Performance of the X-Calibur hard X-ray polarimetry mission during its 2018/19 long-duration balloon flight

Abarr, Quincy; Beheshtipour, Banafsheh; Beilicke, M.; Bose, R.; Braun, Dana; Geronimo, G. De; Dowkontt, P. F.; Errando, M.; Gadson, Thomas; Guarino, V. J.; Heatwole, Scott; Hossen, Md. Arman; Iyer, Nirmal; Kislat, Fabian; Kiss, Mózsi; Kitaguchi, Takao; Krawczynski, H.; Lanzi, James; Li, S.; Lisalda, Lindsey; Okajima, Takashi; Pearce, Mark; Peterson, Zach; Press, L.; Rauch, B. F.; Simburger, G.; Stuchlik, David; Takahashi, H.; Tang, Jason; Uchida, Naoshige; West, Andrew

doi:10.1016/j.astropartphys.2022.102749

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 35 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…72,73 For example, the 8 m long truss of X-Calibur achieved a stability of <1.5 mm of the focal point during most of the flight. 74 The X-ray mirror, star tracker, and fiber-optic gyro of the WASP will be mounted to an Al honeycomb panel at the front end of the truss, and the focal plane instrumentation will be attached to an Al honeycomb panel at the rear end of the truss.…”

Section: Optical Bench and Gondolamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In order to reduce the resulting degradation of the point spread function, ASCENT will use an alignment monitoring system similar to X-Calibur. 74 The system uses an optical camera mounted in the central bore of the X-ray optics observing a pattern of LEDs mounted to the entrance window of the detector. On a 12 m truss, it measures the alignment with a precision of 0.15 mm or 2.5 , negligible compared to the point spread function of the optics.…”

Section: Optical Bench and Gondolamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A focal spot motion of 3 mm corresponds to a 50″ pointing error. To reduce the resulting degradation of the PSF, ASCENT will use an alignment monitoring system similar to X-Calibur 74 . The system uses an optical camera mounted in the central bore of the x-ray optics observing a pattern of LEDs mounted to the entrance window of the detector.…”

Section: Technical Implementationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We estimate the background using measurements made during the Antarctic flight of X-Calibur 74 and taking into account improvements to the anticoincidence shield, which will reduce this background by a factor of ∼10 73 . To account for the difference in detector size, we scale with area and square root of thickness.…”

Section: Expected Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

ASCENT: a balloon-borne hard x-ray imaging spectroscopy telescope using transition edge sensor microcalorimeter detectors

Kislat

Becker

Bennett³

et al. 2023

J. Astron. Telesc. Instrum. Syst.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Core collapse supernovae are thought to be one of the main sources in the galaxy of elements heavier than iron. Understanding the origin of the elements is thus tightly linked to our understanding of the explosion mechanism of supernovae and supernova nucleosynthesis. X-ray and gamma-ray observations of young supernova remnants, combined with improved theoretical modeling, have resulted in enormous improvements in our knowledge of these events. The isotope 44 Ti is one of the most sensitive probes of the innermost regions of the core collapse engine, and its spatial and velocity distribution are key observables. Hard X-ray imaging spectroscopy with the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) has provided new insights into the structure of the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A (Cas A), establishing the convective nature of the supernova engine. However, many questions about the details of this engine remain. We present here the concept for a balloon-borne follow-up mission called ASCENT (A SuperConducting ENergetic x-ray Telescope). ASCENT uses transition edge sensor gamma-ray microcalorimeter detectors with a demonstrated 55 eV Full Width Half Maximum (FWHM) energy resolution at 97 keV. This 8-16-fold improvement in energy resolution over NuSTAR will allow high resolution imaging and spectroscopy of the 44 Ti emission. This will allow a detailed reconstruction of gamma-ray line redshifts, widths, and shapes, allowing us to address questions such as: What is the source of the neutron star "kicks"? What is the dominant production pathway for 44 Ti? Is the engine of Cas A unique?

show abstract

Section: Optical Bench and Gondolamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Optical Bench and Gondolamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Technical Implementationmentioning

confidence: 99%