XENA: a liquid-xenon Compton telescope for gamma-ray astrophysics in the MeV regime

Elena Aprile; Valeri Egorov; Karl-Ludwig Giboni; Steven M. Kahn; Tomotake Kozu; Uwe G. Oberlack; S. Centro; Sandro Ventura; Tadayoshi Doke; Jun Kikuchi; Edward L. Chupp; Philip P. Dunphy; Dieter H. Hartmann; Mark D. Leising; H. Bloemen

doi:10.1117/12.312882

1 July 1998 XENA: a liquid-xenon Compton telescope for gamma-ray astrophysics in the MeV regime

Elena Aprile, Valeri Egorov, Karl-Ludwig Giboni, Steven M. Kahn, Tomotake Kozu, Uwe G. Oberlack, S. Centro, Sandro Ventura, Tadayoshi Doke, Jun Kikuchi, Edward L. Chupp, Philip P. Dunphy, Dieter H. Hartmann, Mark D. Leising, H. Bloemen

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 3446, Hard X-Ray and Gamma-Ray Detector Physics and Applications; (1998) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.312882
Event: SPIE's International Symposium on Optical Science, Engineering, and Instrumentation, 1998, San Diego, CA, United States

Abstract

XENA is a new Compton telescope concept, designed to image about 50% of the gamma-ray sky with a sensitivity that would significantly surpass CGRO/COMPTEL's multi-year sensitivity with a 2 weeks balloon flight from the Southern Hemisphere. The detector, based on liquid xenon time-projection chambers, is optimized for approximately 0.3 - 10 MeV and combines high efficiency within a 3 sr field-of-view with approximately 1 degree(s) angular resolution and excellent background reduction capability. XENA's primary scientific goal is the discovery and mapping of ⁶⁰Fe radioactivity from the Galaxy, which is pivotal for understanding nucleosynthesis. XENA will detect ⁶⁰Fe even if current predictions are 7X overestimated. At 1.8 MeV, XENA's sensitivity (6 10^-6 cm^-2 s^-1) will significantly refine the COMPTEL ²⁶Al mapping along the Southern Milky Way. Also, XENA would be the first instrument capable to decide whether the 3 - 7 MeV excess seen in Orion is indeed due to nuclear lines from ¹²C and ¹⁶O, and it could discover the predicted lower-energy lines. The scanned sky area includes many continuum (gamma) -ray sources as well, such as pulsars and numerous (gamma) -ray AGNs. Secondary scientific objectives include also supernova remnants, gamma-ray bursts, and solar flares.

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Elena Aprile, Valeri Egorov, Karl-Ludwig Giboni, Steven M. Kahn, Tomotake Kozu, Uwe G. Oberlack, S. Centro, Sandro Ventura, Tadayoshi Doke, Jun Kikuchi, Edward L. Chupp, Philip P. Dunphy, Dieter H. Hartmann, Mark D. Leising, and H. Bloemen "XENA: a liquid-xenon Compton telescope for gamma-ray astrophysics in the MeV regime", Proc. SPIE 3446, Hard X-Ray and Gamma-Ray Detector Physics and Applications, (1 July 1998); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.312882

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