332 research outputs found
Expectations and perspectives of X-ray photoelectric polarimetry
No full textLa polarimetria è l'ultima branca dell'Astronomia nella banda dei raggi X ancora inesplorata. Nonostante un vasto interesse testimoniato da un'estesa letteratura, il suo sviluppo è stato impedito dalla mancanza di dispositivi la cui sensibilità giustificasse l'inserimento di polarimetri X a bordo delle missioni spaziali moderne. Ciononostante nuovi strumenti basati sull'effetto fotoelettrico, capaci di risolvere le tracce dei fotoelettroni in un gas, offrono oggi la possibilità di colmare il divario tra aspettative teoriche e gli scarsi risultati ad oggi raggiunti: in questo ambito, uno dei progetti più avanzati è il Gas Pixel Detector (GPD), sviluppato in Italia dall'INFN di Pisa e dall'INAF/IASF di Roma.
Questa tesi ha contribuito dell'inserimento del GPD a bordo delle prossime missioni in differenti aspetti. Innanzitutto è stata misurata la risposta dello strumento a radiazione polarizzata di alcuni keV, ovvero nell'intervallo energetico di massima sensibilità, grazie ad una sorgente di calibrazione basata sulla diffrazione di Bragg a circa 45 gradi. Quest'ultima, insieme a sorgenti radioattive e a tubi a raggi X, è stata montata su un sistema meccanico, progettato e costruito in modo tale che lo strumento in esame potesse essere spostato, inclinato e ruotato rispetto al fascio incidente. Questo rende disponibile una struttura per la completa caratterizzazione del GPD (e di altri strumenti): prime e preliminari misure di calibrazione sono state effettuate grazie ad essa e sono di seguito presentate.
Infine ho calcolato la sensibilità del GPD nel caso in cui esso sia posto nel piano focale di telescopi progettati per le prossime missioni spaziali, come PolariX e IXO, e ho discusso ulteriori applicazioni del GPD e dei polarimetri fotoelettrici in generale. In particolare, sono presentati il possibile utilizzo di questi dispositivi come strumenti a grande campo di vista o e quello come rivelatori sensibili fino ad energie di decine di keV.Polarimetry is the last unexplored branch of X-ray Astronomy. Despite a wide interest proved by an extended literature, its development has suffered the lack of instruments which could assure a sufficient sensitivity to justify the inclusion of X-ray polarimeters on-board modern missions. Nevertheless new devices based on photoelectric absorption, which are able to image the track of photoelectrons in a gas mixture, offer today the possibility to fill the gap between theoretical expectations and the current meagre results: in this regard, one of the most advanced project is the GPD (Gas Pixel Detector), developed in Italy by INFN of Pisa and INAF/IASF of Rome.
This work of thesis contributed to the use of the GPD on-board future space missions from different points of view. The response of the instrument to polarized radiation at a few keV, namely in the energy range of maximum sensitivity, was measured thanks to a calibration source based on Bragg diffraction at nearly 45 degrees. This source, together with radioactive unpolarized sources and X-ray tubes, were also interfaced with a mechanical assembly which was designed and built allowing for the movement, the inclination and the rotation of the instrument with respect to the incident beam. This makes available a facility for the complete characterization of the GPD (and other instruments) and the first and preliminary systematic measurements of calibration are presented.
I also derive the scientific performances of the GPD when the instrument is placed in the focal plane of realistic X-ray telescopes planned for future missions, such as PolariX or IXO, and discuss some further applications of the GPD and of the photoelectric polarimeters in general. In particular the possible use of these devices as large field of view instruments or at energies up to tens of keV are presented
Instrument Delta E2E Test Report
No full textThe IXPE Italian contribution is supported by the Italian Space Agency (Agenzia Spaziale Italiana, ASI) through contract ASI-OHBI-2017-12-I.0, agreements ASI-INAF-2017-12-H0 and ASI-INFN-2017.13-H0, and its Space Science Data Center (SSDC) with agreements ASI-INAF-2022-14-HH.0 and ASI-INFN 2021-43-HH.0, and by the Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF) and the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) in Italy
Polarization of neutron star surface emission: a systematic analysis
No full textNew-generation X-ray polarimeters currently under development promise to open a new window in the study of high-energy astrophysical sources. Among them, neutron stars (NSs) appear particularly suited for polarization measurements. Radiation from the (cooling) surface of an NS is expected to exhibit a large intrinsic polarization degree due to the star strong magnetic field (≈1012–1015 G), which influences the plasma opacity in the outermost stellar layers. The polarization fraction and polarization angle as measured by an instrument, however, do not necessary coincide with the intrinsic ones derived from models of surface emission. This is due to the effects of quantum electrodynamics in the highly magnetized vacuum around the star (the vacuum polarization) coupled with the rotation of the Stokes parameters in the plane perpendicular to the line of sight induced by the non-uniform magnetic field. Here, we revisit the problem and present an efficient method for computing the observed polarization fraction and polarization angle in the case of radiation coming from the entire surface of an NS, accounting for both vacuum polarization and geometrical effects due to the extended emitting region. Our approach is fairly general and is illustrated in the case of blackbody emission from an NS with either a dipolar or a (globally) twisted magnetic field
Polarization properties of X-ray tubes used for Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer calibration
No full text
ADAHELI: exploring the fast, dynamic Sun in the x-ray, optical, and near-infrared
No full textBerrilli, Francesco et al.--Full list ot authors: Berrilli, Francesco; Soffitta, Paolo; Velli, Marco; Sabatini, Paolo; Bigazzi, Alberto; Bellazzini, Ronaldo; Bellot Rubio, Luis Ramon; Brez, Alessandro; Carbone, Vincenzo; Cauzzi, Gianna; Cavallini, Fabio; Consolini, Giuseppe; Curti, Fabio; Del Moro, Dario; Di Giorgio, Anna Maria; Ermolli, Ilaria; Fabiani, Sergio; Faurobert, Marianne; Feller, Alex; Galsgaard, Klaus; Gburek, Szymon; Giannattasio, Fabio; Giovannelli, Luca; Hirzberger, Johann; Jefferies, Stuart M.; Madjarska, Maria S.; Manni, Fabio; Mazzoni, Alessandro; Muleri, Fabio; Penza, Valentina; Peres, Giovanni; Piazzesi, Roberto; Pieralli, Francesca; Pietropaolo, Ermanno; Martinez Pillet, Valentin; Pinchera, Michele; Reale, Fabio; Romano, Paolo; Romoli, Andrea; Romoli, Marco; Rubini, Alda; Rudawy, Pawel; Sandri, Paolo; Scardigli, Stefano; Spandre, Gloria; Solanki, Sami K.; Stangalini, Marco; Vecchio, Antonio; Zuccarello, FrancescaAdvanced Astronomy for Heliophysics Plus (ADAHELI+) is a project concept for a small solar and space weather mission with a budget compatible with an European Space Agency (ESA) S-class mission, including launch, and a fast development cycle. ADAHELI+ was submitted to the European Space Agency by a European-wide consortium of solar physics research institutes in response to the “Call for a small mission opportunity for a launch in 2017,” of March 9, 2012. The ADAHELI+ project builds on the heritage of the former ADAHELI mission, which had successfully completed its phase-A study under the Italian Space Agency 2007 Small Mission Programme, thus proving the soundness and feasibility of its innovative low-budget design. ADAHELI+ is a solar space mission with two main instruments: ISODY+: an imager, based on Fabry–Pérot interferometers, whose design is optimized to the acquisition of highest cadence, long-duration, multiline spectropolarimetric images in the visible/near-infrared region of the solar spectrum. XSPO: an x-ray polarimeter for solar flares in x-rays with energies in the 15 to 35 keV range. ADAHELI+ is capable of performing observations that cannot be addressed by other currently planned solar space missions, due to their limited telemetry, or by ground-based facilities, due to the problematic effect of the terrestrial atmosphere. © The Authors.Peer reviewe
- …
