Search of GRB with AGILE minicalorimeter

AGILE, the small scientific mission of the Italian Space Agency devoted to Hard-X and Gamma-ray astrophysics, was successfully launched on April 23, 2007. The AGILE payload is composed of a tungsten-silicon tracker (ST), operating in the gamma-ray energy range 30 MeV-50 GeV; Super-AGILE, an X-ray imager operating in the energy range 15-45 keV; the Minicalorimeter (MCAL) and an Anticoincidence shield. MCAL is a detector of about 1400 cm(2) sensitive in the range 0.3-200 MeV, that can be used both as a slave of the ST to contribute to the AGILE Gamma Ray imaging Detector (GRID operative mode) and autonomously for detection of transient events (BURST opentive mode). MCAL is made of 30 CsI(Tl) bar-shaped scintillation detectors with photodiode readout at both ends, arranged in two orthogonal layers. Energy and position of interaction can be derived from a proper composition of the signals readout at the bar's ends, absolute time tagging can be achieved with a mu s resolution. The Burst logic deals with various rate-meters on different time scales, energy bands, and MCAL spatial zones. Different algorithms can be chosen for Burst triggering considering also the contribution of other detectors like Super AGILE. In this paper the various trigger logic will be reviewed as well as their on-ground test performed with a dedicated experimental setup. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.