Development of a 511 keV Gamma-Ray Camera

The origin of the 511 keV gamma-ray emission from the galactic center region is still uncertain. The emission may be produced by the annihilation of positrons, resulting from the decay of dark matter particles, with electrons from the interstellar medium, and may thus be connected to one of the most important puzzles of current astrophysics research: the nature of dark matter. Perhaps more likely, the positrons are created by astrophysical sources, involving exclusively standard model physics. We propose here the development of the technologies for a 511 keV gamma-ray camera called 511-CAM (511 keV gamma-ray CAmera using Micro-calorimeters) that can be used in the focal plane of a pointed gamma-ray telescope. The 511-CAM has a projected 511 keV energy resolution of 270 eV Full Width Half Maximum or better, and improves by a factor of at least 16 on the performance of state-of-the-art Ge-based Compton telescopes, and by a factor of 3 or higher on the best possible Fano-factor-limited performance of a single-crystal high-purity Ge detector. With the unprecedented energy resolution and sub-arcmin angular resolutions of Laue lens or channeling optics, such an experiment could make substantial contributions to identifying the origin of the 511 keV emission by measuring the line-of-sight velocities of the emitting sources, and by identifying and characterizing point sources. The proposed two-year research program includes extending the upper energy reach of the SLEDGEHAMMER microcalorimeter gamma-ray detectors from 210 keV to beyond 511 keV by fabricating and testing SLEDGEHAMMER detectors with thick Sn, Ta, Bi, and BiSn absorbers in the first year of the program. In the second year of the program, we will build and test a dual-layer prototype detector of the 511-CAM. A full-sized 511-CAM (to be built in a follow-up research program) will be made of a stack of ~8 layers of SLEDGEHAMMER detectors that absorbs >90% of the incident 511 keV gamma-rays. The experimental program will be complemented by detailed detector simulations. The comparisons of the experimental and simulated data will allow us to fine tune the detector simulations. The fine-tuned simulations will in turn be used to optimize the design of the full 511-CAM. The R&D will allow us to design and propose 511-CAM-based balloon-borne and satellite-borne missions to future NASA announcements of opportunity.

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