Paper 13093-94
Paper 13093-94
ComPair 2: a next generation medium energy gamma-ray telescope prototype
21 June 2024 • 14:20 - 14:40 Japan Standard Time | Room G414/415, North - 4F
Abstract
Many questions posed in the Astro2020 Decadal survey in both the New Messengers and New Physics and the Cosmic Ecosystems science themes require a gamma-ray mission with capabilities exceeding those of existing (e.g. \textit{Fermi}, \textit{Swift}) and planned (e.g. COSI) observatories.
ComPair, the Compton Pair telescope, is a prototype of such a next-generation gamma-ray mission. It had its inaugural balloon flight from Ft. Sumner, New Mexico in August 2023.
To continue the goals of the ComPair project to develop technologies that will enable a future gamma-ray mission, the next generation of ComPair (ComPair-2) will be upgraded to increase the sensitivity and low-energy transient capabilities of the instrument.
These advancements are enabled by AstroPix, a silicon monolithic active pixel sensor, in the tracker and custom dual-gain silicon photomultipliers and front-end electronics in the calorimeter.
This effort builds on design work for the All-sky Medium Energy Gamma-ray Observatory eXplorer (AMEGO-X) concept that was submitted the 2021 MIDEX Announcement of Opportunity.
Here we describe the ComPair-2 prototype design and integration and testing plans.
Presenter
NASA Goddard Space Flight Ctr. (United States)
I attended the Colorado School of Mines and graduated in 2006 with a B.S. in Engineering Physics and minor in Math/Computer Science. I received my Ph. D. from Stony Brook University in 2011 in particle physics. After graduating, I joined the ATLAS group at the Universität Mainz as a Postdoctoral Researcher working on numerous data analyses, detector operations and upgrades. In 2014, I moved to the University of California Santa Cruz where I joined the Fermi-LAT collaboration. I became a research scientist at the University of Maryland working at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in 2017 and in 2018 I was hired as a Civil Servant Scientist at GSFC. I'm interested in dark matter searches, multi messenger astrophysics, searches for new physics and all the astrophysics one must understand before discovering something new. I am currently the PI of AstroPix and ComPair 2; and the Swift Observatory Project scientist.