A DUAL mission for nuclear astrophysics

Peter von Ballmoos*, Jose Alvarez, Nicolas Barrière, Steve Boggs, Andrei Bykov, Juan Manuel Del Cura Velayos, Filippo Frontera, Lorraine Hanlon, Margarita Hernanz, Emmanuel Hinglais, Jordi Isern, Pierre Jean, Jürgen Knödlseder, Lucien Kuiper, Mark Leising, Benoît Pirard, Jean Pierre Prost, Rui M.Curado da Silva, Tadayuki Takahashi, John TomsickRoland Walter, Andreas Zoglauer

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

17 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

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.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)583-622
Number of pages40
JournalExperimental Astronomy
Volume34
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2012
Externally publishedYes

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