HARPO: a TPC as a gamma-ray telescope and polarimeter

Bernard, D.; Bruel, P.; Frotin, M.; Geerebaert, Y.; Giebels, B.; Horan, D.; Louzir, Marc; Poilleux, P.; Semeniouk, I.; Wang, Shaobo; Anvar, S.; Attié, D.; Colas, P.; Delbart, A.; Sizun, P.; Götz, D.

doi:10.1117/12.2055307

Cited by 18 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 69 publications

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“…Further development is ongoing to meet the constraints of a space environment [9]. Microbulk micromegas [17] are investigated for a robust amplification at high pressure.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

HARPO - TPC for High Energy Astrophysics and Polarimetry from the MeV to the TeV

Gros

2015

Proceedings of Technology and Instrumentation in Particle Physics 2014 — PoS(TIPP2014)

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Observation of high-energy sources requires gamma-ray telescopes aboard balloons or satellites to study non thermal phenomena (black holes, neutron stars, active galactic nuclei, supernovae, supernova remnants, and gamma-ray bursts). In recent years, R&D has been mainly active to improve the sensitivity required for polarimetry. In this context, a concept of a Time Projection Chamber (TPC) was proposed as an active target and pair production imager with a high angular resolution and background reduction capabilities. After introducing the HARPO TPC and its potential as gamma-ray telescope, we present the characterization of the TPC readout plane which provides gas electron amplification within a microstructure composed of the association of a Micromegas and Gas Electron Multiplier. Recent results using cosmic-ray events are shown and finally the beam test, scheduled this year, with polarized photon at MeV energy will be discussed.

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“…Further development is ongoing to meet the constraints of a space environment [9]. Microbulk micromegas [17] are investigated for a robust amplification at high pressure.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

HARPO - TPC for High Energy Astrophysics and Polarimetry from the MeV to the TeV

Gros

2015

Proceedings of Technology and Instrumentation in Particle Physics 2014 — PoS(TIPP2014)

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“…Next-generation telescopes are being developed with the goal of characterizing the complete signature of gamma rays including their direction, energy, arrival time, and polarization. The most promising space missions (AdEPT [9], HARPO [14], and SMILE-I/II [15,16]) proposed to explore the gamma-ray sky in the medium energy range are based on low-density gaseous TPC technologies that enable precise, three-dimensional tracking of particle interactions.…”

Section: The Adept Instrumentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Event selection and background rejection in time projection chambers using convolutional neural networks and a specific application to the AdEPT gamma-ray polarimeter mission

Garnett¹,

Hanu²,

Byun³

et al. 2021

Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A:

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The Advanced Energetic Pair Telescope gamma-ray polarimeter uses a time projection chamber for measuring pair production events and is expected to generate a raw instrument data rate four orders of magnitude greater than is transmittable with typical satellite data communications. GammaNet, a convolutional neural network, proposes to solve this problem by performing event classification on-board for pair production and background events, reducing the data rate to a level that can be accommodated by typical satellite communication systems. In order to train GammaNet, a set of 1.1x10 6 pair production events and 10 6 background events were simulated for the Advanced Energetic Pair Telescope using the Geant4 Monte Carlo code. An additional set of 10 3 pair production and 10 5 background events were simulated to test GammaNet's capability for background discrimination. With optimization, GammaNet has achieved the proposed background rejection requirements for Galactic Cosmic Ray proton events. Given the best case assumption for downlink speeds, signal sensitivity for pair production ranged between 1.1±0.5% to 69±2% for 5 and 250 MeV incident gamma rays. This range became 0.1±0.1% to 17±2% for the worst case scenario of downlink speeds. The application of a feature visualization algorithm to GammaNet demonstrated decreased response to electronic noise and events exiting or entering the frame and increased response to parallel tracks that are close in proximity. GammaNet has been successfully implemented and shows promising results.

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“…A demonstrator for this TPC was built, and preliminary estimates of the spatial resolution are encouraging. Currently, the HARPO team is finalizing a demonstrator set up to characterize a beam of polarized γ rays in the energy range of 2 -76 MeV [51].…”

Section: Photon Polarimetry In Astrophysics Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

High-energy photon polarimeter for astrophysics

Eingorn

Fernando

Vlahović

et al. 2018

J. Astron. Telesc. Instrum. Syst.

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Abstract. A high-energy photon polarimeter for astrophysics studies in the energy range from 10 to 800 MeV is considered. The proposed concept uses a stack of silicon microstrip detectors, where they play the roles of both a converter and a tracker. The purpose of this paper is to outline the parameters of such a polarimeter and to estimate the productivity of measurements. Our study, supported by a Monte Carlo simulation, shows that with a 1-year observation period the polarimeter will provide 6% accuracy of the polarization degree for photon energies above 100 MeV, which would be a significant advance relative to the currently explored energy range of a few MeV. The proposed polarimeter design could easily be adjusted to the specific photon energy range to maximize efficiency if needed. © The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. Distribution or reproduction of this work in whole or in part requires full attribution of the original publication, including its DOI.

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HARPO: a TPC as a gamma-ray telescope and polarimeter

Cited by 18 publications

References 69 publications

HARPO - TPC for High Energy Astrophysics and Polarimetry from the MeV to the TeV

HARPO - TPC for High Energy Astrophysics and Polarimetry from the MeV to the TeV

Event selection and background rejection in time projection chambers using convolutional neural networks and a specific application to the AdEPT gamma-ray polarimeter mission

High-energy photon polarimeter for astrophysics

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