Integral — Fine Spectroscopy and Fine Imaging of Celestial Gamma-Rays

  • A. J. Dean
Chapter
Part of the Astrophysics and Space Science Library book series (ASSL, volume 187)

Abstract

The INTEGRAL mission, INTErnational Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory, was originally proposed in response to the ESA M2 call for mission proposals and has been recently selected as the next ESA Medium Mission. It is dedicated to the fine spectroscopy and imaging of celestial gamma-ray sources in the energy range 15 keV to 10 MeV. INTEGRAL consists of two main instruments: a germanium SPECTROMETER and a caesium iodide IMAGER. This configuration constitutes the first high resolution spectral imager to operate in the gamma-ray region. These instruments are supplemented by two monitors: an X-RAY MONITOR and an OPTICAL TRANSIENT CAMERA. INTEGRAL will have the following features:

  • A wide operational bandwidth (15 keV to 10 MeV, main instruments).

  • High resolution spectroscopy from 15 keV to 10 MeV (E/ΔE = 500 at 1 MeV).

  • Imaging with 17′ FWHM angular resolution and accurate source positioning (~ 1′) within a field of view of ~ 50 square degrees.

  • High sensitivity. Line: 1.5 × 10-6 ph cm-2 s-1; Continuum: 3×l0-8 ph cm-2 s-1 keV-1, at E = 1 MeV, 3σ in 106 s.

  • Polarization sensitivity: 10 mCrab, φ ~ degrees, 3σ in 106 s.

  • Concurrent monitoring in X-ray (4 keV — 100 keV) and optical (550 nm — 850 nm) bands. This brief article concentrates on an outline description of the instrumental complement of the mission as presented in the INTEGRAL Phase-A report.

Keywords

Angular Resolution Integral Science Bismuth Germanate Continuum Sensitivity Mask Element 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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References

  1. International Science Working Team. 1993, INTEGRAL: Report on the Phase ‘A’ Study, ESA Document SCI(93)1.Google Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 1994

Authors and Affiliations

  • A. J. Dean
    • 1
  1. 1.Physics DepartmentUniversity of SouthamptonSouthamptonEngland

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