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Calibration and performance studies of the balloon-borne hard X-ray polarimeter PoGO+.
- Source :
-
Nuclear Instruments & Methods in Physics Research Section A . Jul2017, Vol. 859, p125-133. 9p. - Publication Year :
- 2017
-
Abstract
- Polarimetric observations of celestial sources in the hard X-ray band stand to provide new information on emission mechanisms and source geometries. PoGO+ is a Compton scattering polarimeter (20–150 keV) optimised for the observation of the Crab (pulsar and wind nebula) and Cygnus X-1 (black hole binary), from a stratospheric balloon-borne platform launched from the Esrange Space Centre in summer 2016. Prior to flight, the response of the polarimeter has been studied with polarised and unpolarised X-rays allowing a Geant4-based simulation model to be validated. The expected modulation factor for Crab observations is found to be M Crab = ( 41.75 ± 0.85 ) % , resulting in an expected Minimum Detectable Polarisation (MDP) of 7.3% for a 7 day flight. This will allow a measurement of the Crab polarisation parameters with at least 5 σ statistical significance assuming a polarisation fraction ∼ 20 % – a significant improvement over the PoGOLite Pathfinder mission which flew in 2013 and from which the PoGO+ design is developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- *CALIBRATION
*POLARIMETRY
*X-ray polarization
*COMPTON scattering
*BLACK holes
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 01689002
- Volume :
- 859
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Nuclear Instruments & Methods in Physics Research Section A
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 123131590
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2017.03.027