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http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12386/30170
Title: | PolarLight: a CubeSat X-ray polarimeter based on the gas pixel detector | Authors: | Feng, Hua Jiang, Weichun Minuti, Massimo Wu, Qiong Jung, Aera Yang, Dongxin Citraro, Saverio Nasimi, Hikmat Yu, Jiandong Jin, Ge Huang, Jiahui Zeng, Ming An, Peng Baldini, Luca Bellazzini, Ronaldo Brez, Alessandro Latronico, Luca Sgrò, Carmelo Spandre, Gloria Pinchera, Michele MULERI, FABIO SOFFITTA, PAOLO COSTA, ENRICO |
Issue Date: | 2019 | Journal: | EXPERIMENTAL ASTRONOMY | Number: | 47 | Issue: | 1-2 | First Page: | 225 | Abstract: | The gas pixel detector (GPD) is designed and developed for high-sensitivity astronomical X-ray polarimetry, which is a new window about to open in a few years. Due to the small mass, low power, and compact geometry of the GPD, we propose a CubeSat mission Polarimeter Light (PolarLight) to demonstrate and test the technology directly in space. There is no optics but a collimator to constrain the field of view to 2.3 degrees. Filled with pure dimethyl ether (DME) at 0.8 atm and sealed by a beryllium window of 100 μm thick, with a sensitive area of about 1.4 mm by 1.4 mm, PolarLight allows us to observe the brightest X-ray sources on the sky, with a count rate of, e.g., ∼0.2 counts s<SUP>- 1</SUP> from the Crab nebula. The PolarLight is 1U in size and mounted in a 6U CubeSat, which was launched into a low Earth Sun-synchronous orbit on October 29, 2018, and is currently under test. More launches with improved designs are planned in 2019. These tests will help increase the technology readiness for future missions such as the enhanced X-ray Timing and Polarimetry (eXTP), better understand the orbital background, and may help constrain the physics with observations of the brightest objects. | URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12386/30170 | URL: | https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10686-019-09625-z | ISSN: | 0922-6435 | DOI: | 10.1007/s10686-019-09625-z | Bibcode ADS: | 2019ExA....47..225F | Fulltext: | open |
Appears in Collections: | 1.01 Articoli in rivista |
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File | Description | Size | Format | |
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1903.01619.pdf | preprint | 5.94 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
2019_ExpAstro_Feng.pdf | [Administrators only] | 2.22 MB | Adobe PDF |
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