Gamma-ray spectroscopy: Status and prospects |
| |
Authors: | J.L. Matteson |
| |
Affiliation: | Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA |
| |
Abstract: | Contemporary gamma-ray spectroscopy instruments and their results are reviewed. Sensitivities of 10?4 to 10?3 ph/cm2-sec have been achieved for steady sources and 10?2 to 1 ph/cm2-sec for transient sources. This has led to the detection of gamma-ray lines from more than 40 objects representing 6 classes of astrophysical phenomena. The lines carry model-independent information and are of fundamental importance to theoretical modeling and our understanding of the objects. These results indicate that gamma-ray spectroscopy is relevant to a wide range of astrophysical problems and is becoming a major part of astronomy. The objectives and anticipated results of future instruments are discussed. Several instruments in development will have a factor of ~ 10 sensitivity improvement to certain phenomena over contemporary instruments. A factor of ~ 100 improvement in sensitivity will allow the full potential of gamma-ray spectroscopy to be realized. Instrument concepts which would achieve this with both present and advanced techniques are discussed. |
| |
Keywords: | |
本文献已被 ScienceDirect 等数据库收录! |
|