GALI: a gamma-ray burst localizing instrument

Roi Rahin; Luca Moleri; Alex Vdovin; Amir Feigenboim; Solomon Margolin; Shlomit Tarem; Ehud Behar; Max Ghelman; Alon Osovizky

doi:10.1117/12.2576126

13 December 2020 GALI: a gamma-ray burst localizing instrument

Roi Rahin, Luca Moleri, Alex Vdovin, Amir Feigenboim, Solomon Margolin, Shlomit Tarem, Ehud Behar, Max Ghelman, Alon Osovizky

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 11444, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2020: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray; 114446E (2020) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2576126
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2020, Online Only

Conference Poster

Abstract

The detection of astrophysical Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) has always been intertwined with the challenge of identifying the direction of the source. Accurate angular localization of better than a degree has been achieved to date only with heavy instruments on large satellites, and a limited field of view. The recent discovery of the association of GRBs with neutron star mergers gives new motivation for observing the entire γ-ray sky at once with high sensitivity and accurate directional capability. We present a novel γ-ray detector concept, which utilizes the mutual occultation between many small scintillators to reconstruct the GRB direction. We built an instrument with 90 (9 mm)3 CsI(Tl) scintillator cubes attached to silicon photomultipliers. Our laboratory prototype tested with a 60 keV source demonstrates an angular accuracy of a few degrees for ∼25 ph cm⁻² bursts. Simulations of realistic GRBs and background show that the achievable angular localization accuracy with a similar instrument occupying 1l volume is < 2° . The proposed concept can be easily scaled to fit into small satellites, as well as large missions.

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Roi Rahin, Luca Moleri, Alex Vdovin, Amir Feigenboim, Solomon Margolin, Shlomit Tarem, Ehud Behar, Max Ghelman, and Alon Osovizky "GALI: a gamma-ray burst localizing instrument", Proc. SPIE 11444, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2020: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray, 114446E (13 December 2020); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2576126

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