Concept study of a small Compton polarimeter to fly on a cubesat

Yi-Chi Chang^1*, Chien-Ying Yang¹, Hung-Hsiang Liang¹, Che-Yen Chu¹, Jeng-Lun Chiu², Chih-Hsun Lin³, Yuan-Hann Chang⁴, Hsin-Chia Lin², Chen-Joe Fong², Philippe Laurent⁵, Hsiang-Kuang Chang^1,6

¹Institute of Astronomy, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan
²National Space Organization, National Applied Research Labs, Hsinchu, Taiwan
³Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
⁴Department of Physics, National Central University, Chongli, Taiwan
⁵Laboratoire APC, UMR 7164, CEA/DSM CNRS Universite ́e Paris Diderot, Paris, France
⁶Department of Physics, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan

* Presenter:Yi-Chi Chang, email:ycchungvis@gmail.com

Application of cubesats in astronomical observations has been getting more and more mature in recent years. Here we report a concept study of a small Compton polarimeter to fly on a cubesat for observing polarization of soft gamma-rays from a black-hole X-ray binary, Cygnus X-1. Polarization states provide very useful diagnostics on the emission mechanism and the origin of those gamma rays. In our study, we conducted Monte Carlo simulations to decide the basic design of this small polarimeter. Silicon detectors and cerium bromide scintillators were employed in this study. We estimated its on-axis effective area at different energies and its data telemetry requirement when flying in a low earth orbit. Based on this study, we will proceed to have a more realistic design and look for opportunities of a cubesat space mission.

Keywords: Cubesat, Astronomical instrumentation, MeV gamma-ray astronomy, Compton telescopes