The Anticoincidence System of Space-Based Gamma-Ray Telescope GAMMA-400, Test Beam Studies of Anticoincidence Detector Prototype with SiPM Readout

Abstract

The GAMMA-400 gamma-ray telescope is planned for the launch at the end of 2026 on the Navigator service platform designed by Lavochkin Association on an elliptical orbit with following initial parameters: an apogee $${\sim}$$ 300 000, a perigee $${\sim}$$ 500 km, a rotation period $${\sim}$$ 7 days and inclination of 51.4 $${}^{\circ}$$ . The apparatus is expected to operate for more than 5 years, reaching an unprecedented sensitivity for the search of dark matter signatures and the study of the unresolved and so far unidentified gamma-ray sources. The segmented anticoincidence counters surround the converter-tracker and calorimeter of the telescope with the purpose of vetoing to assure a clean track reconstruction and charged particle background suppression. The anticoincidence detector prototype based on long BC-408 scintillator with silicon photomultipliers readout was tested using 300-MeV positron beam of synchrotron C-25P ‘‘PAKHRA’’ of Lebedev Physical Institute. The measurement setup, design concepts for the prototype detector together with test results are discussed.