The 511-CAM Gamma Ray Mission Concept

Presentation #105.33 in the session Missions and Instruments - Poster Session.

by Henric Krawczynski, 511-CAM Team, Kun Hu, Ephraim Gau, Nicole Rodriguez Cavero, Matthew Fritts, Fabian Kislat, Daniel Becker, Douglas Bennett, Daniel Schmidt, Joel Ullom, Daniel Swetz, Mark Keller, Ryan Snodgrass, Jozsef Imrek, Md. Arman Hossen, Dana Braun, and Richard Bose

Published onMay 03, 2024

We describe a new concept for a 511 keV gamma ray mission called 511-CAM. The mission will make use of Transition Edge Sensor (TES) arrays with thick metal absorbers developed at NIST (Boulder). The unique strength of the mission will be an 511 keV energy resolution of ~250 eV Full Width Half Maximum, enabling detailed studies of the shape and substructure of the 511 keV emission from the galactic center region. We envision an evolving balloon mission. The first balloon flight will use the TES detector arrays and a collimator. The subsequent mission iterations would make use of concentrator or focusing gamma-ray optics. We present here the science case, the mission concept, and results from lab testing prototype detectors.