We present a study of the angular resolution of the AGILE gamma-ray imaging detector (GRID) that has been operational in space since 2007 April. The AGILE instrument is made of an array of 12 planes that are each equipped with a tungsten converter and silicon microstrip detectors, and is sensitive in the energy range 50 MeV?10 GeV. Among the space instruments devoted to gamma-ray astrophysics, AGILE uniquely exploit an analog readout system with dedicated electronics coupled with silicon detectors. We show the results of Monte Carlo simulations carried out to reproduce the gamma-ray detection by the GRID and we compare them to in-flight data. We use the Crab (pulsar + Nebula) system for discussion of real data performance, since its energy spectrum is representative of the majority of gamma-ray sources. For Crab-like spectrum sources, the GRID angular resolution (FWHM of at 100 MeV; at 1 GeV; integrating the full energy band from 100 MeV to tens of GeV) is stable across a large field of view, characterized by a flat response up to off-axis. A comparison of the angular resolution obtained by the two operational gamma-ray instruments, AGILE/GRID and Fermi/LAT (Large Area Telescope), is interesting in view of future gamma-ray missions, which are currently under study. The two instruments exploit different detector configurations that affect the angular resolution: the former is optimized in the readout and track reconstruction, especially in the low-energy band, the latter is optimized in terms of converter thickness and power consumption. We show that despite these differences, the angular resolution of both instruments is very similar, between 100 MeV and a few GeV.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0004-637X/809/1/60/pdf

On the angular resolution of the agile gamma-ray imaging detector

The distribution of cosmic rays in the Galaxy is still uncertain and this affects the expectations for the diffuse gamma-ray emission produced by hadronic interactions of cosmic rays with the interstellar gas. We evaluate the diffuse gamma-ray flux at TeV energies by considering different assumptions for the cosmic ray distribution, including the recently emerged possibility of a decreasing cosmic ray spectral index in the inner Galaxy. The diffuse emission from the galactic central region (i.e. in the longitude range | l | ≤ 60o) changes in the different scenarios by a relatively large factor and can be probed by TeV scale gamma-ray observations. By comparing the total flux produced by diffuse emission and point-like and extended sources resolved by HESS with the gamma-ray flux observed by Argo-YBJ, HESS, HAWC and Milagro, we show that experimental data can already discriminate among different hyphoteses for cosmic ray distribution. The constraints can be strengthened if the contribution of sources not resolved by HESS is taken into account.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1475-7516/2019/12/050/pdf

Probing galactic cosmic ray distribution with TeV gamma-ray sky

Cosmic rays and climate change over the past 1000 million years

Some statistical properties of the minimum spanning forest

Part I describes the analysis of periodic and transient signals in EGRET data. A method to search for the transient flux from gamma-ray bursts independent of triggers from other gamma-ray instruments is developed. Several known gamma-ray bursts were independently detected, and there is evidence for a previously unknown gamma-ray burst candidate. Statistical methods using maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference are developed and implemented to extract periodic signals from gamma-ray sources in the presence of significant astrophysical background radiation. The analysis was performed on six pulsars and three pulsar candidates. The three brightest pulsars, Crab, Vela, and Geminga, were readily identified, and would have been detected independently in the EGRET data without knowledge of the pulse period. No significant pulsation was detected in the three pulsar candidates. Eighteen X-ray binaries were examined. None showed any evidence of periodicity. In addition, methods for calculating the detection threshold of periodic flux modulation were developed. The future hopes of gamma-ray astronomy lie in the development of the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope, or GLAST. Part II describes the development and results of the particle track reconstruction software for a GLAST science prototype instrument beam test. The Kalman filtering method of track reconstruction is introduced and implemented. Monte Carlo simulations, very similar to those used for the full GLAST instrument, were performed to predict the instrumental response of the prototype. The prototype was tested in a gamma-ray beam at SLAC. The reconstruction software was used to determine the incident gamma-ray direction. It was found that the simulations did an excellent job of representing the actual instrument response.

K. Bennett

Papers

The Cos-B Experiment and Mission

COS-B observations of pulsed gamma -ray emission from PSR 0531+21 and PSR 0833-45.

New large-scale properties of the galactic gamma radiation observed by COS-B in the context of the diffuse emission within the galactic disc