Costa

SuperAGILE: 

SuperAGILE Enrico Costa IASF – Rome /INAF on behalf of the AGILE Team

The SuperAGILE Team @ IASF-RM: 

The SuperAGILE Team @ IASF-RM M. Feroci, E. Del Monte, G. Di Persio, I. Donnarumma, Y. Evangelista, M. Frutti I. Lapshov, F. Lazzarotto, M. Mastropietro, E. Morelli, L. Pacciani, G. Porrovecchio, M. Rapisarda, A. Rubini, P. Soffitta, & E. Costa, IASF/INAF - Rome

Why SuperAGILE?: 

Why SuperAGILE? The sensitivity of an istrument can be significantly (and sometimes dramatically) boosted by simultaneous data collected in another energy band A classical example: g-ray Pulsars A straightforward case: g-ray Bursts, SGRs A clear case: Blazars A space for discovery: Binaries, AGNs

An instrument aboard the same satellite is far the most efficient way to implement this concept, provided it is feasible with limited resources: 

An instrument aboard the same satellite is far the most efficient way to implement this concept, provided it is feasible with limited resources The constraints to the design Minimize the impact on GRID efficiency and background (e.g., see the sky through a 5mm thick plastic anticoincidence) Minimize the impact on the mission requirements (mass, power, telemetry, DSP occupation, operations) Reasonable financial and schedule impact

Result: SuperAGILE: 

Result: SuperAGILE Following this concept SuperAGILE was introduced as an Hard X-ray Monitor of the AGILE Gamma-ray Mission to provide: Good Imaging (2 x 1-D coded masks - 6’ pixel size), “Basic” Spectroscopy (~8 keV FWHM) in the 15-45 keV Energy Range, Excellent timing (2ms res., <5ms acc.) over a large Field of View (>1 sr).

SuperAGILE in short: 

SuperAGILE in short 1-D Coded Masks Collimator Si -strip Detectors

SuperAGILE Sensitivity and FOV: 

SuperAGILE Sensitivity and FOV 15-40 keV - 2 Detectors - 50 ks Sensitivity (mCrab) 15-40 keV – “AND” of 4 Detectors - 50 ks Sensitivity (mCrab) ~60° ~60° ~100° 2 x 1D Sensitivity One-dimensional Sensitivity

SuperAGILE: Costs vs Benefits: 

SuperAGILE: Costs vs Benefits Costs: 10 kg, 12 W, 25 kbit/s, 0.05 m3 Benefits: 10-50 mCrab (50 ks) over ~1 steradian photon by photon

Single-sided Silicon Microstrip Detectors: 

Single-sided Silicon Microstrip Detectors The SuperAGILE Detectors

The SuperAGILE Mask : 

The SuperAGILE Mask 11001011011100011001000111101101001011011110100101010010000010011111 00100100110001000110001010001101110011110010111010100110100001000101 10110010100011100000101111001111110101111111001100101010000011010001 10110100010111100111010101100010011111000010011111101101111111011100 01110001111101110110101100000010111111110110000100001011010001000100 11011100000101010100111000001110011100110110101011100101100010101001 00110001100011111000110101010111110001001101110111010010111101111001 00000000101111110010100100010000011100011100010000000100100000011011 11000001101110010101000110000101110100100111010011111010101100110000 00010100000011000010111110001110101100100101110111101001101010001011 00001100010011101011100111011100110110110000011011111011010101101000 0100101101001000011101100111000100101100 Concept …. and Implementation The Mask and the Face (Totò; Totò d’Arabia, 1964)

Slide11: 

And the Thing

SuperAGILE onboard AGILE: 

SuperAGILE onboard AGILE

Ground Calibrations: 

Ground Calibrations SuperAGILE Calibration campaigns: June 2005: Detection Plane level: scan with Pencil Beam and Finite Distance Omnidirectional sources August 2005: Experiment level: scan with Pencil Beam and Finite Distance Omnidirectional Sources January 2007: Satellite level: Finite Distance Omnidirectional Sources

SuperAGILE at Pencil Beam Calibrations(IASF Rome - August 2005): 

SuperAGILE at Pencil Beam Calibrations (IASF Rome - August 2005)

Pencil Beam Calibration: 

Pencil Beam Calibration

SuperAGILE at Finite Distance Source Calibrations (IASF Rome - August 2005): 

SuperAGILE at Finite Distance Source Calibrations (IASF Rome - August 2005) Instrument Radioactive Sources 0º 10º 20º 30º Laser Tracker

SA Final Calibration (2-7 Jan 2007) CGS Premises (Tortona, AL) - Experimental Set-up: 

SA Final Calibration (2-7 Jan 2007) CGS Premises (Tortona, AL) - Experimental Set-up Laser Tracking of Source Position Radioactive Sources INAF - IASF Roma ENEA Frascati Optical Targets SA was exposed to omnidirectional radioactive sources placed at several off-axis angles by using a custom-designed source holder (top left) and support structure (bottom left). The SA imaging response is calibrated versus micrometric source positions obtained by a Laser Tracker (bottom, center), pointing to 8 optical targets placed on the source holder.

SA Ground Calibration: Detector vs Sky Images: 

SA Ground Calibration: Detector vs Sky Images Mask Modulation on Detector Images Corrected and Deconvolved Source Images (1 sky pixel = 3 arcmin) 22 keV source at 205 cm - D3 - S/N > 300 sky pixel sky pixel 20° off-axis 30° off-axis

SA Ground Calibration: Imaging vs Off-axis: 

SA Ground Calibration: Imaging vs Off-axis Sky Images with the 22 keV source at 205 cm D1, (+50°, 0°) D3, (+30°, 0°) D3, (-20°, 0°) D2, (-40°, 0°) D0, (0°, 0°) D2, (+10°, 0°)

SA Point Source Location Accuracy Signal/Noise Ratio ~ 10: 

SA Point Source Location Accuracy Signal/Noise Ratio ~ 10 Set-up: 22 keV source, on axis (Tortona) Result: 1- width of the distribution of the barycenter position: 0.4 arcmin (statistical only, not yet corrected for the source extension) Requirement: 2 arcmin total (statistics + systematics) 1 arcmin

Onboard Triggering and Imaging of Fast Transients (GRBs, SGRs, …): 

Onboard Triggering and Imaging of Fast Transients (GRBs, SGRs, …) Trigger Criteria: Search on 4 Independent Detectors in 2 Energy Bands Timescales: from 16 ms to 65 s Onboard Attitude Correction and Image Deconvolution Onboard Coordinates Determination and Fast Delivery (1’-2’) by ORBCOMM

Good News from Above …: 

Good News from Above …

Experiment Status: 

Experiment Status AGILE Launch on April 23rd SA Commissioning Phase started on May 3rd. As of today effectively about two weeks of satellite operations devoted to SuperAGILE so far. Health checks (even within SAA) have been succesful. Commands, HK, data formats are in good shape. Some time has been spent to study the interactions of SA with other subsystem, debug problems and find software corrections. SA was tuned in the Observation Modality at ~ 90%. Analog thresholds have been equalized at~85%. Anticoincidence with ACS has been regulated.

The South Atlantic Anomaly is still there …: 

The South Atlantic Anomaly is still there …

High Amplitude thresholds and Plastic Anticoincidence: 

High Amplitude thresholds and Plastic Anticoincidence AC lightcurve courtesy A. Bulgarelli, AGILE Team @ IASF-Bo E-cut AC-cut

(Very) Preliminary in-flight Background (experiment not configured, thresholds not calibrated): 

(Very) Preliminary in-flight Background (experiment not configured, thresholds not calibrated) Light Curve over one Orbit Detector Image Earth Occultation Diffuse XRB Dead Time (South Atlantic Anomaly) DC0 DC1 DC2 DC3 DC0 DC1 DC2 DC3 Detector Pixel

GRB 070622: our first GRB: 

GRB 070622: our first GRB D3 HK - Ethr~21 keV But it is out the f.o.v. ! as shown by IPN

Also seen by ACS: 

Also seen by ACS Better Seen by MCAL: talk by Claudio Labanti AS GRBs were detected by EGRET anticoincidence

Some more Background: 

Some more Background Detector Image Sky Image A not flat detector image and a not correct transfer function produces a “rough” sky image

SA Blank Field Image & Energy Spectrum(complete detector): 

SA Blank Field Image & Energy Spectrum (complete detector) Tungsten Fluorescence

Diffuse X-ray Background vs Earth Albedo: Energy Spectrum: 

Diffuse X-ray Background vs Earth Albedo: Energy Spectrum Open Sky Earth Blockage (~ keV)

The BKG uniformity on a single detector can be improved: 

The BKG uniformity on a single detector can be improved By “manual” correcion to be still implemented in the pipeline

Thursday afternoon AGILE was pointed to a field including the Galactic Plane: 

Thursday afternoon AGILE was pointed to a field including the Galactic Plane The data from the first orbit were analysed (during the first night of a 3-day week end) by a team of 5 people organized with commando techniques by M.Feroci. The Dirty Quintet is: E.Del Monte, I.Donnarumma, Y.Evangelista F.Lazzarotto, & L.Pacciani The sky image is not yet the best SA can do But GX301-2 is there!

Status of brightest sources in the field at the observation time (from XTE/ASM web page): 

Status of brightest sources in the field at the observation time (from XTE/ASM web page) It is a fact that GX301-2 is flaring and is the brightest We have our first detection of a source by data of a single orbit notwithstanding some thresholds are still to be regulated and the attitude corrections are still very preliminary.

Last night:The flare is over: 

Last night: The flare is over

Last night:The flare is over: 

Last night: The flare is over It is over for XTE too

This is our real first light: 

This is our real first light From the first 2 weeks activity we desume: SuperAGILE is alive It works in space as it was working on ground Map of hot strips is substatially the same The noise is substantially the same No major misalignment is detected

Near-future Plans for the Experiment Setting: 

Near-future Plans for the Experiment Setting Commissioning Phase: nominal completed on June 30th . Science Verification Phase: July to September Present threshold ~18 keV. Further fine tuning of thresholds is in progress for 2-3 chips. The thermal behaviour of SA as a function of pointing must be carefully studied: possibility to further reduce the threshold. Attitude corrections still based on ground alignments. A significant improvement is expected based on source data. Onboard imaging and GRB procedure still to be tested Many software procedures have been identified onthe basis of data but must be made robust and included in the pipeline Expected in-flight calibration on short-term (by next Fall): Vela field, Cygnus field, Raster scan with Crab Nebula

What can you expect from SuperAGILE ?: 

What can you expect from SuperAGILE ? 1. The AGILE Team is committed to provide SuperAGILE data products to mantain an updated weather map of the hard X-ray sky (ASM-like) publicly available on a web page at the ASI Science Data Center website, providing the daily flux (or better, when available) of the detected sources in 2 or 3 energy ranges over the 15-45 keV total bandwidth. 2. Real-time and Off-line Alerts for Fast Transients (GRBs, SGRs, …) will be publicly distributed through the ASDC Web Page and to the subscribed users by standard distribution systems (e.g., BACODINE, GCNs, ATels, IAUCs, …).

The End: 

The End

The AGILE Mission: 

The AGILE Mission First Small Mission of the Italian Space Agency (approved 1998) Currently in Payload/Spacecraft Integration Launch (with PSLV) in 2006 in equatorial orbit Instrumentation: Silicon microstrip Tracker (ST) Gamma Ray Imaging Detector CsI Minicalorimeter (MCAL) (GRID) Plastic Anticoincidence (AC) SuperAGILE (SA) Energy Ranges: 30 MeV – 50 GeV (GRID) 300 keV – 10 MeV (MCAL) 15-45 keV (SA) Payload+Shell Weight/Power: ~190 kg/ ~ 135 Watts

Slide42: 

SuperAGILE Sensitivity Map (example P11, 1 Year, X direction)

Finite Distance Source Calibration First Results Sky Image of a Cd109 (22 keV): 

Finite Distance Source Calibration First Results Sky Image of a Cd109 (22 keV) on-axis 20º off-axis 10º off-axis 30º off-axis

Background Energy Spectrum: 

Background Energy Spectrum

SA Ground Calibration: Map of source positions: 

SA Ground Calibration: Map of source positions FOV Calibrated positions in the Field of View of the 4 SuperAGILE Units. Radioactive sources were: Cd109 (22 keV, 1 mCi), I125 (27-32 keV, 100 Ci), Am241(59 keV, 10 Ci), located at 200 cm from the Experiment.