Marco Maria Massai

THE MICRO-GAP CHAMBER

Abstract The micro-gap chamber (MGC), a new type of position sensitive proportional gas counter, is introduced. The device is built using microelectronics technology. In this detector the separation between the electrodes collecting the avalanche charge (the anode-cathode gap) is only a few microns. The time it takes to collect the positive ions is therefore very short ( ≈ 10 ns). The speed of the device now equals that of solid state detectors but it is more than three orders of magnitude higher than in standard proportional counters and one order of magnitude higher than in the recently introduced microstrip gas chamber (MSGC). As a result, the rate capability is extremely high (> 9×10 6 c /mm 2 s). The amplifying electric field around the thin anode microstrip extends over a small volume but is very intense (270 kV/mm). It provides a gas gain of 2.5 × 10 3 at 400 V with 14% (FWHM) energy resolution at 5.4 keV. The anode pitch is 100 μm and the readout is intrinsically two-dimensional. Because there is practically no insulating material in view, charging was not observed even at the highest rate. This device seems very well suited for instrumentation of the tracking system at the new hadron colliders (LHC/SSC) as well as in many other fields of research.

XIPE: the X-ray imaging polarimetry explorer

Abstract X-ray polarimetry, sometimes alone, and sometimes coupled to spectral and temporal variability measurements and to imaging, allows a wealth of physical phenomena in astrophysics to be studied. X-ray polarimetry investigates the acceleration process, for example, including those typical of magnetic reconnection in solar flares, but also emission in the strong magnetic fields of neutron stars and white dwarfs. It detects scattering in asymmetric structures such as accretion disks and columns, and in the so-called molecular torus and ionization cones. In addition, it allows fundamental physics in regimes of gravity and of magnetic field intensity not accessible to experiments on the Earth to be probed. Finally, models that describe fundamental interactions (e.g. quantum gravity and the extension of the Standard Model) can be tested. We describe in this paper the X-ray Imaging Polarimetry Explorer (XIPE), proposed in June 2012 to the first ESA call for a small mission with a launch in 2017. The proposal was, unfortunately, not selected. To be compliant with this schedule, we designed the payload mostly with existing items. The XIPE proposal takes advantage of the completed phase A of POLARIX for an ASI small mission program that was cancelled, but is different in many aspects: the detectors, the presence of a solar flare polarimeter and photometer and the use of a light platform derived by a mass production for a cluster of satellites. XIPE is composed of two out of the three existing JET-X telescopes with two Gas Pixel Detectors (GPD) filled with a He-DME mixture at their focus. Two additional GPDs filled with a 3-bar Ar-DME mixture always face the Sun to detect polarization from solar flares. The Minimum Detectable Polarization of a 1 mCrab source reaches 14 % in the 2–10 keV band in 105 s for pointed observations, and 0.6 % for an X10 class solar flare in the 15–35 keV energy band. The imaging capability is 24 arcsec Half Energy Width (HEW) in a Field of View of 14.7 arcmin × 14.7 arcmin. The spectral resolution is 20 % at 6 keV and the time resolution is 8 μs. The imaging capabilities of the JET-X optics and of the GPD have been demonstrated by a recent calibration campaign at PANTER X-ray test facility of the Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik (MPE, Germany). XIPE takes advantage of a low-earth equatorial orbit with Malindi as down-link station and of a Mission Operation Center (MOC) at INPE (Brazil). The data policy is organized with a Core Program that comprises three months of Science Verification Phase and 25 % of net observing time in the following 2 years. A competitive Guest Observer program covers the remaining 75 % of the net observing time.

A sealed Gas Pixel Detector for X-ray astronomy

Abstract We report on the results of a new, sealed Gas Pixel Detector. The very compact design and the absence of the gas flow system make this detector substantially ready for use as focal plane detector for future X-ray space telescopes. The instrument brings high sensitivity to X-ray polarimetry, which is the last unexplored field of X-ray astronomy. It derives the polarization information from the track of the photoelectrons that are imaged by a high-gain (>1000), fine pitch GEM that matches the pitch of a pixel ASIC which is the collecting anode of the GPD (105k, 50xa0μm wide, hexagonal cells). The device is able to simultaneously perform good imaging (50–60xa0μm), moderate spectroscopy (∼15% at 6xa0keV) as well as fast, high-rate timing in the 1–10xa0keV range. Moreover, being truly 2D, it is non-dispersive and does not require any rotation. The great improvement of sensitivity, at least two orders of magnitude with respect to traditional polarimeters (based on Bragg crystals or Thomson scattering), will allow the direct exploration of the most dramatic objects of the X-ray sky. At the focus of the large mirror area of the XEUS telescope it will be decisive in reaching many of the scientific goals of the mission. With integration times of the order of 1 day, polarimetry of Active Galactic Nuclei at the percent level will be possible, making for a real breakthrough in high-energy astrophysics.

First results on proton extraction from the CERN SPS with a bent crystal

Abstract The feasibility of extracting protons from the halo of a high energy beam by means of a bent silicon crystal has been investigated. Protons diffusing from a GeV beam circulating in the SPS at CERN have been extracted at an angle of 8.5 mrad. Efficiencies of abour 10 percent, orders of magnitude higher than the values achieved previously, have been measured. The present results are promising in view of beam extraction from future multi-TeV proton accelerators.

Direct reading of charge multipliers with a self-triggering CMOS analog chip with 105 k pixels at 50 μm pitch

Abstract We report on a large area (15×15xa0mm 2 ), high channel density (470xa0pixel/mm 2 ), self-triggering CMOS analog chip that we have developed as a pixelized charge collecting electrode of a Micropattern Gas Detector. This device represents a big step forward both in terms of size and performance, and is in fact the last version of three generations of custom ASICs of increasing complexity. The top metal layer of the CMOS pixel array is patterned in a matrix of 105,600 hexagonal pixels with a 50xa0μm pitch. Each pixel is directly connected to the underlying full electronics chain which has been realized in the remaining five metal and single poly-silicon layers of a 0.18xa0μm VLSI technology. The chip, which has customizable self-triggering capabilities, also includes a signal pre-processing function for the automatic localization of the event coordinates. Thanks to these advances it is possible to significantly reduce the read-out time and the data volume by limiting the signal output only to those pixels belonging to the region of interest. In addition to the reduced read-out time and data volume, the very small pixel area and the use of a deep sub-micron CMOS technology has allowed bringing the noise down to 50 electrons ENC. Results from in depth tests of this device when coupled to a fine pitch (50xa0μm on a triangular pattern) Gas Electron Multiplier are presented. It was found that matching the read-out and gas amplification pitch allows getting optimal results. The experimental detector response to polarized and unpolarized X-ray radiation when working with two gas mixtures and two different photon energies is shown and the application of this detector for Astronomical X-ray Polarimetry is discussed. Results from a full Monte-Carlo simulation for several galactic and extragalactic astronomical sources are also reported.

The WELL detector

Abstract We introduce the WELL detector, a new type of position-sensitive gas proportional counter produced using advanced Printed Circuit Board (PCB) technology. The WELL is based on a thin kapton foil, copper-clad on both sides. Charge amplifying micro-wells are etched into the first metal and kapton layers. These end on a micro-strip pattern which is defined on the second metal plane. The array of micro-strips is used for read-out to obtain 1-D positional information. First results from our systematic assessment of this device are reported.

Reading a GEM with a VLSI pixel ASIC used as a direct charge collecting anode

Abstract In MicroPattern Gas Detectors (MPGD) when the pixel size is below 100 μ m and the number of pixels is large (above 1000) it is virtually impossible to use the conventional PCB read-out approach to bring the signal charge from the individual pixel to the external electronics chain. For this reason a custom CMOS array of 2101 active pixels with 80 μ m pitch, directly used as the charge collecting anode of a GEM amplifying structure, has been developed and built. Each charge collecting pad, hexagonally shaped, realized using the top metal layer of a deep submicron VLSI technology is individually connected to a full electronics chain (pre-amplifier, shaping-amplifier, sample & hold, multiplexer) which is built immediately below it by using the remaining five active layers. The GEM and the drift electrode window are assembled directly over the chip so the ASIC itself becomes the pixelized anode of a MPGD. With this approach, for the first time, gas detectors have reached the level of integration and resolution typical of solid-state pixel detectors. Results from the first tests of this new read-out concept are presented. An Astronomical X-ray Polarimetry application is also discussed.

Production of G(1590) in 300 GeV central

Abstract Significant production of G(1590), a scalar glueball candidate, is observed in a study of η pairs produced in π−N central collisions at 300 GeV/ c .

\pi^-

Abstract The measurement of the proton-proton total cross section performed by the CERN-Pisa-Rome-Stony Brook Collaboration at the CERN ISR is discussed in detail. The total interaction rate, the elastic scattering rate in the forward direction, and the machine luminosity were measured simultaneously to obtain three different determinations of the total cross section. Consistent results were found, which made it possible to prove the reliability of the Van der Meer luminosity calibration within +-0.9% and to achieve a precision of +-0.6% in the measurement of the total cross section.

N collisions

Abstract We discuss a new class of micro pattern gas detectors, the gas pixel detector (GPD), in which a complete integration between the gas amplification structure and the read-out electronics has been reached. An application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) built in deep sub-micron technology has been developed to realize a monolithic device that is, at the same time, the pixelized charge collecting electrode and the amplifying, shaping and charge measuring front-end electronics. The CMOS chip has the top metal layer patterned in a matrix of 80xa0μm pitch hexagonal pixels, each of them directly connected to the underneath electronics chain which has been realized in the remaining five layers of the 0.35xa0μm VLSI technology. Results from tests of a first prototype of such detector with 2xa0k pixels and a full scale version with 22xa0k pixels are presented. The application of this device for Astronomical X-ray Polarimetry is discussed. The experimental detector response to polarized and unpolarized X-ray radiation is shown. Results from a full MonteCarlo simulation for two astronomical sources, the Crab Nebula and the Hercules X1, are also reported.