Abstract
Abstract The Nuclear Compton Telescope (NCT) is a balloon-borne soft gamma-ray (0.2-10 MeV) telescope. The NCT consists of twelve 3D position sensitive germanium strip detector. Each detector is 15-mm thick, 54 cm^2 of active area, and covered by 37 2-mm pitch electrode strips on the opposite faces. The NCT is designed to observe astrophysical sources of nuclear line emission as well as gamma-ray polarization with higher sensitivity by using multiple Compton scattering technique. The ultra-compact design and new technologies allow NCT to achieve high efficiencies with excellent spectral resolution and background reduction. Abstract A balloon flight was flew on a high altitude balloon from Fort Sumner, New Mexico on 2009 May 17 for a 38 hours fight. About 23 hours data has been collected during the flight. For data analysis of the NCT, the data processing pipeline for either flight data or Monte Carlo simulation has been established. Abstract The data analysis, including timing analysis, image analysis and polarization analysis, was performed to the 2009 flight data. The background at float altitude was measured and modeled. The image of Crab nebula was detected. For the gamma-ray polarization analysis of Crab nebula and for comparison with flight data, detailed Monte Carlo simulations were performed. The polarization of Crab nebula was not detected in the flight data. Both the results of simulations and flight data are consistent with each other. Abstract The NCT project involves the collaboration of several institutions in US and in Taiwan. The thesis presents an overview of the data processing pipeline, the Monte Carlo simulation and also the results from the data analysis of 2009 flight data in which the author heavily plays a major role.