SONTRAC-a low background, large area solar neutron spectrometer

Author

Wunderer, C.B. ; Holslin, Daniel ; Macri, John R. ; McConnell, Mark ; Ryan, James M.

Author_Institution

Space Sci. Center, New Hampshire Univ., Durham, NH, USA

fYear

1997

fDate

22-23 Jul 1997

Firstpage

73

Lastpage

76

Abstract

SONTRAC will measure 20-250 MeV neutrons from solar flares using scintillator fibers viewed by CCD cameras to track neutron-proton scatters. SONTRAC can also be used to track gamma rays above 20 MeV. Veto shields are used to reject all charged particles. Gamma-ray and neutron events have very different track densities, allowing discrimination between the two. Double neutron-proton scatters allow unambiguous determination of the incident neutron energy and direction. Therefore, SONTRAC is capable of rejecting almost all background except neutrons from the solar direction. SONTRAC would have detected the June 15, 1991 flare with 42σ for 20-100 MeV neutrons, having an effective area of 17 cm² in that energy range. The authors present SONTRAC prototype performance results both for neutrons at threshold energy and for cosmic-ray muons

Keywords

astronomical instruments; cosmic ray apparatus; cosmic ray neutrons; neutron detection; neutron spectrometers; solar cosmic ray particles; 20 to 250 MeV; CCD camera; SONTRAC; Sun; apparatus; cosmic ray neutron; double neutron-proton scatter; gamma rays; incident neutron energy; instrument; large area solar neutron spectrometer; measurement technique; neutron-proton scatter; scintillator fiber; solar cosmic ray particles; solar flare; track density; veto shield; Extraterrestrial measurements; Gamma rays; Neutrons; Particle scattering; Production; Protons; Space vehicles; Spectroscopy; Sun; Telescopes;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

High Energy Radiation Background in Space, 1997 Conference on the

Conference_Location

Snowmass, CO

Print_ISBN

0-7803-4335-2

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/CHERBS.1997.660251

Filename

660251