TPC in γ-ray astronomy above pair-creation threshold

We examine the performance of a TPC as a γ-ray telescope above the pair-creation threshold. The contributions to the photon angular resolution are studied and their dependence on energy is obtained. The effective area per detector unit mass for such a thin detector is the conversion mass attenuation coefficient. The differential sensitivity for the detection of a point-like source is then derived. Finally, the measurement of track momentum from deflections due to multiple scattering is optimized. These analytical results are exemplified numerically for a few sets of detector parameters. TPCs show an impressive improvement in sensitivity with respect to existing pair-creation-based telescopes in the [MeV–GeV] energy range, even with the modest detector parameters of this study. In addition, gas TPCs allow an improvement in angular resolution of about one order of magnitude.