Observation of high-energy gamma-rays with the AMS-02 electromagnetic calorimeter
L. Morescalchi
May 1, 2017
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Journal
Nuovo Cimento Della Societa Italiana Di Fisica A-nuclei Particles and Fields
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Key Takeaway Key Takeaway: The AMS-02 electromagnetic calorimeter on the International Space Station allows for precise observations of high-energy gamma-rays, enabling a sky map of very high-energy photon sources.
Abstract
— The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS-02) is a multipurpose astroparticle physics detector installed on the International Space Station (ISS). Since more than 5 years it is measuring with an unprecedented accuracy flux and composition of primary cosmic rays, searching for primordial anti-matter and probing the nature of dark matter. Despite the fact that AMS-02 has been primarily designed as a charged-particle spectrometer, it can also perform precision observations of γ-rays from a few GeV to beyond one TeV. The key sub-detector used for the photon identification is a lead-scintillating fibers sampling calorimeter (ECAL). Its high granularity allows to reconstruct the direction of the incoming photon with a resolution better than 1 degree. The 3D shower image reconstructed by the calorimeter together with the absence of hits along the reconstructed photon direction allow to reach a very good signal over background ratio. This experimental technique offers the unusual possibility to reconstruct a sky map of the very high-energy photon sources.