English

Study on the detector energy response of SVOM/GRM

Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics 2026-04-28 v2

Abstract

The SVOM mission is specifically designed to for the detection and localization of Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) and subsequent follow-up observations. Among the four telescopes installed on the SVOM satellite, the Gamma-Ray Monitor (GRM) plays a crucial role in capturing the prompt emission of GRBs due to its wide field of view (FOV) and broad energy range. Accurate determination of the detector's energy response is vital for analyzing GRM data, particularly considering the significant impact of the atmospheric albedo effect on this response. This research focuses on deriving the detector's energy response and establishing a calibration database for the GRM, with particular emphasis on investigating the atmospheric albedo effect. The study shows that the contribution of albedo photons to the detector's effective area depends strongly on the orientation of the GRD line of sight (LoS) relative to Earth and on the incident direction of the GRB. When the GRD LoS is anti-Earth oriented, the albedo effect is minimal, with the highest proportion of albedo effective area accounting for approximately 10% of the total effective area. This occurs when the incident angle of the GRB is nearly perpendicular to the LoS. Conversely, if the GRD LoS is not pointing away from Earth and the GRB arrives from angles greater than about 90^{\circ}, the albedo component can become predominant, contributing up to around 100% of the total effective area. This is especially pronounced in the 8-20 keV range, where the direct effective area drops to zero due to the large GRB injection angle. Our results show that, it is necessary for GRM to consider the atmospheric albedo effects in detector response, otherwise the spectral and localization analyses will result in biased measurements.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2604.17875,
  title  = {Study on the detector energy response of SVOM/GRM},
  author = {Xiao-Yun Zhao and Jiang He and Shi-Jie Zheng and Ping Wang and Shao-Lin Xiong and Yue Huang and Dong-Ya Guo and Juan Zhang and Rui Qiao and Hao-Li Shi and Lu Li and Li Zhang and Jin Wang and Meng Bai and Yong-Wei Dong and Min Gao and Louvin Henri and Ulysse Jacob and Yong-Ye Li and Jiang-Tao Liu and Xin Liu and Qing-Yun Mao and Frédéric Piron and Li-Ming Song and Rui-Feng Su and Jian-Chao Sun and Wen-Jun Tan and You-Li Tuo and Chen-Wei Wang and Jin-Zhou Wang and Rui-Jie Wang and Bo-Bing Wu and Wen-Hui Yu and Shuang-Nan Zhang and Shu-Min Zhao},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2604.17875},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

Accepted for publication in the SVOM special issue in Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics; 10 pages, 10 figures