DocumentCode :
806900
Title :
Design of a Celestial Thomson-Scattering X-Ray Polarimeter
Author :
Landecker, P.B.
Author_Institution :
Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory Columbia University, New York, New York 10027
Volume :
19
Issue :
3
fYear :
1972
fDate :
6/1/1972 12:00:00 AM
Firstpage :
463
Lastpage :
475
Abstract :
A general discussion of the scientific importance and status of stellar x-ray polarimetry is presented. A stellar x-ray polarimeter designed to fit into the bottom half of the NASA Orbiting Solar Observatory-I (OSO-I) wheel compartment or other similar spacecraft is described. In this design, the linear polarization is obtained as a function of energy. The sensitivity of the polarimeter in the 4 - 24 keV energy range was optimized with the aid of a Monte Carlo simulation computer program and is given for several important celestial x-ray sources. Estimates of sensitivity thresholds for a much larger polarimeter, suitable for flight in the NASA High-Energy Astronomy Observatory (HEAO), are also given. The minimum detectable polarization for several x-ray sources is given. For example, the minimum detectable polarization at the 99% confidence level for the Crab nebula in a 24-h observation time is 1.4% for an OSO polarimeter in a compartment (50 × 30 × 30) cm and 0.27% for a HEAO polarimeter in a compartment (100 × 100 × 30) cm. These satellite experiments are feasible and will yield significant polarization results which will have an important bearing on our understanding of x-ray source mechanisms.
Keywords :
Astronomy; NASA; Observatories; Orbits (stellar); Polarimetry; Polarization; Space vehicles; Stellar motion; Wheels; X-ray detection;
fLanguage :
English
Journal_Title :
Nuclear Science, IEEE Transactions on
Publisher :
ieee
ISSN :
0018-9499
Type :
jour
DOI :
10.1109/TNS.1972.4326767
Filename :
4326767
Link To Document :
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