Exploring the Universe from hard X-rays to gamma rays with GRIPS

Abstract

The Universe is still largely unexplored between hard X-rays and 100 MeV gamma rays. Using advanced detector technology, the combined pair and Compton telescope GRIPS can achieve a sensitivity improvement by a factor of up to 40 compared with previous observatories. The gamma ray imaging, polarimetry, and spectroscopy mission GRIPS would be a pathfinder in the transient Universe, discovering the most redshifted gamma ray bursts and blazars, detecting for the first time the primary 56 Ni from supernovae, identifying sources of cosmic ray nuclei, exploring white territory in the plasma chart by measuring the emission of magnetars, and resolving the structure of the enigmatic pair halo of our Galaxy.