Crystal Eye: monitoring the hard-X and gamma ray sky
by
C7b/058 - Seminar
IFAE Main Building C7b
Crystal Eye is a high-energy all-sky monitor designed to address key open questions in time-domain and multi-messenger astrophysics. Operating in the 10 keV–30 MeV range, it will provide continuous coverage of the entire unocculted sky, enabling the detection and characterization of gamma-ray bursts, magnetar flares,terrestrial gamma-ray flashes, and other fast, energetic transients. Its rapid triggering and ~degree localization for bright events make Crystal Eye particularly suited to identifying the electromagnetic counterparts of gravitational-wave sources, probing jet physics, prompt emission mechanisms, and the diversity of compact-object mergers.
The mission’s continuous monitoring capability supports population studies of short and long GRBs, mapping their energetics, spectral evolution, and connection to heavy-element nucleosynthesis. Crystal Eye can also advance our understanding of particle acceleration in extreme magnetic environments and contribute to global networks for space-weather and atmospheric high-energy phenomena.
Giulio Lucchetta