Development of the ComPair gamma-ray telescope prototype
Daniel Shy, Carolyn Kierans, Nicolas Cannady, R. Caputo, Sean Griffin, Eric Grove, E. Hays, Emily Kong, Nicholas Kirschner, Iker Liceaga-Indart, Julie McEnery, John Mitchell, Alexander Moiseev, Lucas Parker, J. S. Perkins, Bernard F. Phlips, M. Sasaki, Adam J. Schoenwald, Clio Sleator, Jacob Smith, Lucas Smith, Sambid Wasti, Richard S. Woolf, E. Wulf, Anna Zajczyk
Abstract
There is a growing interest in the science uniquely enabled by observations in the MeV range, particularly in light of multi-messenger astrophysics. The Compton Pair (ComPair) telescope, a prototype of the AMEGO Probe-class concept, consists of four subsystems that together detect and characterize gamma rays in the MeV regime. A double-sided strip silicon Tracker gives a precise measure of the first Compton scatter interaction and tracks pair-conversion products. A novel cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) detector with excellent position and energy resolution beneath the Tracker detects the Compton-scattered photons. A thick cesium iodide (CsI) calorimeter contains the high-energy Compton and pair events. The instrument is surrounded by a plastic anti-coincidence (ACD) detector to veto the cosmic-ray background. In this work, we will give an overview of the science motivation and a description of the prototype development and performance.