The Advanced Gamma-Ray Astronomy Telescope Experiment (AGATE): Space Instrumentation Beyond EGRET
Session 10 -- South Polar and Lunar Telescopes
Display presentation, Wednesday, January 12, 9:30-6:45, Salons I/II Room (Crystal Gateway)

## [10.05] The Advanced Gamma-Ray Astronomy Telescope Experiment (AGATE): Space Instrumentation Beyond EGRET

R. Mukherjee, B.L. Dingus, J.A. Esposito (NASA/GSFC, USRA), D.L. Bertsch, R. Cuddapah, C.E. Fichtel, R.C. Hartman, S.D. Hunter, D.J. Thompson (NASA/GSFC)

{ The continued development of the Advanced Gamma-Ray Telescope Experiment (AGATE), the next generation'' high energy gamma-ray telescope, will be presented. In addition to having the same advantage as EGRET of a low background for 30 MeV to 30 GeV gamma-rays, AGATE will also have a sensitivity that is almost an order of magnitude higher than that of EGRET, extended energy range up to 100 GeV, and improved angular resolution. AGATE will have an area of $2\times2$ m$^2$ and will consist of a stack of drift chambers as the tracking detector. The drift gas used will be xenon, thus eliminating the need for high $Z$ conversion foils, reducing the scattering of electrons and positrons before the track position can be determined. To test the concept, a smaller prototype consisting of a 10 layer stack of ${1\over2} \times{1\over2}$ m$^2$ drift chambers has been constructed and successfully tested using atmospheric muons. Results on position resolution and efficiency for different gas mixtures will be presented. It is envisioned that AGATE, like EGRET, will continue to provide us with a wealth of information on active galactic nuclei, pulsars, diffuse emission, solar flares, and gamma-ray bursts.}