The Gamma-Ray Imager/Polarimeter For Solar Flares (GRIPS)

Details The Gamma-Ray Imager/Polarimeter For Solar Flares (GRIPS) The Gamma-Ray Imager/Polarimeter For Solar Flares (GRIPS)

Jan 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009aas...21347506s&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #213, #475.06; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 41, p.436

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

1

Scientific paper

The new balloon-borne Gamma-Ray Imager/Polarimeter for Solar flares (GRIPS) instrument will provide a near-optimal combination of high-resolution imaging, spectroscopy, and polarimetry of solar-flare gamma-ray/hard X-ray emissions from 20 keV to > 10 MeV. GRIPS will address questions relevant to particle acceleration and energy release that have been raised by recent solar flare observations, such as: What causes the spatial separation between energetic electron producing hard X-rays and energetic ions producing gamma-ray lines? How anisotropic are the accelerated electrons, and why do relativistic electron dominate in the corona? How does the composition of accelerated and ambient material vary with space and time, and why?
The spectrometer/polarimeter consists of sixteen 3D position-sensitive germanium detectors (3D-GeDs), where each energy deposition is individually recorded. Imaging is accomplished by a single multi-pitch rotating modulator (MPRM) situated 8 meters from the spectrometer to provide excellent image quality and unparalleled angular resolution at gamma-ray energies (12.5 arcsec FWHM), using a similar technique to rotating-modulation-collimator imaging used on missions such as RHESSI but now taking advantage of the position sensitivity of the spectrometer. Polarimetry is accomplished by analyzing the anisotropy of reconstructed Compton scattering in the 3D-GeDs (i.e. as an active scatterer). A balloon platform for this instrument minimizes atmospheric attenuation and accommodates its weight and size, and long-duration balloon flights (LDBFs) from Antarctica allow for month-long uninterrupted observations of the Sun to continuously observe active regions and to maximize the chance of capturing a gamma-ray flare. A continental-US test flight is slated for 2012 with the eventual goal of Antarctic LDBFs of the completed instrument. In addition to the direct science return from these flights, GRIPS will prove these technologies for a future space-based mission.

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