Designing New Optics to Investigate Galactic Positron Generation
Prof. Dustin Swarm (University of Iowa)

The soft gamma-ray emission line at 511 keV is an important tracer for electron-positron annihilation. While astrophysical 511 keV emission was first detected in the 1960s, the origin of positron generation remains enigmatic due to the difficulty in imaging at these photon energies. X-ray telescopes focus light using grazing-incidence optics, mirrors that gently nudge photons to a distant focal point. However, technological and material constraints have capped the effectiveness of these optics at 80 keV, and photons in the 0.1—1 MeV energy range remain underexplored. In this talk I will describe methods for adapting grazing-incidence focusing optics for use in soft gamma rays. This could prove to be a technology pathway toward a high-sensitivity, high angular resolution imaging observatory for point sources of positron annihilation.

Please join us for the SED Director’s Seminar. Hosted by the Astroparticle Physics Laboratory, Code 661!