Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- 1 X-ray polarimetry: historical remarks and other considerations
- Part I Polarimetry techniques
- Part II Polarized emission in X-ray sources
- Part III Future missions
- 37 Gravity and Extreme Magnetism SMEX (GEMS)
- 38 Programs of X-ray polarimetry in Italy
- 39 A polarimeter for IXO
- 40 Polarimetry with ASTRO-H soft gamma-ray detector
- 41 The Energetic X-ray Imaging Survey Telescope and its polarization sensitivity
- 42 PoGOLite: a balloon-borne soft gamma-ray polarimeter
- 43 Studies of neutron background rejection in the PoGOLite polarimeter
- 44 Observing polarized X-rays with PoGOLite
- 45 Pre-flight qualification tests of the PoGOLite detector system
- 46 The Gamma-RAy Polarimeter Experiment (GRAPE) balloon payload
- 47 POLAR: an instrument dedicated to GRB polarization measurement
- 48 Polarization detection capability of GRIPS
- 49 X-ray and γ-ray polarimetry small-satellite mission PolariS
- 50 GAP aboard the solar-powered sail mission
- 51 Hard X-ray polarimeter for small-satellite missions
- 52 Performance of hard X-ray polarimeter: PHENEX
- 53 GRB polarimetry with POET
- Author index
- Subject index
38 - Programs of X-ray polarimetry in Italy
from Part III - Future missions
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 July 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- 1 X-ray polarimetry: historical remarks and other considerations
- Part I Polarimetry techniques
- Part II Polarized emission in X-ray sources
- Part III Future missions
- 37 Gravity and Extreme Magnetism SMEX (GEMS)
- 38 Programs of X-ray polarimetry in Italy
- 39 A polarimeter for IXO
- 40 Polarimetry with ASTRO-H soft gamma-ray detector
- 41 The Energetic X-ray Imaging Survey Telescope and its polarization sensitivity
- 42 PoGOLite: a balloon-borne soft gamma-ray polarimeter
- 43 Studies of neutron background rejection in the PoGOLite polarimeter
- 44 Observing polarized X-rays with PoGOLite
- 45 Pre-flight qualification tests of the PoGOLite detector system
- 46 The Gamma-RAy Polarimeter Experiment (GRAPE) balloon payload
- 47 POLAR: an instrument dedicated to GRB polarization measurement
- 48 Polarization detection capability of GRIPS
- 49 X-ray and γ-ray polarimetry small-satellite mission PolariS
- 50 GAP aboard the solar-powered sail mission
- 51 Hard X-ray polarimeter for small-satellite missions
- 52 Performance of hard X-ray polarimeter: PHENEX
- 53 GRB polarimetry with POET
- Author index
- Subject index
Summary
Programs of X-ray polarimetry in Italy arise from the convergence of a long experience of X-ray astronomy missions with an outstanding tradition in development of radiation detectors. The gas pixel detector in the focus of X-ray optics can perform angular-resolved polarimetry with a breakthrough improvement in sensitivity, even with a moderate collecting surface. POLARIX makes a large use of already existing items and, in particular, of the three telescopes from the JET-X program. It can extend the X-ray polarimetry from one positive detection only, to tens of sources, including a few brighter extragalactics: an ambitious pathfinder on a very limited budget. Phase A study of POLARIX, and of four other missions, was performed in 2008 and ASI should select two missions to fly. Another pathfinder is under study: two short telescopes, designed with modern tight packing techniques, mounted as piggy-back on the Chinese mission HXMT.
The national context
X-ray polarimetry has been a line of research at IASF for many years. A scattering polarimeter was proposed for the XMM mission, but was not selected. An IASF team joined the collaboration headed by R. Novick for the Stellar X-ray Polarimeter, aboard the Spectrum X-Gamma mission, contributing the detectors as the sensors for both scattering and diffraction stages. SXRP was completed but the whole mission was not. Considering the large area of the telescope, SXRP was close to the best achievable with conventional techniques.
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- Information
- X-ray PolarimetryA New Window in Astrophysics, pp. 260 - 268Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010