Performance Evaluation of a silicon-based 6U Cubesat detector for soft $\gamma$-ray astronomy

Abstract

The observation of the low-energy $\gamma$-ray (0.1-30 MeV) sky has been significantly limited since the COMPTEL instrument was decommissioned aboard the Compton Gamma-ray Observer (CGRO) satellite in 2000. The exploration of $\gamma$-ray photons within this energy band, often referred to as the \say{MeV gap}, is crucial to address numerous unresolved mysteries in high-energy and multi-messenger astrophysics. Although several large MeV $\gamma$-ray missions have been proposed (e.g., e-ASTROGAM, AMEGO, COSI), most of these are in the planning phase, with launches not expected until the next decade, at the earliest. Recently, there has been a surge in proposed CubeSat missions as cost-effective and rapidly implementable \say{pathfinder} alternatives. A MeV CubeSat payload dedicated to $\gamma$-ray astronomy could serve as a valuable demonstrator for large-scale future MeV payloads. This paper proposes a $\gamma$-ray payload design with a Silicon-based tracker and a Ceasium-Iodide-based calorimeter. We report the results of a simulation study to assess the performance of this payload concept and compare the results with those of previous $\gamma$-ray instruments. As part of the performance assessment and comparison, we show that with our proposed payload design, a sensitivity better than IBIS can be achieved for energies between 0.1 and 10 MeV, and for energies up to around 1 MeV, the achieved sensitivity is comparable to COMPTEL, therefore opening up a window towards cost-effective observational astronomy with comparable performance to past missions.