Bulletin of the American Physical Society
APS April Meeting 2016
Volume 61, Number 6
Saturday–Tuesday, April 16–19, 2016; Salt Lake City, Utah
Session M12: Missions and Instruments |
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Sponsoring Units: DAP Chair: Rasha Abbasi, University of Utah Room: 250DE |
Sunday, April 17, 2016 3:30PM - 3:42PM |
M12.00001: Compton-Pair Production Space Telescope: Extending Fermi-LAT Discoveries into MeV Gamma-ray Astronomy Andrew Smith The keV-MeV gamma-ray energy range has remained largely unexplored over the last decade despite offering an exciting window into many astrophysical questions. This energy range is particularly challenging because it is firmly in the Compton-dominated regime where the interaction cross section is minimized. We are developing a MIDEX-scale wide-aperture discovery mission, Compton-Pair Production Space Telescope (ComPair), to investigate the energy range from 200 keV to >500 MeV with good energy and angular resolution and with sensitivity approaching a factor of 20-50 better than previous instruments. . ComPair will build on the heritage of successful space missions including Fermi-LAT, AGILE, AMS and PAMELA, and will use well-developed space-qualified detector technologies including Si-strip and CdZnTe-strip detectors, heavy inorganic scintillators, and plastic scintillators. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, April 17, 2016 3:42PM - 3:54PM |
M12.00002: The EUSO-SPB Mission Lawrence Wiencke, Jim Adams, Angela Olinto The Extreme Universe Space Observatory on a super pressure balloon~(EUSO-SPB) mission will make the first fluorescence observations of high energy cosmic ray extensive air showers by looking down on the atmosphere from near~space.~EUSO-SPB~follows a successful overnight flight in August 2014 of the JEM-EUSO prototype mission named~EUSO-Balloon. EUSO-Balloon recorded artificial tracks and pulses that were generated by a laser and optical flashers that were flown in a~helicopter under the balloon. Preparations are underway for~EUSO-SPB with the potential for a flight of 50 days duration. The planned launch site is Wanaka, New Zealand.~~We describe the mission, the updated instrument, and expected detection rates~of extensive air showers events produced by cosmic primaries.~ [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, April 17, 2016 3:54PM - 4:06PM |
M12.00003: High-Energy Gamma Rays with the Cherenkov Telescope Array Nepomuk Otte The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) will be a new observatory for the study of very-high-energy gamma-ray sources, designed to achieve an order of magnitude improvement in sensitivity in the ~30 GeV to ~100 TeV energy band compared to currently operating instruments: VERITAS, MAGIC, and H.E.S.S. CTA will probe known sources with unprecedented sensitivity, angular resolution, and spectral coverage, while also detecting hundreds of new sources. This presentation will describe the science drivers for CTA and the status of the project. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, April 17, 2016 4:06PM - 4:18PM |
M12.00004: Timing Measurements of Scintillator Bars with Silicon Phtotomultiplier Light Detectors Mark Shelor, Leonardo Elizondo, Stefan Ritt To track and analyze cosmic rays via precise measurements of muon and similarly penetrating particle's airshower axes directions, we constructed a prototype consisting of two 1-meter long scintillator bars. Each bar is embedded with green wavelength shifting fibers to increase detection rate of two silicon photomultiplier, SiPM, light detectors to record light produced by cosmic rays via scintillation. The focus of the experiment was to determine the performance of these devices. Evaluation was performed for two makes of SiPM models -- from AdvanSiD and Hamamatsu. Timing measurements of the apparatus were performed under several trigger conditions to filter out noise such as coincidence trigger with 2 photomultiplier detectors, as well as SiPM detectors in self-triggered mode. The SiPM detector waveforms were digitized using a 4-channel fast waveform sampler, the DRS4 digitizer. Signals were analyzed with the CERN PAW package. From our results, we deduced the speed of light in the scintillator using the SiPM modules to be about 66{\%} of the speed of light in a vacuum which is in accordance with the specifications of the index of refraction for the fibers given by the manufacturer's specifications. The results of our timing measurements would be presented. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, April 17, 2016 4:18PM - 4:30PM |
M12.00005: Experimental steps towards a digital revival of Stellar Intensity Interferometry Nolan Matthews, David Kieda, Stephan LeBohec, Udara Abeysekara Over the last decade there has been a growing interest in using Stellar intensity interferometry (sii) for high-resolution imaging of hot stars in the optical and uv. In contrast to standard amplitude interferometry, the sii technique is unaffected by atmospheric turbulence allowing for extremely large baselines (\textgreater 100m) and angular resolution scales down to tens of micro-arcseconds. The technique can be applied to existing and planned observatories which employ imaging air cherenkov telescopes (iacts) due to the similar requirements of large light collection areas and nano-second time resolution capabilities. The university of utah operates the starbase-utah observatory, located in grantsville, ut, consisting of dual three meter diameter telescopes serving as a test-bed for sii instrumentation. I will summarize the sii technique and highlight the motivation for using sii. I will also present laboratory results in the reconstruction of artificial sources using pseudo-thermal light and the development of starbase-utah. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, April 17, 2016 4:30PM - 4:42PM |
M12.00006: Construction of prototype two-mirror Schwartzchild-Couder Imaging Air Cherenkov Telescope (IACT) for VHE gamma-ray astronomy David Kieda Next generation ground-based VHE gamma-ray observatories such as the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) will employ an array of different sized IACTs distributed across square kilometer areas. During 2015-2016, the CTA-US collaboration is constructing a prototype 9.6 m primary diameter Schwartzchild-Couder IACT (SCT) at the FL Whipple Observatory, Amado, AZ USA. The two-mirror SCT design provides 8 degree field of view with 0.067 degree pixel size. The SCT uses a high resolution (11,328 pixel) Silicon PhotoMultiplier (SiPM) camera to record atmospheric Cherenkov light images generated by gamma-ray and cosmic ray primaries. Incorporation of SCT telescopes into a CTA-type observatory can provide superior angular resolution (30% improvement) and point source sensitivity (30-50%). In this talk, I will describe the capabilities of the SCT telescope, and the construction and commissioning of the prototype SCT telescope during 2016. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, April 17, 2016 4:42PM - 4:54PM |
M12.00007: Cosmic Infrared Background and the High Altitude Water Cherenkov Observatory Michael Newbold The High Altitude Water Cherenkov Observatory (HAWC) is a detector situated at 4100 m a.s.l in Mexico. With a sensitivity to extensive air showers produced by either cosmic or gamma rays between 100 Gev and 100 TeV and a 2 sr instantaneous field of view, HAWC is an ideal sky survey instrument. A limiting factor in detecting gamma-ray sources at high redshifts is the interaction of the Extra-Galactic Background Light (EBL) with the signal photons. While the EBL attenuates the flux HAWC receives, it also provides a unique opportunity to set limits on the cosmic infrared background and to test exotic physics scenarios. In my talk I will discuss how the HAWC detector is uniquely suited to studying this phenomena and the prospects for placing limits. [Preview Abstract] |
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