First demonstration of gamma-ray imaging using a balloon-borne emulsion telescope

Rokujo, H.; Aoki, Shigeki; Hamada, K.; Hara, T.; Inoue, T.; Ishiguro, K.; Iyono, A.; Kawahara, H.; Kodama, K.; Komatani, Ryosuke; Komatsu, M.; Kosaka, Tetsuya; Miyanishi, M.; Mizutani, F.; Morishima, Keisuke; Morishita, Masataka; Naganawa, N.; Nakamura, Mitsuhiro; Nakano, T.; Nishio, Akira; Niwa, K.; Otsuka, Naoto; Ozaki, K.; Sato, Osamu; Shibayama, E.; Suzuki, A.; Takahashi, Satoru; Tanaka, Ryo; Tateishi, Yurie; Tawa, Shuichi; Yabu, Misato; Yamada, Kyohei; Yamamoto, Saya; Yoshimoto, Masahiro

doi:10.1093/ptep/pty056

Cited by 15 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Until now, we have developed various detector components based on the results of accelerator beam tests (gamma rays: SPring-8 and UVSOR, muons: the Muon Pit of the neutrino beam line in JPARC, electrons: linear accelerator, and protons: the Super Proton Synchrotron at CERN) [10][11][12][13][14], observations at ground and mountain levels (Norikura) [10,15], and three balloon-borne experiments. We have previously verified the feasibility of observation by performing a balloon experiment (GRAINE 2011) using a small-scale emulsion telescope (aperture area: 0.013 m 2 ) [16,17], and have demonstrated the flight performance by performing a second balloon experiment (GRAINE 2015) using a middle-scale telescope (0.38 m 2 ) [18][19][20]. The latest experiment with the middle-scale telescope, GRAINE 2018, was performed in Australia on April 26, 2018; the flight data analysis is currently in progress [21].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 85%

Development of a balloon-style pressure vessel gondola for balloon-borne emulsion gamma-ray telescopes

et al. 2019

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 85%

Development of a balloon-style pressure vessel gondola for balloon-borne emulsion gamma-ray telescopes

et al. 2019

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“…In 2015, a balloonborne experiment was performed in Australia with a 3780 cm 2 sensitive area and a 14.4 hr flight duration. We thus demonstrated the feasibility and performance of experiments with the balloon-borne emulsion γ-ray telescope (Rokujo et al 2013(Rokujo et al , 2018Ozaki et al 2015;Takahashi et al 2015Takahashi et al , 2016.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

First Emulsion γ-Ray Telescope Imaging of the Vela Pulsar by the GRAINE 2018 Balloon-borne Experiment

Takahashi,

Aoki,

Iyono

et al. 2023

ApJ

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We are developing the Gamma-Ray Astro-Imager with Nuclear Emulsion project, designed for 10 MeV–100 GeV cosmic γ-ray observations with a high angular resolution (5′/0.°08 at 1–2 GeV) and a polarization-sensitive large-aperture (∼10 m2) emulsion telescope for repeated long-duration balloon flights. In 2018, a balloon-borne experiment was carried out in Australia with a 0.38 m2 sensitive area and a flight duration of 17.4 hr, including 6.7 hr of Vela observations. Significant improvements compared with the 2015 balloon-borne experiment were achieved by a factor of 5, including both an increase in effective area × time and a reduction in the background contribution. We aimed to demonstrate the telescope’s overall performance based on detection and imaging of a known γ-ray source, the Vela pulsar. A robust detection of the Vela pulsar was achieved with a 68% containment radius of 0.°42, at a significance of 6σ, at energies above 80 MeV. The resulting angular profile is consistent with that of a pointlike source. We achieved the current best imaging performance of the Vela pulsar using an emulsion γ-ray telescope with the highest angular resolution of any γ-ray telescope to date.

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“…The Gamma-Ray Astro-Imager with Nuclear Emulsion (GRAINE) instrument is a balloon-borne telescope using emulsions, including a stack shifter that allows time stamps with 1 second accuracy [59]. Emulsions allow high angular resolution (∼ 1 • at 100 MeV) and polarization measurements, and the size can be scaled up easily.…”

Section: Continuing Developments and The Futurementioning

confidence: 99%

Pair Production Detectors for Gamma-ray Astrophysics

Thompson¹,

Moiseev²

2022

Preprint

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Electron-positron pair production is the essential process for high-energy γ-ray astrophysical observations. Following the pioneering OSO-3 counter telescope, the field evolved into use of particle tracking instruments, largely derived from highenergy physics detectors. Although many of the techniques were developed on balloon-borne γ-ray telescopes, the need to escape the high background in the atmosphere meant that the breakthrough discoveries came from the SAS-2 and COS-B satellites. The next major pair production success was EGRET on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, which provided the first all-sky map at energies above 100 MeV and found a variety of γ-ray sources, many of which were variable. The current generation of pair production telescopes, AGILE and Fermi LAT, have broadened high-energy γ-ray astrophysics with particular emphasis on multiwavelength and multimessenger studies. A variety of options remain open for future missions based on pair production with improved instrumental performance.

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First demonstration of gamma-ray imaging using a balloon-borne emulsion telescope

Cited by 15 publications

References 28 publications

Development of a balloon-style pressure vessel gondola for balloon-borne emulsion gamma-ray telescopes

Development of a balloon-style pressure vessel gondola for balloon-borne emulsion gamma-ray telescopes

First Emulsion γ-Ray Telescope Imaging of the Vela Pulsar by the GRAINE 2018 Balloon-borne Experiment

Pair Production Detectors for Gamma-ray Astrophysics

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