TY - JOUR
T1 - A DUAL mission for nuclear astrophysics
AU - von Ballmoos, Peter
AU - Alvarez, Jose
AU - Barrière, Nicolas
AU - Boggs, Steve
AU - Bykov, Andrei
AU - Del Cura Velayos, Juan Manuel
AU - Frontera, Filippo
AU - Hanlon, Lorraine
AU - Hernanz, Margarita
AU - Hinglais, Emmanuel
AU - Isern, Jordi
AU - Jean, Pierre
AU - Knödlseder, Jürgen
AU - Kuiper, Lucien
AU - Leising, Mark
AU - Pirard, Benoît
AU - Prost, Jean Pierre
AU - da Silva, Rui M.Curado
AU - Takahashi, Tadayuki
AU - Tomsick, John
AU - Walter, Roland
AU - Zoglauer, Andreas
PY - 2012/10
Y1 - 2012/10
N2 - DUAL will study the origin and evolution of the elements and explores new frontiers of physics: extreme energies that drive powerful stellar explosions and accelerate particles to macroscopic energies; extreme densities that modify the laws of physics around the most compact objects known; and extreme fields that influence matter in a way that is unknown on Earth. The variability of these extreme objects requires continuous all-sky coverage, while detailed study demands an improvement in sensitivity over previous technologies by at least an order of magnitude. The DUAL payload is composed of an All-Sky Compton Imager (ASCI), and two optical modules, the Laue-Lens Optic (LLO) and the Coded-Mask Optic (CMO). The ASCI serves dual roles simultaneously, both as an optimal focal-plane sensor for deep observations with the optical modules and as a sensitive true all-sky telescope in its own right for all-sky surveys and monitoring. While the optical modules are located on the main satellite, the All-Sky Compton Imager is situated on a deployable structure at a distance of 30 m from the satellite. This configuration not only permits to maintain the less massive payload at the focal distance, it also greatly reduces the spacecraft-induced detector background, and, above all it provides ASCI with a continuous all-sky exposure.
AB - DUAL will study the origin and evolution of the elements and explores new frontiers of physics: extreme energies that drive powerful stellar explosions and accelerate particles to macroscopic energies; extreme densities that modify the laws of physics around the most compact objects known; and extreme fields that influence matter in a way that is unknown on Earth. The variability of these extreme objects requires continuous all-sky coverage, while detailed study demands an improvement in sensitivity over previous technologies by at least an order of magnitude. The DUAL payload is composed of an All-Sky Compton Imager (ASCI), and two optical modules, the Laue-Lens Optic (LLO) and the Coded-Mask Optic (CMO). The ASCI serves dual roles simultaneously, both as an optimal focal-plane sensor for deep observations with the optical modules and as a sensitive true all-sky telescope in its own right for all-sky surveys and monitoring. While the optical modules are located on the main satellite, the All-Sky Compton Imager is situated on a deployable structure at a distance of 30 m from the satellite. This configuration not only permits to maintain the less massive payload at the focal distance, it also greatly reduces the spacecraft-induced detector background, and, above all it provides ASCI with a continuous all-sky exposure.
KW - Coded aperture imaging
KW - Gamma-ray optics: Compton telescope
KW - Laue lens
KW - Nuclear astrophysics
KW - Second cosmic vision call of ESA
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84866915072&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s10686-011-9286-6
DO - 10.1007/s10686-011-9286-6
M3 - Article
SN - 0922-6435
VL - 34
SP - 583
EP - 622
JO - Experimental Astronomy
JF - Experimental Astronomy
IS - 2
ER -