Background and Imaging Simulations for the Hard X-Ray Camera of the MIRAX Mission

TL;DR

This paper presents detailed Monte Carlo simulations of the MIRAX hard X-ray camera's performance at balloon and satellite altitudes, providing insights into background noise, sensitivity, and simulation setup for high-energy astrophysics instruments.

Contribution

It offers a comprehensive simulation framework and detailed results for the MIRAX hard X-ray camera, including background modeling and sensitivity analysis, which are valuable for future high-energy astrophysics missions.

Findings

Simulated instrumental background at different altitudes.

Sensitivity estimates for the MIRAX camera.

Guidelines for GEANT4 simulation setup in this context.

Abstract

We report the results of detailed Monte Carlo simulations of the performance expected both at balloon altitudes and at the probable satellite orbit of a hard X-ray coded-aperture camera being developed for the MIRAX mission. Based on a thorough mass model of the instrument and detailed specifications of the spectra and angular dependence of the various relevant radiation fields at both the stratospheric and orbital environments, we have used the well-known package GEANT4 to simulate the instrumental background of the camera. We also show simulated images of source fields to be observed and calculated the detailed sensitivity of the instrument in both situations. The results reported here are especially important to researchers in this field considering that we provide important information, not easily found in the literature, on how to prepare input files and calculate crucial instrumental parameters to perform GEANT4 simulations for high-energy astrophysics space experiments.