In-flight calibration of the INTEGRAL/IBIS Compton mode

Context. The INTEGRAL satellite explored the γ -ray sky since its launch on October 17, 2002, and until the end of its scientific operation on February 28, 2025. A large fraction of the available data is still largely untouched because the analysis is complex. Aims. We describe the latest in-flight calibration of the Compton-mode of the INTEGRAL/IBIS telescope, which takes more than 20 years of data into account. The spectroscopy and polarization of the standard candle that is the Crab Nebula is analyzed in detail. Methods. We operated the IBIS telescope as a coded-mask Compton telescope and used the Crab Nebula to refine the calibration, as is usually done for high-energy instruments. Results. We determined the spectroscopic and polarimetric properties of the IBIS Compton mode and their evolution for the entire duration of the mission. In addition, the long-term evolution of the Crab Nebula polarization was successfully measured and compared with other high-energy experiments. We were able to estimate the energy dependence of the Crab Nebula polarization in four energy bands between 200 keV and 1 MeV. In particular, the detection of polarized emissions strictly above 400 keV makes it the highest-energy measurement ever performed for the Crab Nebula. A Python library was also made publicly available to analyze processed data.

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Publication Details

Journal
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Published
2026-02-13
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202558466
Primary Topic
Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena
Type
article
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article

In-flight calibration of the INTEGRAL/IBIS Compton mode

P. Laurent, T. Bouchet, J. Rodriguez, F. Cangemi
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena
article

In-flight calibration of the INTEGRAL/IBIS Compton mode

P. Laurent, T. Bouchet, J. Rodriguez, F. Cangemi
article en

Abstract

Context. The INTEGRAL satellite explored the γ -ray sky since its launch on October 17, 2002, and until the end of its scientific operation on February 28, 2025. A large fraction of the available data is still largely untouched because the analysis is complex. Aims. We describe the latest in-flight calibration of the Compton-mode of the INTEGRAL/IBIS telescope, which takes more than 20 years of data into account. The spectroscopy and polarization of the standard candle that is the Crab Nebula is analyzed in detail. Methods. We operated the IBIS telescope as a coded-mask Compton telescope and used the Crab Nebula to refine the calibration, as is usually done for high-energy instruments. Results. We determined the spectroscopic and polarimetric properties of the IBIS Compton mode and their evolution for the entire duration of the mission. In addition, the long-term evolution of the Crab Nebula polarization was successfully measured and compared with other high-energy experiments. We were able to estimate the energy dependence of the Crab Nebula polarization in four energy bands between 200 keV and 1 MeV. In particular, the detection of polarized emissions strictly above 400 keV makes it the highest-energy measurement ever performed for the Crab Nebula. A Python library was also made publicly available to analyze processed data.

Astronomy and AstrophysicsVol. 707
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), Université Paris Cité (FR), Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives (FR), Université Paris-Saclay (FR), Astrophysique, Instrumentation et Modélisation (FR), Sorbonne Paris Cité (FR), Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics (DE), CEA Paris-Saclay (FR)
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In-flight calibration of the INTEGRAL/IBIS Compton mode — P. Laurent, T. Bouchet, et al. · Astronomy and Astrophysics (2026) | TGRS Research Map | TGRS