pair telescope with polarization sensitivity between 50 and several 100 MeV, based on the use of pixelized gas micro-well detectors. Now under development at Goddard Space Flight Center, pixelized micro-well detectors have the potential to form large-volume 3-D track imagers with ~100 micron position resolution at moderate cost. The combination of high spatial resolution and a continuous low-density gas medium permits many thousands of measurements per radiation length, allowing accurate measurement of the electron-positron momenta. We have performed Geant4 simulations of our concept and present estimates of the polarization sensitivity achievable.
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For more information, contact
Jennifer Formichelli |
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