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ESA’s INTEGRAL Mission and US support for it

ESA’s INTEGRAL Mission and US support for it. Gerry Skinner Univ. Md / CRESST / NASA-GSFC Neil Gehrels NASA-GSFC. 1. ESA-led Gamma-Ray Mission with significant US and Russian Participation Launch October 17, 2002 Operations approved by ESA until at least Dec 2012 Science

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ESA’s INTEGRAL Mission and US support for it

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  1. ESA’s INTEGRAL Mission and US support for it Gerry Skinner Univ. Md / CRESST / NASA-GSFC Neil Gehrels NASA-GSFC 1

  2. ESA-led Gamma-Ray Mission with significant US and Russian Participation Launch October 17, 2002 Operations approved by ESA until at least Dec 2012 Science Gamma-ray astronomy (20 keV – 10 MeV) 2 Main gamma-ray instruments – SPI (spectrometer) & IBIS (imager) INTEGRAL is the only operating or planned mission providing imaging and spectrometry in the MeV energy band INTEGRAL Mission Summary SPI Ge Detectors IBIS JEM-X SPI OMC IBIS CdTe Detectors 2 2

  3. Integral Mission highlights • First detection of polarization in hard X-rays from the Crab nebula - high significance result with independent confirmation by two teams using different instrument configurations • Discovery of supergiant fast X-ray transients and their recognition as a new class of High Mass X-ray Binaries • Gamma-ray line astronomy • First clear detection of 1173 and 1333 keV 60Fe lines • Mapping of 26Al 1809 keV line in galactic distribution and velocity space • Mapping of 511 keV positron annihilation radiation; detection of asymmetry in disk emission • Key role in detecting highly obscured sources • Extragalactic: Obscured AGN • Galactic : highly absorbed transients • Discovery of hard powerlaw spectral components in the quiescent emission of many AXPs and SGRs 3

  4. Highlights 1 Gamma-ray Polarization of the Crab Nebula SPI: Dean et al. Science 2008; IBIS: Forot et al ApJ 2008 π = 46 ± 10 % Ψ = 123° ± 10°  aligned with pulsar spin axis More tentative detections of polarization in 2 GRBs and in Cyg X-1 4

  5. Highlights 2 Gamma-ray line spectroscopy • 26Al 1809 keV line • Galactic distribution mapped • Doppler shifts due to rotation measurable • 60Fe 1173 & 1332 keV lines • Ratio 26Al : 60Fe 0.25 ± 0.09 • constrains mixing and IMF of massive stars • 511 keV e+ annhilation line • Strong central bulge inconsistent with 26Al decay chain being dominant origin of positrons • Unexpected asymmetry in inner disk emission 5

  6. The US Role in Integral • Flight Hardware contribution to SPI Spectrometer • Pulse Shape Discrimination system (UCSD, UCB) Support ceased 2008 • Provision of Ground Support Equipment and technical design input for IBIS Imager (MSFC) Support ceased 2008 • One US Mission Scientist (Teegarden)Support ceased 2008 • Software and analysis system support for SPI (GSFC) Support ceased 2008 • Timing analysis software; Response matrix calculation and updates • Software support at the Integral Science Data Centre (ISDC), Geneva Support ceased 2008 • Provision of Goldstone ground station Still available to ESA, but no longer needed • Funding for US PIs and Co-Is with successful Guest Observer proposals Support ceased 2010 • US Guest Observer Facility Support ceased 2010; limited support through HEASARC • US Data Archive Mirror Support continues through HEASARC 6

  7. US Refereed Publications 137 winning GI proposals with US PIs in AO-1 to 7 (18.5% of total) 55% of AO-6 and AO-7 proposals have US participation ~35 proposals from ~15 institutions funded per year 83 US first author publications (12% of total) 246 US author publications(37% of total) 368 ATELs containing either INTEGRAL direct or follow-up observations 16% of all ATELs 2003-present US Scientist Participation in Observations Statistics up to 2010 7

  8. Impact of termination of NASA support • No GI program funding - US scientists with Integral time must find other funding sources (e.g. ADAP) or leave active participation to Non-US collaborators. • No GOF ; no user support • Negative message to ESA when they consider further mission extensions • Potential problem if further SPI detectors fail and a modified response matrix is needed But mirror archive will continue at HEASARC (subject to 2011 Senior Review recommendations being endorsed) 8

  9. INTEGRAL project and ADAP funding of US PIs and Co-Is + in ADAP 07 there were 3 INTEGRAL-related proposals of which 1 was funded at $146K over 3 years 9

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