Click to start/stop:

Introduction

The Advanced Compton Telescope (ACT) is planned as the next generation space-based instrument devoted to observations of "low/medium"-energy gamma rays (~0.2--30 MeV). It follows upon the successful Compton Observatory COMPTEL, OSSE, and BATSE instruments, which discovered numerous interesting sources such as supernovae, black holes, pulsars, active galactic nuclei, and gamma-ray bursts. Further progress requires an instrument with significantly enhanced sensitivity, angular resolution, and energy resolution. The Advanced Compton Telescope will acheive the required performance through the use of new detector technologies and enhanced telescope design.

Several institutions are currently developing fundamental detector technologies and investigating different telescope design approaches. Due to the complexities of Compton telescope design and the complex background in this energy regime, detailed computer simulations are a key element in the development process. Simulations of one possible design are shown at right, where 511 keV gamma rays are transported through an assembly of solid state detector modules.

This site was established as part of an effort to achieve consistency in the simulations performed by the different research groups. It serves as a source of collaborative ACT simulation information. In the future, simulation software tools, references, and results will be distributed through the site.

Participants

Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics

Naval Research Laboratory

University of California, Riverside

Columbia University

University of New Hampshire

University of California, Berkeley

University of Alabama in Huntsville and NASA/NSSTC

NASA/Goddard LHEA

Centre d'Etude Spatiale des Rayonnements

Rice University

Software Resources

GEANT3 Low-Energy Compton Scattering/Polarization (GLECS & GLEPS) packages

MGGPOD Simulation Suite (CESR)

MGEANT Simulation Suite (GSFC)

CERN GEANT4

GEANT4 Low-Energy Compton Scattering (G4LECS) package

GEANT4 Space Users' Collaboration (ESA/ESTEC)

GEANT4 Space Development at QinetiQ

ACT Mission Concept Study Software (including ACTtools)

References

ACT Mission Concept Description (UCB)

Contact

Automatically Subscribe or Unsubscribe from the ACTSim Group Mailing List

Contact the list maintainer