Spectroscopy from 2 to 200 kev

Technical Report · Sun Nov 01 00:00:00 EST 1981

OSTI ID:6424176

Helfand, D J ^[1]; Chanan, G A ^[2]

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1. Sandia Lab., Albuquerque
2. Bell Telephone Labs.

The astrophysical processes responsible for line and continuum emission in the spectra range 2 keV to 200 keV are examined from the viewpoint of designing a spectrometer which would operate in this regime. Phenomena considered include fluorescent line radiation in X-ray binaries, magnetically shifted iron lines and cyclotron emission from neutron star surfaces, line emission from cosmically abundant elements in thermal plasmas, and nuclear deexcitation lines in fresh nucleosynthetically produced matter. An instrument consisting of a approximately 10 sq cm array of planar germanium detectors surrounded by a large sodium-iodide anticoincidence shield is described and projected background rates and sensitivities are considered. A sample observing program for a two-day shuttle-based mission is included as an example of the wide range of scientific questions which could be addressed by such an instrument.

• Research Organization: Columbia Univ., New York (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6424176
• Report Number(s): N-82-26085; TRN: 83-006348
• Resource Relation: Other Information: In NASA. Goddard Space Flight Center X-ray Astronomy in the 1980's p 567-598 (SEE N82-26055 16-88) REFS
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
COSMIC X-RAY SOURCES
EMISSION SPECTRA
SPECTROMETERS
DESIGN
GERMANIUM
SENSITIVITY
SODIUM IODIDES
SPACE SHUTTLES
X-RAY SPECTROSCOPY
AIRCRAFT
ALKALI METAL COMPOUNDS
COSMIC RAY SOURCES
ELEMENTS
HALIDES
HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
INORGANIC PHOSPHORS
IODIDES
IODINE COMPOUNDS
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
METALS
PHOSPHORS
SODIUM COMPOUNDS
SPACE VEHICLES
SPECTRA
SPECTROSCOPY
VEHICLES
640103* - Astrophysics & Cosmology- Quasi-Stellar
Radio
& X-Ray Sources- (-1987)