1. Performance measurement of HARPO: A time projection chamber as a gamma-ray telescope and polarimeter
- Author
-
Sho Amano, Philippe Gros, A. Delbart, Haruo Ohkuma, Shuji Miyamoto, P. Poilleux, M. Frotin, Y. Geerebaert, Akinori Takemoto, R. Yonamine, Y. Minamiyama, S. Daté, D. Baudin, P. Bruel, M. Louzir, D. Horan, S. Wang, Masashi Yamaguchi, D. Gotz, I. Semeniouk, P. Baron, Frédéric Magniette, P. Sizun, Satoshi Hashimoto, D. Calvet, D. Bernard, David Attié, B. Giebels, Takuya Kotaka, Paul Colas, Laboratoire Leprince-Ringuet (LLR), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-École polytechnique (X)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3), Institut de Recherches sur les lois Fondamentales de l'Univers (IRFU), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris-Saclay, Astrophysique Interprétation Modélisation (AIM (UMR_7158 / UMR_E_9005 / UM_112)), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7), Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Astrophysique Interprétation Modélisation (AIM (UMR7158 / UMR_E_9005 / UM_112)), Laboratoire Leprince-Ringuet ( LLR ), Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS ( IN2P3 ) -École polytechnique ( X ) -Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique ( CNRS ), Institut de Recherches sur les lois Fondamentales de l'Univers ( IRFU ), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives ( CEA ) -Université Paris-Saclay, Laboratoire AIM, and Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 ( UPD7 ) -Centre d'Etudes de Saclay
- Subjects
Pair production ,Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors ,Gamma ray ,FOS: Physical sciences ,01 natural sciences ,High Energy Physics - Experiment ,law.invention ,Telescope ,High Energy Physics - Experiment (hep-ex) ,polarization: asymmetry ,Optics ,[ PHYS.HEXP ] Physics [physics]/High Energy Physics - Experiment [hep-ex] ,law ,Polarimetry ,0103 physical sciences ,[PHYS.HEXP]Physics [physics]/High Energy Physics - Experiment [hep-ex] ,gamma ray: detector ,Angular resolution ,[PHYS.PHYS.PHYS-INS-DET]Physics [physics]/Physics [physics]/Instrumentation and Detectors [physics.ins-det] ,[ PHYS.PHYS.PHYS-INS-DET ] Physics [physics]/Physics [physics]/Instrumentation and Detectors [physics.ins-det] ,Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM) ,010303 astronomy & astrophysics ,Physics ,Gamma-ray astronomy ,beam: polarization ,Time projection chamber ,010308 nuclear & particles physics ,business.industry ,Detector ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,Polarimeter ,Instrumentation and Detectors (physics.ins-det) ,time projection chamber ,angular resolution ,Linear polarisation ,TPC ,Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics ,numerical calculations: Monte Carlo ,business ,performance ,Beam (structure) ,Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope - Abstract
We analyse the performance of a gas time projection chamber (TPC) as a high-performance gamma-ray telescope and polarimeter in the e$^+$e$^-$ pair creation regime. We use data collected at a gamma-ray beam of known polarisation. The TPC provides two orthogonal projections $(x,z)$ and $(y,z)$ of the tracks induced by each conversion in the gas volume. We use a simple vertex finder in which vertices and pseudo-tracks exiting from them are identified. We study the various contributions to the single-photon angular resolution using Monte Carlo simulations and compare them with the experimental data and find that they are in excellent agreement. The distribution of the azimutal angle of pair conversions shows a bias due to the non-cylindrical-symmetric structure of the detector. This bias would average out for a long duration exposure on a space mission, but for this pencil-beam characterisation we have ensured its accurate simulation by a double systematics control scheme, data taking with the detector rotated at several angles with respect to the beam polarisation direction and systematics control with a non-polarised beam. We measure, for the first time, the polarisation asymmetry of a linearly polarised gamma-ray beam in the low energy pair creation regime. This sub-GeV energy range is critical for cosmic sources as their spectra are power laws which fall quickly as a function of increasing energy. This work could pave the way to extending polarised gamma-ray astronomy beyond the MeV energy regime., Comment: Submitted to Astroparticle Physics
- Published
- 2018