arXiv subjects

Hadar Lazar

Publications and source records attributed to Hadar Lazar.

15 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2024

Imaging and Spectral Fitting of Bright Gamma-ray Sources with the COSI Balloon Payload

The Compton Spectrometer and Imager balloon payload (COSI-Balloon) is a wide-field-of-view Compton ${\gamma}$-ray telescope that operates in the 0.2 - 5 MeV bandpass. COSI-Balloon had a successful 46-day flight in 2016 during which the instrument observed the Crab Nebula, Cygnus X-1, and Centaurus A. Using the data collected by the COSI-Balloon instrument during this flight, we present the source flux extraction of signals from the variable balloon background environment and produce images of these background-dominated sources by performing Richardson-Lucy deconvolutions. We also present the spectra measured by the COSI-Balloon instrument, compare and combine them with measurements from other instruments, and fit the data. The Crab Nebula was observed by COSI-Balloon and we obtain a measured flux in the energy band 325 - 480 keV of (4.5 ${\pm}$ 1.6) ${\times}$ 10$^{-3}$ ph cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$. The model that best fits the COSI-Balloon data combined with measurements from NuSTAR and Swift-BAT is a broken power law with a measured photon index ${\Gamma}$ = 2.20 ${\pm}$ 0.02 above the 43 keV break. Cygnus X-1 was also observed during this flight, and we obtain a measured flux of (1.4 ${\pm}$ 0.2) ${\times}$ 10$^{-3}$ ph cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ in the same energy band and a best-fit result (including data from NuSTAR, Swift-BAT, and INTEGRAL/ IBIS) was to a cutoff power law with a high-energy cutoff energy of 138.3 ${\pm}$ 1.0 keV and a photon index of ${\Gamma}$ = 1.358 ${\pm}$ 0.002. Lastly, we present the measured spectrum of Centaurus A and our best model fit to a power law with a photon index of ${\Gamma}$ = 1.73 ${\pm}$ 0.01.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2023

The Compton Spectrometer and Imager

The Compton Spectrometer and Imager (COSI) is a NASA Small Explorer (SMEX) satellite mission in development with a planned launch in 2027. COSI is a wide-field gamma-ray telescope designed to survey the entire sky at 0.2-5 MeV. It provides imaging, spectroscopy, and polarimetry of astrophysical sources, and its germanium detectors provide excellent energy resolution for emission line measurements. Science goals for COSI include studies of 0.511 MeV emission from antimatter annihilation in the Galaxy, mapping radioactive elements from nucleosynthesis, determining emission mechanisms and source geometries with polarization measurements, and detecting and localizing multimessenger sources. The instantaneous field of view for the germanium detectors is >25% of the sky, and they are surrounded on the sides and bottom by active shields, providing background rejection as well as allowing for detection of gamma-ray bursts and other gamma-ray flares over most of the sky. In the following, we provide an overview of the COSI mission, including the science, the technical design, and the project status.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2023

The cosipy library: COSI's high-level analysis software

The Compton Spectrometer and Imager (COSI) is a selected Small Explorer (SMEX) mission launching in 2027. It consists of a large field-of-view Compton telescope that will probe with increased sensitivity the under-explored MeV gamma-ray sky (0.2-5 MeV). We will present the current status of cosipy, a Python library that will perform spectral and polarization fits, image deconvolution, and all high-level analysis tasks required by COSI's broad science goals: uncovering the origin of the Galactic positrons, mapping the sites of Galactic nucleosynthesis, improving our models of the jet and emission mechanism of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and active galactic nuclei (AGNs), and detecting and localizing gravitational wave and neutrino sources. The cosipy library builds on the experience gained during the COSI balloon campaigns and will bring the analysis of data in the Compton regime to a modern open-source likelihood-based code, capable of performing coherent joint fits with other instruments using the Multi-Mission Maximum Likelihood framework (3ML). In this contribution, we will also discuss our plans to receive feedback from the community by having yearly software releases accompanied by publicly-available data challenges.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2022

The long-stable hard state of XTE J1752-223 and the disk truncation dilemma

The degree to which the thin accretion disks of black hole X-ray binaries are truncated during hard spectral states remains a contentious open question in black hole astrophysics. During its singular observed outburst in $2009\mbox{--}2010$, the black hole X-ray binary XTE J1752-223 spent $\sim1$~month in a long-stable hard spectral state at a luminosity of $\sim0.02\mbox{--}0.1~L_{\rm Edd}$. It was observed with 56 RXTE pointings during this period, with simultaneous Swift-XRT daily coverage during the first 10 days of the RXTE observations. Whilst reflection modeling has been extensively explored in the analysis of these data, there is a disagreement surrounding the geometry of the accretion disk and corona implied by the reflection features. We re-examine the combined, high signal-to-noise, simultaneous Swift and RXTE observations, and perform extensive reflection modeling with the latest relxill suite of reflection models, including newer high disk density models. We show that reflection modeling requires that the disk be within $\sim5~R_{\rm ISCO}$ during the hard spectral state, whilst weaker constraints from the thermal disk emission imply higher truncation ($R_{\rm in}=6\mbox{--}80~R_{\rm ISCO}$). We also explore more complex coronal continuum models, allowing for two Comptonization components instead of one, and show that the reflection features still require only a mildly truncated disk. Finally we present a full comparison of our results to previous constraints found from analyses of the same dataset.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2022

Soft gamma-ray polarimetry with COSI using maximum likelihood analysis

Measurements of the linear polarization of high-energy emission from pulsars, accreting black holes, and gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) provide an opportunity for constraining the emission mechanisms and geometries (e.g., of the accretion disk, jet, magnetic field, etc.) in the sources. For photons in the soft (MeV) gamma-ray band, Compton scattering is the most likely interaction to occur in detectors. Compton telescopes detect multiple interactions from individual incoming photons, allowing for scattering angles to be measured. After many photons are detected from a source, the distribution of azimuthal angles provides polarization information. While the standard method relies on binning the photons to produce and fit an azimuthal scattering angle distribution, improved polarization sensitivity is obtained by using additional information to more accurately weight each event's contribution to the likelihood statistic. In this chapter, we describe the Compton Spectrometer and Imager (COSI) and its capabilities for polarization measurements. We also describe the maximum likelihood technique, its application to COSI data analysis, and plans for its future use.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2022

Calibrations of the Compton Spectrometer and Imager

The Compton Spectrometer and Imager (COSI) is a balloon-borne soft $\gamma$-ray telescope (0.2-5 MeV) designed to study astrophysical sources. COSI employs a compact Compton telescope design and is comprised of twelve high-purity germanium semiconductor detectors. Tracking the locations and energies of $\gamma$-ray scatters within the detectors permits high-resolution spectroscopy, direct imaging over a wide field-of-view, polarization studies, and effective suppression of background events. Critical to the precise determination of each interaction's energy, position, and the subsequent event reconstruction are several calibrations conducted in the field before launch. Additionally, benchmarking the instrument's higher-level performance through studies of its angular resolution, effective area, and polarization sensitivity quantifies COSI's scientific capabilities. In May 2016, COSI became the first science payload to be launched on NASA's superpressure balloon and was slated for launch again in April 2020. Though the 2020 launch was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the COSI team took calibration measurements prior to cancellation. In this paper we provide a detailed overview of COSI instrumentation, describe the calibration methods, and compare the calibration and benchmarking results of the 2016 and 2020 balloon campaigns. These procedures will be integral to the calibration and benchmarking of the NASA Small Explorer satellite version of COSI scheduled to launch in 2025.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2022

Measurement of Galactic $^{26}$Al with the Compton Spectrometer and Imager

The Compton Spectrometer and Imager (COSI) is a balloon-borne compact Compton telescope designed to survey the 0.2-5 MeV sky. COSI's energy resolution of $\sim$0.2% at 1.8 MeV, single-photon reconstruction, and wide field of view make it capable of studying astrophysical nuclear lines, particularly the 1809 keV $\gamma$-ray line from decaying Galactic $^{26}$Al. Most $^{26}$Al originates in massive stars and core-collapse supernova nucleosynthesis, but the path from stellar evolution models to Galaxy-wide emission remains unconstrained. In 2016, COSI had a successful 46-day flight on a NASA superpressure balloon. Here, we detail the first search for the 1809 keV $^{26}$Al line in the COSI 2016 balloon flight using a maximum likelihood analysis. We find a Galactic $^{26}$Al flux of $(8.6 \pm 2.5) \times 10^{-4}$ ph cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ within the Inner Galaxy ($|\ell| \leq 30^{\circ}$, $|b| \leq 10^{\circ}$) with 3.7$\sigma$ significance above background. Within uncertainties, this flux is consistent with expectations from previous measurements by SPI and COMPTEL. This analysis demonstrates COSI's powerful capabilities for studies of $\gamma$-ray lines and underscores the scientific potential of future compact Compton telescopes. In particular, the next iteration of COSI as a NASA Small Explorer satellite has recently been approved for launch in 2025.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2021

Spectral and Timing Analysis of NuSTAR and Swift/XRT Observations of the X-Ray Transient MAXI J0637-430

We present results for the first observed outburst from the transient X-ray binary source MAXI J0637-430. This study is based on eight observations from the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) and six observations from the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory X-Ray Telescope (Swift/XRT) collected from 2019 November 19 to 2020 April 26 as the 3-79 keV source flux declined from 8.2e-10 to 1.4e-12 erg/cm^2/s. We see the source transition from a soft state with a strong disk-blackbody component to a hard state dominated by a power-law or thermal Comptonization component. NuSTAR provides the first reported coverage of MAXI J0637-430 above 10 keV, and these broadband spectra show that a two-component model does not provide an adequate description of the soft state spectrum. As such, we test whether blackbody emission from the plunging region could explain the excess emission. As an alternative, we test a reflection model that includes a physical Comptonization continuum. Finally, we also test a spectral component based on reflection of a blackbody illumination spectrum, which can be interpreted as a simple approximation to the reflection produced by returning disk radiation due to the bending of light by the strong gravity of the black hole. We discuss the physical implications of each scenario and demonstrate the value of constraining the source distance.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2021

The Compton Spectrometer and Imager Project for MeV Astronomy

The Compton Spectrometer and Imager (COSI) is a 0.2-5 MeV Compton telescope capable of imaging, spectroscopy, and polarimetry of astrophysical sources. Such capabilities are made possible by COSI's germanium cross-strip detectors, which provide high efficiency, high resolution spectroscopy and precise 3D positioning of photon interactions. Science goals for COSI include studies of 0.511 MeV emission from antimatter annihilation in the Galaxy, mapping radioactive elements from nucleosynthesis, determining emission mechanisms and source geometries with polarization, and detecting and localizing multimessenger sources. The instantaneous field of view (FOV) for the germanium detectors is >25% of the sky, and they are surrounded on the sides and bottom by active shields, providing background rejection as well as allowing for detection of gamma-ray bursts or other gamma-ray flares over >50% of the sky. We have completed a Phase A concept study to consider COSI as a Small Explorer (SMEX) satellite mission, and here we discuss the advances COSI-SMEX provides for astrophysics in the MeV bandpass.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2021

COSI: From Calibrations and Observations to All-sky Images

The soft MeV gamma-ray sky, from a few hundred keV up to several MeV, is one of the least explored regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. The most promising technology to access this energy range is a telescope that uses Compton scattering to detect the gamma rays. Going from the measured data to all-sky images ready for scientific interpretation, however, requires a well-understood detector setup and a multi-step data-analysis pipeline. We have developed these capabilities for the Compton Spectrometer and Imager (COSI). Starting with a deep understanding of the many intricacies of the Compton measurement process and the Compton data space, we developed the tools to perform simulations that match well with instrument calibrations and to reconstruct the gamma-ray path in the detector. Together with our work to create an adequate model of the measured background while in flight, we are able to perform spectral and polarization analysis, and create images of the gamma-ray sky. This will enable future telescopes to achieve a deeper understanding of the astrophysical processes that shape the gamma-ray sky from the sites of star formation (26-Al map), to the history of core-collapse supernovae (e.g. 60-Fe map) and the distributions of positron annihilation (511-keV map) in our Galaxy.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2021

Study of energy response and resolution of the ATLAS Tile Calorimeter to hadrons of energies from 16 to 30 GeV

Three spare modules of the ATLAS Tile Calorimeter were exposed to test beams from the Super Proton Synchrotron accelerator at CERN in 2017. The measurements of the energy response and resolution of the detector to positive pions and kaons and protons with energy in the range 16 to 30 GeV are reported. The results have uncertainties of few percent. They were compared to the predictions of the Geant4-based simulation program used in ATLAS to estimate the response of the detector to proton-proton events at Large Hadron Collider. The determinations obtained using experimental and simulated data agree within the uncertainties.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2020

Imaging the 511 keV positron annihilation sky with COSI

The balloon-borne Compton Spectrometer and Imager (COSI) had a successful 46-day flight in 2016. The instrument is sensitive to photons in the energy range $0.2$-$5$ MeV. Compton telescopes have the advantage of a unique imaging response and provide the possibility of strong background suppression. With its high-purity germanium detectors, COSI can precisely map $γ$-ray line emission. The strongest persistent and diffuse $γ$-ray line signal is the 511 keV emission line from the annihilation of electrons with positrons from the direction of the Galactic centre. While many sources have been proposed to explain the amount of positrons, $\dot{N}_{\mathrm{e^+}} \sim 10^{50}\,\mathrm{e^+\,yr^{-1}}$, the true contributions remain unsolved. In this study, we aim at imaging the 511 keV sky with COSI and pursue a full-forward modelling approach, using a simulated and binned imaging response. For the strong instrumental background, we describe an empirical approach to take the balloon environment into account. We perform two alternative methods to describe the signal: Richardson-Lucy deconvolution, an iterative method towards the maximum likelihood solution, and model fitting with pre-defined emission templates. Consistently with both methods, we find a 511 keV bulge signal with a flux between $0.9$ and $3.1 \times 10^{-3}\,\mathrm{ph\,cm^{-2}\,s^{-1}}$, confirming earlier measurements, and also indications of more extended emission. The upper limit we find for the 511 keV disk, $< 4.3 \times 10^{-3}\,\mathrm{ph\,cm^{-2}\,s^{-1}}$, is consistent with previous detections. For large-scale emission with weak gradients, coded aperture mask instruments suffer from their inability to distinguish isotropic emission from instrumental background, while Compton-telescopes provide a clear imaging response, independent of the true emission.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2020

Detection of the 511 keV Galactic positron annihilation line with COSI

The signature of positron annihilation, namely the 511 keV $γ$-ray line, was first detected coming from the direction of the Galactic center in the 1970's, but the source of Galactic positrons still remains a puzzle. The measured flux of the annihilation corresponds to an intense steady source of positron production, with an annihilation rate on the order of $\sim10^{43}$~e$^{+}$/s. The 511 keV emission is the strongest persistent Galactic $γ$-ray line signal and it shows a concentration towards the Galactic center region. An additional low-surface brightness component is aligned with the Galactic disk; however, the morphology of the latter is not well constrained. The Compton Spectrometer and Imager (COSI) is a balloon-borne soft $γ$-ray (0.2--5 MeV) telescope designed to perform wide-field imaging and high-resolution spectroscopy. One of its major goals is to further our understanding of Galactic positrons. COSI had a 46-day balloon flight in May--July 2016 from Wanaka, New Zealand, and here we report on the detection and spectral and spatial analyses of the 511 keV emission from those observations. To isolate the Galactic positron annihilation emission from instrumental background, we have developed a technique to separate celestial signals utilizing the COMPTEL Data Space. With this method, we find a 7.2$σ$ detection of the 511 keV line. We find that the spatial distribution is not consistent with a single point source, and it appears to be broader than what has been previously reported.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2019

Benchmarking simulations of the Compton Spectrometer and Imager with calibrations

The Compton Spectrometer and Imager (COSI) is a balloon-borne gamma-ray (0.2-5 MeV) telescope designed to study astrophysical sources. COSI employs a compact Compton telescope design utilizing 12 high-purity germanium double-sided strip detectors and is inherently sensitive to polarization. In 2016, COSI was launched from Wanaka, New Zealand and completed a successful 46-day flight on NASA's new Super Pressure Balloon. In order to perform imaging, spectral, and polarization analysis of the sources observed during the 2016 flight, we compute the detector response from well-benchmarked simulations. As required for accurate simulations of the instrument, we have built a comprehensive mass model of the instrument and developed a detailed detector effects engine which applies the intrinsic detector performance to Monte Carlo simulations. The simulated detector effects include energy, position, and timing resolution, thresholds, dead strips, charge sharing, charge loss, crosstalk, dead time, and detector trigger conditions. After including these effects, the simulations closely resemble the measurements, the standard analysis pipeline used for measurements can also be applied to the simulations, and the responses computed from the simulations are accurate. We have computed the systematic error that we must apply to measured fluxes at certain energies, which is 6.3% on average. Here we describe the detector effects engine and the benchmarking tests performed with calibrations.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2019

The Compton Spectrometer and Imager

In this Astro2020 APC White Paper, we describe a Small Explorer (SMEX) mission concept called the Compton Spectrometer and Imager. COSI is a Compton telescope that covers the bandpass often referred to as the "MeV Gap" because it is the least explored region of the whole electromagnetic spectrum. COSI provides a significant improvement in sensitivity along with high-resolution spectroscopy, enabling studies of 511 keV electron-positron annihilation emission and measurements of several radioactive elements that trace the Galactic history of supernovae. COSI also measures polarization of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), accreting black holes, and pulsars as well as detecting and localizing multimessenger sources. In the following, we describe the COSI science, the instrument, and its capabilities. We highlight many Astro2020 science WPs that describe the COSI science in depth.

astro-ph.IM↗