Simulations of Advanced

Compton Telescopes in a Space

Radiation Environment
Andreas Zoglauer, C.B. Wunderer, S.E. Boggs,
UC Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory

G. Weidenspointner
CESR, France
 The Advanced Compton Telescope
Enablehighsensitivityrayspectroscopyandimagingfrom0.2to10MeV

Life Cycles of Matter

Supernovae & nucleosynthesis
Supernova remnants & interstellar medium
Neutron stars, pulsars, novae

Black Holes
Creation & evolution
Lepton vs. hadron jets
Deeply buried sources

Fundamental Physics & Cosmology

Gamma-ray bursts & first stars
History of star formation
MeV dark matter
100 sensitivity improvement for spectroscopy, imaging & polarization (0.2-10 MeV)
Advanced 3-D positioning -ray spectrometers, 25% sky field-of-view
LEO equatorial orbit, zenith-pointing survey mode (baseline mission), 80%/orbit
 Principle of a Compton telescope

Photons interact multiple times in The origin of a single not-

active detector.The interaction tracked event can be restricted
sequence can be determined from to the so called event circle.
redundant information (scatter The photon originated at the
angles). point of overlap.
 Baseline ACT instrument
D1: 27 layers 2-mm thick Si
10x10 cm2, 64x64 strips
3888 det., 248,832 chns
-30 C, Stirling cycle cooler

D2: 4 layers, 16-mm thick Ge

9.2x9.2 cm2, 90x90 strips
576 det., 103,680 chns
80 K, Turbo-Brayton cooler

BGO: 4-cm thick shield

ACD: plastic scintillator
ACTmassmodelonGLASTbus.

Realistic mass model based on ISAL and IMDC

(NASA/GSFC) instrument and mission
engineering studies!

More details about ACT: Boggs et al. 2005

 Simulation & Analysis Package
End-to-end simulation package for space-borne -ray telescopes (source
and background). Background predictions verified on WIND/TGRS,
INTEGRAL/SPI, RHESSI (MGGPOD, Weidenspointner et al. 2005).
The packages includes:
Comprehensive space environment model (ACTenvir, R.M. Kippen)
Flexible instrument model (ACTmodel by R.M. Kippen & MEGAlibs
Geomega by A. Zoglauer)
Almost complete physics model (MGGPOD based on Geant3, written and
maintained by Georg Weidenspointner)
Compton imaging & analysis tools (MEGAlib, A. Zoglauer)

ACTtools: http://public.lanl.gov/mkippen/actsim/act_study/acttools.html
MGGPOD: http://sigma-2.cesr.fr/spi/MGGPOD/
MEGAlib: http://www.mpe.mpg.de/MEGA/megalib.html
 MGGPOD
What is MGGPOD?
Monte-Carlo suite consisting of the Fortran tools MGEANT (Geant3),
GCALOR, PROMPT, ORIHET & Decay
Designed for background simulation of gamma-ray telescopes
Packaged, written, and maintained by Georg Weidenspointner (CESR,
France), with neutron cross section updates by Elena Novikova (NRL)
and contributions by Mike Harris (prompt deexcitation)

Advantages:
Verified, mostly working & faster than Geant4

Disadvantages:
Base libraries (Geant3, GCalor) no longer supported
Unstable and undebuggable (ZEBRA data structures)
Not all required physics processes, cross sections, etc. included

Develop replacement based on Geant4?

 MGGPOD verification

Weidenspointner et al. 2005

Good agreement between measurement and simulation for TGRS,
Integral and RHESSI (simulations ca. x2 to low).
 ACT background simulations

Equatorial low earth orbit after 2 years in orbit:

Between 0.5 and 3.5 MeV activation background dominates
 847 keV broad line from SN Ia
Albedo Cosmic diffuse
Neutrons gamma-rays
(activation) 50%
2%

Albedo
Neutrons
(prompt)
2%

Albedo Photons
6%

Trapped
Protons
Cosmic Protons
(activation)
(activation)
12%
28%

Activation (protons & neutrons) still second largest background

component
Correct simulation critical for performance prediction
 Layout of a space background simulation program
Inspired by MGGPOD
Detector geometry,
Radiation environment
characteristics and trigger
conditions & history

Geant4 based simulation program

Level 1: Level 2:
Handle initial particles and Determine Handle radioactive
secondaries as well as prompt radioactive decay including all
(within coincidence window) de- build-up secondaries
excitation, decay, etc. and according to
record all longer-lived irradiation
radioactive isotopes history

event list
High level data
analysis tools
 Simulation requirements I
Photon interactions (5 keV 1 TeV)
Polarized Compton scattering (including subsequent Compton scatters) with
Doppler broadening ?
Polarized gamma conversion (at least down to a few MeV) including conversion
on electrons ?
Rayleigh scattering (taking care of polarization) ?
Photo effect
Photo nuclear reaction (e.g. Giant Dipole Resonance)

Electron interactions (5 keV 1 TeV)

Energy loss via ionization (must work for thin media!)
Molire scattering (must work for thin media!)
Bremsstrahlung
Delta rays
Mller scattering

Positron interactions (5 keV 1 TeV)

see electrons
Bahaba scattering instead of Mller scattering
 Simulation requirements II
Proton interactions (1 MeV up to 1 TeV)
Ionization and scattering
Bremstrahlung
Spallation
Capture

Interaction cross sections for ALL isotopes ?

Correct generation of radioactive isotopes ?
Generate and track secondaries (, e+-, p, n, etc.)

Alpha particles interactions

See protons (ex capture)

Ion interactions (up to Fe) ?

See Alpha
 Simulation requirements III
Neutron interactions (thermal 1 TeV)
Elastic scattering
Inelastic scattering
Interaction cross-sections for all isotopes ?
Handle all excitation and all channels of deexcitations ?
Neutron capture
Interaction cross-sections for all isotopes
Generation of correct radioactive isotopes with the correct
amount ?
Handle all channels of deexcitations and decays ?
 Simulation requirements IV
Spallation, proton capture, inelastic neutron scattering,
and neutron capture:
Correctly handle meta-stable isotopes, excitation, de-
excitation, radioactive decay, daughter nuclids, etc. for each
possible isotope
Distinguish between PROMPT (within detectors coincidence
window) and DELAYED de-excitation and radioactive decay
Handle all generated secondaries
Keep record of all generated unstable isotopes

Generated radioactive elements:

Determine build-up of radioactive elements over mission life
Handle radioactive decay (again take care of prompt and
delayed) including tracking of all secondaries
Correct handling of all possible decay channels!
Features not only of advantage for ACT but all current and
future low-to-medium energy gamma-ray instruments:

INTEGRAL
Suzaku
NCT (balloon-borne mini-ACT)
GRI (potential European Gamma-ray lens imager)
NeXT (next Japanese gamma-ray telescope)
EXIST (possible successor of SWIFT)

Backup slides start
 The radiation environment LEO

Expected environment in an equatorial low-earth orbit (525 km)

which avoids SAA
 The gamma-ray imager GRI

Focal plane
Gamma-ray detector
lens space space craft
craft
Principle of a gamma-ray lens imager
Laue
diffraction of
gamma rays
within the
crystals
volume under
Bragg condition

Compton
scatter
detector
 Simulation requirements V
Interface between SPENVIS and Geant4
Direct radiation environment input from SPENVIS to Geant4 as
a function of:
Orbit height
Orbit inclination
Timed SAA passages