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The ComPair balloon instrument is a prototype gamma-ray telescope that aims to further develop technology for observing the gamma-ray sky in the MeV regime. ComPair combines four detector subsystems to enable parallel Compton scattering and pair-production detection, critical for observing in this energy range. This includes a 10 layer double-sided silicon strip detector tracker, a virtual Frisch grid low energy CZT calorimeter, a high energy CsI calorimeter, and a plastic scintillator anti-coincidence detector. The inaugural balloon flight successfully launched from the Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility site in Fort Sumner, New Mexico, in late August 2023, lasting approximately 6.5 hours in duration. In this proceeding, we discuss the development of the ComPair Since balloon payload, the performance during flight, and early results., Comment: 13 pages, 12 figures

The ComPair gamma-ray telescope is a technology demonstrator for a future gamma-ray telescope called the All-sky Medium Energy Gamma-ray Observatory (AMEGO). The instrument is composed of four subsystems, a double-sided silicon strip detector, a virtual Frisch grid CdZnTe calorimeter, a CsI:Tl based calorimeter, and an anti-coincidence detector (ACD). The CsI calorimeter's goal is to measure the position and energy deposited from high-energy events. To demonstrate the technological readiness, the calorimeter has flown onboard a NASA scientific balloon as part of the GRAPE-ComPair mission and accumulated around 3 hours of float time at an altitude of 40 km. During the flight, the CsI calorimeter observed background radiation, Regener-Pfotzer Maximum, and several gamma-ray activation lines originating from aluminum.

The Compton Pair (ComPair) telescope is a prototype that aims to develop the necessary technologies for future medium energy gamma-ray missions and to design, build, and test the prototype in a gamma-ray beam and balloon flight. The ComPair team has built an instrument that consists of 4 detector subsystems: a double-sided silicon strip detector Tracker, a novel high-resolution virtual Frisch-grid cadmium zinc telluride Calorimeter, and a high-energy hodoscopic cesium iodide Calorimeter, all of which are surrounded by a plastic scintillator anti-coincidence detector. These subsystems together detect and characterize photons via Compton scattering and pair production, enable a veto of cosmic rays, and are a proof-of-concept for a space telescope with the same architecture. A future medium-energy gamma-ray mission enabled through ComPair will address many questions posed in the Astro2020 Decadal survey in both the New Messengers and New Physics and the Cosmic Ecosystems themes. In this contribution, we will give an overview of the ComPair project and steps forward to the balloon flight., Comment: Proceedings for the 38th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC2023)

Herein, we describe the design, implementation and operation principles of an astronomical camera system, based on a large-format CCD261-84 detector with an extremely thick 200 mkm substrate. The DINACON-V controller was used with the CCD to achieve high performance and low noise. The CCD system photometric characteristics are presented. A spatial autocorrelation analysis of flat-field images was performed to reveal the dependence of substrate voltage on the lateral charge spreading. The investigation of the dispersion index for the optimal choice of exposure time is discussed. Studies of the patterns of fringes were carried out in comparison with previous detectors. The amplitude of fringes with CCD261-84 was significantly lower, compared to previous-generation detectors. The results of using a new camera for imaging and spectral observations at the Russian 6 m telescope with the SCORPIO-2 multimode focal reducer are considered. The developed CCD camera system makes it possible to significantly increase the sensitivity in the 800-1000 spectral range., Comment: 15 pages, 10 figures, 1 table

Electron-positron pair production is the essential process for high-energy gamma-ray astrophysical observations. Following the pioneering OSO-3 counter telescope, the field evolved into use of particle tracking instruments, largely derived from high-energy physics detectors. Although many of the techniques were developed on balloon-borne gamma-ray telescopes, the need to escape the high background in the atmosphere meant that the breakthrough discoveries came from the SAS-2 and COS-B satellites. The next major pair production success was EGRET on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, which provided the first all-sky map at energies above 100 MeV and found a variety of gamma-ray sources, many of which were variable. The current generation of pair production telescopes, AGILE and Fermi LAT, have broadened high-energy gamma-ray astrophysics with particular emphasis on multiwavelength and multimessenger studies. A variety of options remain open for future missions based on pair production with improved instrumental performance., Comment: 35 pages, 17 figures, To appear in "Handbook of X-ray and Gamma-ray Astrophysics" by Springer - Editors in chief: C. Bambi and A. Santangelo

There is a growing interest in the science uniquely enabled by observations in the MeV range, particularly in light of multi-messenger astrophysics. The Compton Pair (ComPair) telescope, a prototype of the AMEGO Probe-class concept, consists of four subsystems that together detect and characterize gamma rays in the MeV regime. A double-sided strip silicon Tracker gives a precise measure of the first Compton scatter interaction and tracks pair-conversion products. A novel cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) detector with excellent position and energy resolution beneath the Tracker detects the Compton-scattered photons. A thick cesium iodide (CsI) calorimeter contains the high-energy Compton and pair events. The instrument is surrounded by a plastic anti-coincidence (ACD) detector to veto the cosmic-ray background. In this work, we will give an overview of the science motivation and a description of the prototype development and performance.

Gamma-rays, the most energetic photons, carry information from the far reaches of extragalactic space with minimal interaction or loss of information. They bring messages about particle acceleration in environments so extreme they cannot be reproduced on earth for a closer look. Gamma-ray astrophysics is so complementary with collider work that particle physicists and astroparticle physicists are often one in the same. Gamma-ray instruments, especially the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, have been pivotal in major multi-messenger discoveries over the past decade. There is presently a great deal of interest and scientific expertise available to push forward new technologies, to plan and build space- and ground-based gamma-ray facilities, and to build multi-messenger networks with gamma rays at their core. It is therefore concerning that before the community comes together for planning exercises again, much of that infrastructure could be lost to a lack of long-term planning for support of gamma-ray astrophysics. Gamma-rays with energies from the MeV to the EeV band are therefore central to multiwavelength and multi-messenger studies to everything from astroparticle physics with compact objects, to dark matter studies with diffuse large scale structure. These goals and new discoveries have generated a wave of new gamma-ray facility proposals and programs. This paper highlights new and proposed gamma-ray technologies and facilities that have each been designed to address specific needs in the measurement of extreme astrophysical sources that probe some of the most pressing questions in fundamental physics for the next decade. The proposed instrumentation would also address the priorities laid out in the recent Astro2020 Decadal Survey, a complementary study by the astrophysics community that provides opportunities also relevant to Snowmass., Comment: Contribution to Snowmass 2021

The sky at MeV energies is currently poorly explored. Here we present an innovative mission concept that builds on and improves past and currently proposed missions at such energies. We outline the motivations for combining a coded mask and a Compton telescope and we define the scientific goals of such a mission. The Galactic Explorer with a Coded Aperture Mask Compton Telescope (GECCO) is a novel concept for a next-generation telescope covering hard X-ray and soft gamma-ray energies. The potential and importance of this approach that bridges the observational gap in the MeV energy range are presented. With the unprecedented angular resolution of the coded mask telescope combined with the sensitive Compton telescope, a mission such as GECCO can disentangle the discrete sources from the truly diffuse emission. Individual Galactic and extragalactic sources are detected. This also allows to understand the gamma-ray Galactic center excess and the Fermi Bubbles, and to trace the low-energy cosmic rays, and their propagation in the Galaxy. Nuclear and annihilation lines are spatially and spectrally resolved from the continuum emission and from sources, addressing the role of low-energy cosmic rays in star formation and galaxy evolution, the origin of the 511 keV positron line, fundamental physics, and the chemical enrichment in the Galaxy. Such an instrument also detects explosive transient gamma-ray sources, which enable identifying and studying the astrophysical objects that produce gravitational waves and neutrinos in a multi-messenger context. By looking at a poorly explored energy band it also allows discoveries of new astrophysical phenomena., Comment: 16 pages. Contact authors: Elena Orlando, Eugenio Bottacini

The scanning Fabry-Perot interferometer (FPI) - is the oldest method of optical 3D spectroscopy. It is still in use because of the high spectral resolution it provides over a large field of view. The history of the application of this method for the study of extended ob jects (nebulae and galaxies) and the technique of data reduction and analysis are discussed. The paper focuses on the performing observations with the scanning FPI on the 6-m telescope of the Special Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SAO RAS). The instrument is currently used as a part of the SCORPIO-2 multimode focal reducer. The results of studies of various galactic and extragalactic objects with the scanning FPI on the 6-m telescope - star-forming regions and young stellar objects, spiral, ring, dwarf and interacting galaxies, ionization cones of active galactic nuclei, galactic winds, etc. are briefly discussed. Further prospects for research with the scanning FPI of the SAO RAS are discussed., Comment: 25 pages, 8 figures, accepted to Astrophysical Bulletin

We outline the science opportunities in the areas of searches for dark matter and new physics offered by a proposed future MeV gamma-ray telescope, the Galactic Explorer with a Coded Aperture Mask Compton Telescope (GECCO). We point out that such an instrument would play a critical role in opening up a discovery window for particle dark matter with mass in the MeV or sub-MeV range, in disentangling the origin of the mysterious 511 keV line emission in the Galactic Center region, and in potentially discovering Hawking evaporation from light primordial black holes., Comment: 27 pages, 10 figures, ~matches published version

We described the design and operation principles of a new tunable-filter photometer developed for the 1-m telescope of the Special Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the 2.5-m telescope of the Sternberg Astronomical Institute of the Moscow State University. The instrument is mounted on the scanning Fabry-Perot interferometer operating in the tunable-filter mode in the spectral range of 460-800 nm with a typical spectral resolution of about 1.3 nm. It allows one to create images of galactic and extragalactic nebulae in the emission lines having different excitation conditions and to carry out diagnostics of the gas ionization state. The main steps of observations, data calibration, and reduction are illustrated by examples of different emission-line objects: galactic HII regions, planetary nebulae, active galaxies with extended filaments, starburst galaxies, and Perseus galaxy cluster., Comment: Accepted to Experimental Astronomy, 16 pages

The All-sky Medium Energy Gamma-ray Observatory (AMEGO) is a probe class mission concept that will provide essential contributions to multimessenger astrophysics in the late 2020s and beyond. AMEGO combines high sensitivity in the 200 keV to 10 GeV energy range with a wide field of view, good spectral resolution, and polarization sensitivity. Therefore, AMEGO is key in the study of multimessenger astrophysical objects that have unique signatures in the gamma-ray regime, such as neutron star mergers, supernovae, and flaring active galactic nuclei. The order-of-magnitude improvement compared to previous MeV missions also enables discoveries of a wide range of phenomena whose energy output peaks in the relatively unexplored medium-energy gamma-ray band., Comment: Astro2020 APC White Paper Updated to make small change to author list in metadata

The CALorimetric Electron Telescope (CALET), launched for installation on the International Space Station (ISS) in August, 2015, has been accumulating scientific data since October, 2015. CALET is intended to perform long-duration observations of high-energy cosmic rays onboard the ISS. CALET directly measures the cosmic-ray electron spectrum in the energy range of 1 GeV to 20 TeV with a 2% energy resolution above 30 GeV. In addition, the instrument can measure the spectrum of gamma rays well into the TeV range, and the spectra of protons and nuclei up to a PeV. In order to operate the CALET onboard ISS, JAXA Ground Support Equipment (JAXA-GSE) and the Waseda CALET Operations Center (WCOC) have been established. Scientific operations using CALET are planned at WCOC, taking into account orbital variations of geomagnetic rigidity cutoff. Scheduled command sequences are used to control the CALET observation modes on orbit. Calibration data acquisition by, for example, recording pedestal and penetrating particle events, a low-energy electron trigger mode operating at high geomagnetic latitude, a low-energy gamma-ray trigger mode operating at low geomagnetic latitude, and an ultra heavy trigger mode, are scheduled around the ISS orbit while maintaining maximum exposure to high-energy electrons and other high-energy shower events by always having the high-energy trigger mode active. The WCOC also prepares and distributes CALET flight data to collaborators in Italy and the United States. As of August 31, 2017, the total observation time is 689 days with a live time fraction of the total time of approximately 84%. Nearly 450 million events are collected with a high-energy (E>10 GeV) trigger. By combining all operation modes with the excellent-quality on-orbit data collected thus far, it is expected that a five-year observation period will provide a wealth of new and interesting results., Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, published online 27 February 2018

In August 2015, the CALorimetric Electron Telescope (CALET), designed for long exposure observations of high energy cosmic rays, docked with the International Space Station (ISS) and shortly thereafter began tocollect data. CALET will measure the cosmic ray electron spectrum over the energy range of 1 GeV to 20 TeV with a very high resolution of 2% above 100 GeV, based on a dedicated instrument incorporating an exceptionally thick 30 radiation-length calorimeter with both total absorption and imaging (TASC and IMC) units. Each TASC readout channel must be carefully calibrated over the extremely wide dynamic range of CALET that spans six orders of magnitude in order to obtain a degree of calibration accuracy matching the resolution of energy measurements. These calibrations consist of calculating the conversion factors between ADC units and energy deposits, ensuring linearity over each gain range, and providing a seamless transition between neighboring gain ranges. This paper describes these calibration methods in detail, along with the resulting data and associated accuracies. The results presented in this paper show that a sufficient accuracy was achieved for the calibrations of each channel in order to obtain a suitable resolution over the entire dynamic range of the electron spectrum measurement., Comment: 13 pages, 11 figures, published online 4 March 2017

We describe a device (adapter) for off-axis guiding and photometric calibration of wide-angle spectrographs operating in the prime focus of the 6-m telescope of the Special Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences. To compensate coma in off-axis star images an achromatic lens corrector is used, which ensures maintaining image quality (FWHM) at a level of about 1'' within 15' from the optical axis. The device has two 54'-diameter movable guiding fields, which can move in 10' x 4'.5 rectangular areas. The device can perform automatic search for guiding stars, use them to control the variations of atmospheric transmittance, and focus the telescope during exposure. The limiting magnitude of potential guiding stars is mR ~17 mag. The calibration path whose optical arrangement meets the telecentrism condition allows the spectrograph to be illuminated both by a source of line spectrum (a He-Ne-Ar filled lamp) and by a source of continuum spectrum. The latter is usually represented either by a halogen lamp or a set of light-emitting diodes, which provide illumination of approximately uniform intensity over the wavelength interval from 350 to 900 nm. The adapter is used for observations with SCORPIO-2 multimode focal reducer., Comment: Accepted to Astrophysical Bulletin. 11 pages, 11 figures, 1 table

e-ASTROGAM (enhanced ASTROGAM) is a breakthrough Observatory space mission, with a detector composed by a Silicon tracker, a calorimeter, and an anticoincidence system, dedicated to the study of the non-thermal Universe in the photon energy range from 0.3 MeV to 3 GeV - the lower energy limit can be pushed to energies as low as 150 keV for the tracker, and to 30 keV for calorimetric detection. The mission is based on an advanced space-proven detector technology, with unprecedented sensitivity, angular and energy resolution, combined with polarimetric capability. Thanks to its performance in the MeV-GeV domain, substantially improving its predecessors, e-ASTROGAM will open a new window on the non-thermal Universe, making pioneering observations of the most powerful Galactic and extragalactic sources, elucidating the nature of their relativistic outflows and their effects on the surroundings. With a line sensitivity in the MeV energy range one to two orders of magnitude better than previous generation instruments, e-ASTROGAM will determine the origin of key isotopes fundamental for the understanding of supernova explosion and the chemical evolution of our Galaxy. The mission will provide unique data of significant interest to a broad astronomical community, complementary to powerful observatories such as LIGO-Virgo-GEO600-KAGRA, SKA, ALMA, E-ELT, TMT, LSST, JWST, Athena, CTA, IceCube, KM3NeT, and LISA., Comment: Published on Journal of High Energy Astrophysics (Elsevier)

Extraterrestrial gamma-ray astronomy is now a source of new knowledge in the fields of astrophysics, cosmic-ray physics, and the nature of dark matter. The next absolutely necessary step in the development of extraterrestrial high-energy gamma-ray astronomy is the improvement of the physical and technical characteristics of gamma-ray telescopes, especially the angular and energy resolutions. Such a new generation telescope will be GAMMA-400. GAMMA-400, currently developing gamma-ray telescope, together with X-ray telescope will precisely and detailed observe in the energy range of ~20 MeV to ~1000 GeV and 3-30 keV the Galactic plane, especially, Galactic Center, Fermi Bubbles, Crab, Cygnus, etc. The GAMMA- 400 will operate in the highly elliptic orbit continuously for a long time with the unprecedented angular (~0.01{\deg} at E{\gamma} = 100 GeV) and energy (~1% at E{\gamma} = 100 GeV) resolutions better than the Fermi-LAT, as well as ground gamma-ray telescopes, by a factor of 5-10. GAMMA-400 will permit to resolve gamma rays from annihilation or decay of dark matter particles, identify many discrete sources (many of which are variable), to clarify the structure of extended sources, to specify the data on the diffuse emission., Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures, ICRC2017

The main goal for the GAMMA-400 gamma-ray telescope mission is to perform a sensitive search for signatures of dark matter particles in high-energy gamma-ray emission. Measurements will also concern the following scientific goals: detailed study of the Galactic center region, investigation of point and extended gamma-ray sources, studies of the energy spectra of Galactic and extragalactic diffuse emissions. To perform these measurements the GAMMA-400 gamma-ray telescope possesses unique physical characteristics for energy range from ~20 MeV to ~1000 GeV in comparison with previous and current space and ground-based experiments. The major advantage of the GAMMA-400 instrument is excellent angular and energy resolutions for gamma-rays above 10 GeV. The gamma-ray telescope angular and energy resolutions for the main aperture at 100-GeV gamma rays are ~0.01 deg and ~1%, respectively. The special goal is to improve physical characteristics in the low- energy range from ~20 MeV to 100 MeV. Minimizing the amount of dead matter in the telescope aperture allows us to obtain the angular and energy resolutions better in this range than in current space missions. The gamma-ray telescope angular resolution at 50-MeV gamma rays is better than 5 deg and energy resolution is ~10%. We report the method providing these results., Comment: XXV ECRS 2016 Proceedings - eConf C16-09-04.3

We describe the design of a low- and medium-resolution spectrograph ( R=300-1300) developed at the Special Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SAO RAS) for the 1.6-m AZT-33IK telescope of Sayan Observatory of the Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Physics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. We report the results of laboratory measurements of the parameters of the instrument and tests performed on the SAO RAS 1-m Zeiss-1000 telescope. We measured the total quantum efficiency of the "spectrograph + telescope + detector" system on AZT-33IK telescope, which at its maximum reaches 56%. Such a hight transparency of the spectrograph allows it to be used with the 1.6-m telescope to determine the types and redshifts of objects with magnitudes m_AB~20-21, that was confirmed by actual observations., Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures. Astrophysical Bulletin, 2016, vol. 71, No.4, p. 479

e-ASTROGAM (`enhanced ASTROGAM') is a breakthrough Observatory mission dedicated to the study of the non-thermal Universe in the photon energy range from 0.3 MeV to 3 GeV. The mission is based on an advanced space-proven detector technology, with unprecedented sensitivity, angular and energy resolution, combined with polarimetric capability. In the largely unexplored MeV-GeV domain, e-ASTROGAM will open a new window on the non-thermal Universe, making pioneering observations of the most powerful Galactic and extragalactic sources, elucidating the nature of their relativistic outflows and their effects on Galactic ecosystems. With a line sensitivity in the MeV energy range one to two orders of magnitude better than previous generation instruments, will determine the origin of key isotopes fundamental for the understanding of supernova explosion and the chemical evolution of our Galaxy. The mission will provide unique data of significant interest to a broad astronomical community, complementary to powerful observatories such as LIGO-Virgo-GEO600-KAGRA, SKA, ALMA, E-ELT, TMT, LSST, JWST, Athena, CTA, IceCube, KM3NeT, and the promise of eLISA. Keywords: High-energy gamma-ray astronomy, High-energy astrophysics, Nuclear Astrophysics, Compton and Pair creation telescope, Gamma-ray bursts, Active Galactic Nuclei, Jets, Outflows, Multiwavelength observations of the Universe, Counterparts of gravitational waves, Fermi, Dark Matter, Nucleosynthesis, Early Universe, Supernovae, Cosmic Rays, Cosmic antimatter., Comment: Exp Astron (2017)

To uniformly determine the properties of supernova remnants (SNRs) at high energies, we have developed the first systematic survey at energies from 1 to 100 GeV using data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope. Based on the spatial overlap of sources detected at GeV energies with SNRs known from radio surveys, we classify 30 sources as likely GeV SNRs. We also report 14 marginal associations and 245 flux upper limits. A mock catalog in which the positions of known remnants are scrambled in Galactic longitude, allows us to determine an upper limit of 22% on the number of GeV candidates falsely identified as SNRs. We have also developed a method to estimate spectral and spatial systematic errors arising from the diffuse interstellar emission model, a key component of all Galactic Fermi LAT analyses. By studying remnants uniformly in aggregate, we measure the GeV properties common to these objects and provide a crucial context for the detailed modeling of individual SNRs. Combining our GeV results with multiwavelength (MW) data, including radio, X-ray, and TeV, demonstrates the need for improvements to previously sufficient, simple models describing the GeV and radio emission from these objects. We model the GeV and MW emission from SNRs in aggregate to constrain their maximal contribution to observed Galactic cosmic rays., Comment: Resubmitted to ApJS

We describe the recent modifications to the data reduction technique for observations acquired with the scanning Fabry-Perot interferometer (FPI) mounted on the 6-m telescope of the Special Astrophysical Observatory that allow the wavelength scale to be correctly computed in the case of large mutual offsets of studied objects in interferograms. Also the parameters of the scanning FPIs used in the SCORPIO-2 multimode focal reducer are considered., Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures. Astrophysical Bulletin, 2015, vol. 70, No.4, p. 494

The gamma-ray energy range from a few hundred keV to a few hundred MeV has remained largely unexplored, mainly due to the challenging nature of the measurements, since the pi- oneering, but limited, observations by COMPTEL on the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory (1991-2000). This energy range is a transition region between thermal and nonthermal processes, and accurate measurements are critical for answering a broad range of astrophysical questions. We are developing a MIDEX-scale wide-aperture discovery mission, ComPair (Compton-Pair Production Space Telescope), to investigate the energy range from 200 keV to > 500 MeV with high energy and angular resolution and with sensitivity approaching a factor of 20-50 better than COMPTEL. This instrument will be equally capable to detect both Compton-scattering events at lower energy and pair-production events at higher energy. ComPair will build on the her- itage of successful space missions including Fermi LAT, AGILE, AMS and PAMELA, and will utilize well-developed space-qualified detector technologies including Si-strip and CdZnTe-strip detectors, heavy inorganic scintillators, and plastic scintillators., Comment: The Compair sensitivity plot (fig.8) updated

The GAMMA-400 gamma-ray telescope with excellent angular and energy resolutions is designed to search for signatures of dark matter in the fluxes of gamma-ray emission and electrons + positrons. Precision investigations of gamma-ray emission from Galactic Center, Crab, Vela, Cygnus, Geminga, and other regions will be performed, as well as diffuse gamma-ray emission, along with measurements of high-energy electron + positron and nuclei fluxes. Furthermore, it will study gamma-ray bursts and gamma-ray emission from the Sun during periods of solar activity. The energy range of GAMMA-400 is expected to be from ~20 MeV up to TeV energies for gamma rays, up to 20 TeV for electrons + positrons, and up to 10E15 eV for cosmic-ray nuclei. For high-energy gamma rays with energy from 10 to 100 GeV, the GAMMA-400 angular resolution improves from 0.1{\deg} to ~0.01{\deg} and energy resolution from 3% to ~1%; the proton rejection factor is ~5x10E5. GAMMA-400 will be installed onboard the Russian space observatory., Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, 2 tables, submitted to the proceedings of ICRC2015

The GAMMA-400 gamma-ray telescope is intended to measure the fluxes of gamma rays and cosmic-ray electrons and positrons in the energy range from 100 MeV to several TeV. Such measurements concern with the following scientific goals: search for signatures of dark matter, investigation of gamma-ray point and extended sources, studies of the energy spectra of Galactic and extragalactic diffuse emission, studies of gamma-ray bursts and gamma-ray emission from the active Sun, as well as high-precision measurements of spectra of high-energy electrons and positrons, protons, and nuclei up to the knee. The main components of cosmic rays are protons and helium nuclei, whereas the part of lepton component in the total flux is ~10E-3 for high energies. In present paper, the capability of the GAMMA-400 gamma-ray telescope to distinguish electrons and positrons from protons in cosmic rays is investigated. The individual contribution to the proton rejection is studied for each detector system of the GAMMA-400 gamma-ray telescope. Using combined information from all detector systems allow us to provide the proton rejection from electrons with a factor of ~4x10E5 for vertical incident particles and ~3x10E5 for particles with initial inclination of 30 degrees. The calculations were performed for the electron energy range from 50 GeV to 1 TeV., Comment: 19 pages, 10 figures, submitted to Advances and Space Research

GAMMA-400 is a new space mission, designed as a dual experiment, capable to study both high energy gamma rays (from $\sim$100 MeV to few TeV) and cosmic rays (electrons up to 20 TeV and nuclei up to $\sim$10$^{15}$ eV). The full simulation framework of GAMMA-400 is based on the Geant4 toolkit. The details of the gamma-ray reconstruction pipeline in the pre-shower and calorimeter will be outlined. The performance of GAMMA-400 (PSF, effective area) have been obtained using this framework. The most updated results on them will be shown., Comment: 2014 Fermi Symposium proceedings - eConf C14102.1

GAMMA-400 is a new space mission which will be installed on board the Russian space platform Navigator. It is scheduled to be launched at the beginning of the next decade. GAMMA-400 is designed to study simultaneously gamma rays (up to 3 TeV) and cosmic rays (electrons and positrons from 1 GeV to 20 TeV, nuclei up to 10$^{15}$-10$^{16}$ eV). Being a dual-purpose mission, GAMMA-400 will be able to address some of the most impelling science topics, such as search for signatures of dark matter, cosmic-rays origin and propagation, and the nature of transients. GAMMA-400 will try to solve the unanswered questions on these topics by high-precision measurements of the Galactic and extragalactic gamma-ray sources, Galactic and extragalactic diffuse emission and the spectra of cosmic-ray electrons + positrons and nuclei, thanks to excellent energy and angular resolutions., Comment: 2014 Fermi Symposium proceedings - eConf C14102.1

The present design of the new space observatory GAMMA-400 is presented in this paper. The instrument has been designed for the optimal detection of gamma rays in a broad energy range (from ~100 MeV up to 3 TeV), with excellent angular and energy resolution. The observatory will also allow precise and high statistic studies of the electron component in the cosmic rays up to the multi TeV region, as well as protons and nuclei spectra up to the knee region. The GAMMA-400 observatory will allow to address a broad range of science topics, like search for signatures of dark matter, studies of Galactic and extragalactic gamma-ray sources, Galactic and extragalactic diffuse emission, gamma-ray bursts and charged cosmic rays acceleration and diffusion mechanism up to the knee.

The measurements of gamma-ray fluxes and cosmic-ray electrons and positrons in the energy range from 100 MeV to several TeV, which will be implemented by the specially designed GAMMA-400 gamma-ray telescope, concern with the following broad range of science topics. Searching for signatures of dark matter, surveying the celestial sphere in order to study gamma-ray point and extended sources, measuring the energy spectra of Galactic and extragalactic diffuse gamma-ray emission, studying gamma-ray bursts and gamma-ray emission from the Sun, as well as high precision measuring spectra of high-energy electrons and positrons, protons and nuclei up to the knee. To clarify these scientific problems with the new experimental data the GAMMA-400 gamma-ray telescope possesses unique physical characteristics comparing with previous and present experiments. For gamma-ray energies more than 100 GeV GAMMA-400 provides the energy resolution of ~1% and angular resolution better than 0.02 deg. The methods developed to reconstruct the direction of incident gamma photon are presented in this paper, as well as, the capability of the GAMMA-400 gamma-ray telescope to distinguish electrons and positrons from protons in cosmic rays is investigated., Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Proceedings of Science

GAMMA-400 is a future high-energy gamma-ray telescope, designed to measure the fluxes of gamma-rays and cosmic-ray electrons + positrons, which can be produced by annihilation or decay of dark matter particles, and to survey the celestial sphere in order to study point and extended sources of gamma-rays, measure energy spectra of Galactic and extragalactic diffuse gamma-ray emission, gamma-ray bursts, and gamma-ray emission from the Sun. GAMMA-400 covers the energy range from 100 MeV to ~3000 GeV. Its angular resolution is ~0.01 deg(Eg > 100 GeV), and the energy resolution ~1% (Eg > 10 GeV). GAMMA-400 is planned to be launched on the Russian space platform Navigator in 2019. The GAMMA-400 perspectives in the search for dark matter in various scenarios are presented in this paper, Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, submitted to the Proceedings of the International Cosmic-Ray Conference 2013, Brazil, Rio de Janeiro

The design of the new space-based gamma-ray telescope GAMMA-400 is presented. GAMMA-400 is optimized for the energy 100 GeV with the best parameters: the angular resolution ~0.01 deg, the energy resolution ~1%, and the proton rejection factor ~10E6, but is able to measure gamma-ray and electron + positron fluxes in the energy range from 100 MeV to 10 TeV. GAMMA-400 is aimed to a broad range of science topics, such as search for signatures of dark matter, studies of Galactic and extragalactic gamma-ray sources, Galactic and extragalactic diffuse emission, gamma-ray bursts, as well as high-precision measurements of spectra of cosmic-ray electrons + positrons, and nuclei., Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, 1 table, submitted to to the Proceedings of the International Cosmic-Ray Conference 2013, Brazil, Rio de Janeiro

The GAMMA-400 gamma-ray telescope is designed to measure the fluxes of gamma rays and cosmic-ray electrons + positrons, which can be produced by annihilation or decay of the dark matter particles, as well as to survey the celestial sphere in order to study point and extended sources of gamma rays, measure energy spectra of Galactic and extragalactic diffuse gamma-ray emission, gamma-ray bursts, and gamma-ray emission from the Sun. The GAMMA-400 covers the energy range from 100 MeV to 3000 GeV. Its angular resolution is ~0.01 deg (E{\gamma} > 100 GeV), the energy resolution ~1% (E{\gamma} > 10 GeV), and the proton rejection factor ~10E6. GAMMA-400 will be installed on the Russian space platform Navigator. The beginning of observations is planned for 2018., Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables; submitted to American Institute of Physics

The preliminary design of the new space gamma-ray telescope GAMMA-400 for the energy range 100 MeV - 3 TeV is presented. The angular resolution of the instrument, 1-2{\deg} at E{\gamma} ~100 MeV and ~0.01^{\circ} at E{\gamma} > 100 GeV, its energy resolution ~1% at E{\gamma} > 100 GeV, and the proton rejection factor ~10E6 are optimized to address a broad range of science topics, such as search for signatures of dark matter, studies of Galactic and extragalactic gamma-ray sources, Galactic and extragalactic diffuse emission, gamma-ray bursts, as well as high-precision measurements of spectra of cosmic-ray electrons, positrons, and nuclei., Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure, 1 table, submitted to Advances in Space Research

A significant part of observations by Russian 6-m telescope is carried out using SCORPIO multi-mode focal reducer. A lot of scientific data have been collected using observations in direct imaging, slit spectroscopy and Fabry-Perot interferometry modes during the past ten years. Some results of these observations are considered in this review. We are also present a short description of a new generation instrument named SCORPIO-2., Comment: 9 pages, proceeding of 8th SCSLSA, to appear in Baltic Astronomy; added references

In this review we consider various ring structures that are observed in galaxies. Formation and evolution of the rings are interesting problems in studies of galactic morphology. They are related to such fundamental aspects of galactic evolution and dynamics as the nature and distribution of the dark matter in galaxies, galactic interactions and internal secular evolution of galactic substructures. A significant fraction of galactic rings forms in the disks due to gravitational torques from bar-like patterns. In contrast to this internally driven origin, the phenomenon of the polar-ring galaxies is closely connected with the processes of intergalactic interactions and merging. A rare class of collisional rings reveals the density waves triggered in the stellar and gaseous disks after a strong head-on collision with a companion. We briefly review the status of studies of gas kinematics in the rings of different origin. We stress that velocity fields of the ionized gas obtained with the Fabry-Perot interferometers provide a very important information for these studies., Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures, New Astronomy Reviews (proceeding of 7th SCSLSA), in press