Performance of the X-Calibur Hard X-Ray Polarimetry Mission during its 2018/19 Long-Duration Balloon Flight

التفاصيل البيبلوغرافية
العنوان: Performance of the X-Calibur Hard X-Ray Polarimetry Mission during its 2018/19 Long-Duration Balloon Flight
المؤلفون: Abarr, Quincy, Beheshtipour, Banafsheh, Beilicke, Matthias, Bose, Richard, Braun, Dana, de Geronimo, Gianluigi, Dowkontt, Paul, Errando, Manel, Gadson, Thomas, Guarino, Victor, Heatwole, Scott, Hossen, Md. Arman, Iyer, Nirmal K., Kislat, Fabian, Kiss, Mózsi, Kitaguchi, Takao, Krawczynski, Henric, Lanzi, R. James, Li, Shaorui, Lisalda, Lindsey, Okajima, Takashi, Pearce, Mark, Peterson, Zachary, Press, Logan, Rauch, Brian, Simburger, Garry, Stuchlik, David, Takahashi, Hiromitsu, Tang, Jason, Uchida, Nagomi, West, Andrew
سنة النشر: 2022
المجموعة: Astrophysics
مصطلحات موضوعية: Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics, Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
الوصف: X-Calibur is a balloon-borne telescope that measures the polarization of high-energy X-rays in the 15--50keV energy range. The instrument makes use of the fact that X-rays scatter preferentially perpendicular to the polarization direction. A beryllium scattering element surrounded by pixellated CZT detectors is located at the focal point of the InFOC{\mu}S hard X-ray mirror. The instrument was launched for a long-duration balloon (LDB) flight from McMurdo (Antarctica) on December 29, 2018, and obtained the first constraints of the hard X-ray polarization of an accretion-powered pulsar. Here, we describe the characterization and calibration of the instrument on the ground and its performance during the flight, as well as simulations of particle backgrounds and a comparison to measured rates. The pointing system and polarimeter achieved the excellent projected performance. The energy detection threshold for the anticoincidence system was found to be higher than expected and it exhibited unanticipated dead time. Both issues will be remedied for future flights. Overall, the mission performance was nominal, and results will inform the design of the follow-up mission XL-Calibur, which is scheduled to be launched in summer 2022.
Comment: 19 pages, 31 figures, submitted to Astropart. Phys
نوع الوثيقة: Working Paper
DOI: 10.1016/j.astropartphys.2022.102749
URL الوصول: http://arxiv.org/abs/2204.09761
رقم الأكسشن: edsarx.2204.09761
قاعدة البيانات: arXiv
الوصف
DOI:10.1016/j.astropartphys.2022.102749