H. Tajima

Cosmic-ray electron-positron spectrum from 7 GeV to 2 TeV with the Fermi Large Area Telescope

We present a measurement of the cosmic-ray electron+positron spectrum between 7 GeV and 2 TeV performed with almost seven years of data collected with the Fermi Large Area Telescope. We find that the spectrum is well fit by a broken power law with a break energy at about 50 GeV. Above 50 GeV, the spectrum is well described by a single power law with a spectral index of 3.07 ± 0.02 (stat+syst) ± 0.04 (energy measurement). An exponential cutoff lower than 1.8 TeV is excluded at 95% CL. PACS numbers: 98.70.Sa, 96.50.sb, 95.85.Ry, 95.55.Vj

The silicon tracker readout electronics of the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope

A unique electronics system has been built and tested for reading signals from the silicon-strip detectors of the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope mission. The system amplifies and processes signals from 884 736 36-cm strips using only 160 W of power, and it achieves close to 100% detection efficiency with noise occupancy sufficiently low to allow it to self trigger. The design of the readout system is described, and results are presented from ground-based testing of the completed detector system.

Monolithic Pixel Detector in a 0.15 μm SOI Technology

We describe a new pixel detector development project using a 0.15 μm fully-depleted CMOS SOI (silicon-on-insulator) technology. Additional processing steps for creating substrate implants and contacts to form sensor and electrode connections were developed for this SOI process. A diode test element group and several test chips have been fabricated and evaluated. The pixel detectors are successfully operated and first images are taken and sensibility to β-rays is confirmed. Back gate effects on the top circuits are observed and discussed.

Monte Carlo simulation study of in-orbit background for the soft gamma-ray detector on-board ASTRO-H

The Soft Gamma-ray Detector onboard the ASTRO-H satellite, scheduled for launch in 2014, is a Si/CdTe Compton telescope surrounded by a thick BGO active shield. The SGD covers the energy range from 40 to 600 keV and studies non-thermal phenomena in the universe with high sensitivity. For the success of the SGD mission, careful examination of the expected performance, particularly the instrumental background in orbit, and optimization of the detector configuration are essential. We are developing a Geant4-based Monte Carlo simulation framework on the ANL++ platform, employing the MGGPOD software suite to predict the radioactivation in orbit. A detailed validation of the simulator through the comparison with literature and the beam test data is summarized. Our system will be integrated into the ASTRO-H simulation framework.

Fabrication of the GLAST Silicon Tracker Readout Electronics

A unique electronics system has been built and tested for reading signals from the silicon-strip detectors of the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope mission. The system amplifies and processes signals from 884 736 36-cm long silicon strips in a 4times4 array of tower modules. An aggressive mechanical design fits the readout electronics in narrow spaces between the tower modules, to minimize dead area. This design and the resulting departures from conventional electronics packaging led to several fabrication challenges and lessons learned. This paper describes the fabrication processes and how the problems peculiar to this design were overcome

Measuring energy dependent polarization in soft γ-rays using Compton scattering in PoGOLite

Linear polarization in X-and gamma-rays is an important diagnostic of many astrophysical sources, foremost giving information about their geometry, magnetic fields, and radiation mechanisms. However, very few X-ray polarization measurements have been made, and then only mono-energetic detections, whilst several objects are assumed to have energy dependent polarization signatures. In this paper, we investigate whether detection of energy dependent polarization from cosmic sources is possible using the Compton technique, in particular with the proposed PoGOLite balloon-experiment, in the 25-100 keV range. We use Geant4 simulations of a PoGOLite model and input photon spectra based on Cygnus X-1 and accreting magnetic pulsars (100 mCrab). Effective observing times of 6 and 35 h were simulated, corresponding to a standard and a long duration flight, respectively. Both smooth and sharp energy variations of the polarization are investigated and compared to constant polarization signals using chi-square statistics. We can reject constant polarization, with energy, for the Cygnus X-1 spectrum (in the hard state), if the reflected component is assumed to be completely polarized, whereas the distinction cannot be made for weaker polarization. For the accreting pulsar, constant polarization can be rejected in the case of polarization in a narrow energy band with at least 50% polarization, and similarly for a negative step distribution from 30% to 0% polarization.

Fine-pitch semiconductor detector for the FOXSI mission

The Focusing Optics X-ray Solar Imager (FOXSI) is a NASA sounding rocket mission which will study particle acceleration and coronal heating on the Sun through unprecedented high-resolution imaging in the hard X-ray energy band (5–15 keV). Energy release occurring in the quiet region of the Sun may potentially play an important role in the coronal heating mechanism. With a combination of high-resolution focusing X-ray optics and fine-pitch imaging sensors, FOXSI will achieve superior sensitivity; two orders of magnitude better than that of the RHESSI satellite. FOXSI requires the spectral capability down to 5 keV, which requires a development of a new ASIC and detector with a better energy resolution. We plan to use a Double-sided Si Strip Detector (DSSD) with a low-noise front-end ASIC as the FOXSI focal plane detector, which will fulfill the scientific requirements on the spatial resolution, energy resolution, lower threshold energy and time resolution. We have designed and fabricated a DSSD with a thickness of 500 μm and a dimension of 9.6 mm×9.6 mm, containing 128 strips separated by a pitch of 75 μm, which corresponds to 8 arcsec at the focal length of 2 m. The DSSD was successfully operated in a laboratory experiment. Under a temperature of −20°C and a bias voltage of 250 V, we obtained spectra from both sides of the electrodes. The energy resolution was measured to be 980 eV and 2.4 keV for the p-side and n-side at 14 keV gamma-ray, sufficient for the FOXSI mission requirement.

Beam test results of the polarized gamma-ray observer, PoGOLite

The Polarized Gamma-ray Observer, PoGOLite, is a balloon experiment with the capability of detecting 10% polarization from a 200 mCrab celestial object in the energy range 25–80 keV. During a beam test at KEK-PF in February 2008, 20 detector units were assembled, and a 50 keV X-ray beam with a polarization degree of ∼90% was irradiated at the center unit. Signals from all 20 units were fed into flightversion electronics consisting of six circuit boards (four waveform digitizer boards, one digital I/O board and one router board) and one microprocessor (SpaceCube), which communicate using a SpaceWire interface. One digitizer board, which can associate up to 8 PDCs, outputs a trigger signal. The digital I/O board handles the trigger and returns a data acquisition request if there is no veto signal (upper or pulse-shape discriminators) from any detector unit. This data acquisition system worked well, and the modulation factor was successfully measured to be ∼34%. These results confirmed the capabilities of both detector and data-acquisition system for a pathfinder flight planned in 2010.

Gamma-Ray Observations of the Supernova Remnant RX J0852.0-4622 with the Fermi LAT

We report on gamma-ray observations of the supernova remnant (SNR) RX J0852.0–4622 with the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. In the Fermi-LAT data, we find a spatially extended source at the location of the SNR. The extension is consistent with the SNR size seen in other wavelengths such as X-rays and TeV gamma rays, leading to the identification of the gamma-ray source with the SNR. The spectrum is well described as a power law with a photon index of Γ = 1.85 ± 0.06 (stat)+0.18 – 0.19 (sys), which smoothly connects to the H.E.S.S. spectrum in the TeV energy band. We discuss the gamma-ray emission mechanism based on multiwavelength data. The broadband data can be fit well by a model in which the gamma rays are of hadronic origin. We also consider a scenario with inverse Compton scattering of electrons as the emission mechanism of the gamma rays. Although the leptonic model predicts a harder spectrum in the Fermi-LAT energy range, the model can fit the data considering the statistical and systematic errors.

The Soft Gamma-ray Detector for the ASTRO-H mission

The Soft Gamma-ray Detector (SGD) on board ASTRO-H (Japanese next high-energy astrophysics mission) is a Compton telescope with narrow fleld-of-view, which utilizes Compton kinematics to enhance its background rejection capabilities. It is realized as a hybrid semiconductor detector system which consists of silicon and CdTe (cadmium telluride) detectors. It can detect photons in a wide energy band (50-600 keV) at a background level 10 times better than that of the Suzaku Hard X-ray Detector, and is complimentary to the Hard X-ray Imager on board ASTRO-H with an energy coverage of 5-80 keV. Excellent energy resolution is the key feature of the SGD, allowing it to achieve good background rejection capability taking advantage of good angular resolution. An additional capability of the SGD, its ability to measure gamma-ray polarization, opens up a new window to study properties of gamma-ray emission processes. Here we describe the instrument design of the SGD, its expected performance, and its development status.