CALET: a calorimeter for cosmic-ray measurements in space

The CALorimetric Electron Telescope (CALET) instrument is scheduled for a launch in 2014 and attached to the Exposed Facility of the Japanese Experimental Module (JEM-EF) on the International Space Station. Its main objective is to perform precise measurements of the electron+positron spectrum in cosmic rays at energies up to some TeV, searching for signals from dark matter and/or contributions from nearby astrophysical sources like pulsars. Other scientific goals include the investigation of heavy ions spectra up to Fe, elemental abundance of trans-iron nuclei and a measurement of the diffuse γ ray emission with high energy resolution. The instrument is now under construction, and consists of a charge detection device (CHD) composed of two layers of plastic scintillators, a finely-segmented sampling calorimeter (IMC) and a deep, homogeneous calorimeter (TASC) made of PbWO scintillating bars. The good containment of electromagnetic showers (total depth ∼3X0(IMC)+27X0(TASC)=30X0) together with the homogeneity of TASC give an energy resolution for electrons and γ rays about 2%. CHD can discriminate the charge of primary particles with a resolution between 15% and 30% up to Fe. The finely-segmented IMC, made by tungsten layers and 1mm-wide scintillating fibers, can provide detailed information about the start and early development of particle showers. Lateral and longitudinal shower-development information from TASC, together with informations from IMC, can be used to achieve an electron/proton rejection power about 105. High-statistics for collected data will be achieved by means of the planned 5-years exposure time together with a geometrical factor of 0.12m2 sr. Furthermore, a Gamma-Ray Burst monitor will complement the main detector. In this paper the status of the mission, the design and expected performance of the instrument will be detailed.