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R. A. Kroeger, W. N. Johnson, J. D. Kurfess, B. F. Phlips (NRL), E. A. Wulf (NRC/NRL Resident Research Assoc.)
Compton gamma-ray telescopes should provide the order-of-magnitude improvement in sensitivity that will be needed to systematically study numerous supernovae and many other astrophysical gamma ray sources. The advent of highly-segmented gamma ray detectors with good energy resolution and three-dimensional position resolution has made a new class of high-efficiency Compton gamma ray detectors possible. These instruments record the positions and energies of each individual gamma-ray interaction with high precision. Analysis of the individual interactions can provide energy and directional information, even for events with only partial energy deposition. Advantages over traditional gamma-ray telescopes in the MeV region include enhanced efficiency, background rejection, gamma ray imaging, sensitivity to polarization, and resolving high multiplicity events. We report on efficiency calculations based on a simple Monte-Carlo analysis. Key factors in the efficiency include the probability an event will have the requisite number of interactions, the efficiency of reconstructing the event order, losses in passive materials, and detector material, energy and position resolution. Rejection of external background will also be discussed. The capabilities for new supernovae science will also be discussed, including the ability to study light-curves and classes of models by observing many 10s of supernovae per year.