ATM Spatial PMT might have scientific application

[Dominic-Luc Webb molmed <Dominic.Luc-Webb@molmed.ki.se>]

Well, I caught a glimpse of the November 2000 S&T. I was in a 
hurry and didn't wait in line to buy it right away (wanted that 
flex mirror article). Now I may never see that issue. 

Via a mishap, I ended up with the December 2000 issue of S&T 
instead, but now that I read through it, I am glad for this mishap. 
There is a short article about a special type of gamma ray burst 
which emits some of its light in the blue. I also noted 
that the phenomenon is unevenly distributed, quite frequently 
within Ursa Major, which I can see for pretty much the 
whole night every night of the year from where I am.
The article goes on to discuss the timing characteristics, 
within milliseconds.... spark, spark, and finally a bright idea...

It took me a few microseconds to realize that my spatially 
resolved PMT system could probably manage recordings of such a 
burst. I could simply image Ursa Major all day and night (very 
long nights up here this time of year, and not much else to do)...

But then a thought occured to me. There are not that many 
really bright stars in Ursa Major. Maybe I could just 
record the whole constellation, masking the brightest 
stars with a black spot on a very thin microscope cover 
slip that would block the light from the brightest stars.
I would imagine that a gamma burst would be strong
enough to be measurable over the remaining background signal 
from fainter stars. After all, we're looking for a "burst". 
This would greatly simplify things and would speed up recordings 
with a filter wheel (10 Khz is not unusual for PMTs). Somehow, 
there seems to be a higher authority up there telling me that 
the mishap that put that Dec issue of S&T in my hands is 
giving me advice to push on in my "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride" 
adventure into PMT photometry.

Is this stupid?

Has anyone tried this, and if so, is it published?

And please no CCD suggestions. I'm after real applications for my 
PMT where CCDs are not necessarily the favored choice :)


Cheers,



Dominic

North 59 37' 30"
East  17 48' 10"

_______________________________________

Dominic-Luc Webb, doktorand


Lab:
Department of Molecular Medicine
Endocrinology and Diabetes Unit
Rolf Luft Center for Diabetes Research
Karolinska Hospital L3
S-17176 Stockholm
Sweden
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