Spectral Analysis of Gamma Rays with the COS-B Satellite

The ESRO satellite COS-B carries one single experiment aiming at the measurement of arrival direction and energy of celestial gamma rays with energies between 25 MeV and 10 GeV. The experiment is conventional in design and consists of a veto counter, a wire spark chamber, a telescope and an energy calorimeter.The energy measurement is obtained by a CsI scintillation crystal of 4.7 radiation length thickness. The expected energy resolution at 100 MeV is 50% FWHM. The other detector elements are designed as to cause the least possible degradation of the energy measurement.The possibilities for the detection of a small contribution of π -origin gamma rays in the presence of a power-law type background spectrum will be discussed.