The XIS is an X-ray Imaging Spectrometer system, consisting of state-of-the-art charge-coupled devices (CCDs) optimized for X-ray detection, camera bodies, and control electronics. Four sets of XIS sensors are placed at the focal planes of the grazing-incidence, nested thin-foil mirrors (XRT: X-Ray Telescope) onboard the Suzaku satellite. Three of the XIS sensors have front-illuminated CCDs, while the other has a back-illuminated CCD. Coupled with the XRT, the energy range of 0.2–12keV with energy resolution of 130eV at 5.9keV, and a field of view of 18 � ×18 �

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X-Ray Imaging Spectrometer (XIS) on Board Suzaku

High-sensitivity wide-band X-ray spectroscopy is the key feature of the Suzaku X-ray observatory, launched on 2005 July 10. This paper summarizes the spacecraft, in-orbit performance, operations, and data processing that are related to observations. The scientific instruments, the high-throughput X-ray telescopes, X-ray CCD cameras, non-imaging hard X-ray detector are also described.

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The X-Ray Observatory Suzaku

We have developed a framework for the Monte-Carlo simulation of the X-Ray Telescopes (XRT) and the X-ray Imaging Spectrometers (XIS) onboard Suzaku, mainly for the scientific analysis of spatially and spectroscopically complex celestial sources. A photon-by-photon instrumental simulator is built on the ANL platform, which has been successfully used in ASCA data analysis. The simulator has a modular structure, in which the XRT simulation is based on a ray-tracing library, while the XIS simulation utilizes a spectral “Redistribution Matrix File” (RMF), generated separately by other tools. Instrumental characteristics and calibration results, e.g., XRT geometry, reflectivity, mutual alignments, thermal shield transmission, build-up of the contamination on the XIS optical blocking filters (OBF), are incorporated as completely as possible. Most of this information is available in the form of the FITS (Flexible Image Transport System) files in the standard calibration database (CALDB). This simulator can also be utilized to generate an “Ancillary Response File” (ARF), which describes the XRT response and the amount of OBF contamination. The ARF is dependent on the spatial distribution of the celestial target and the photon accumulation region on the detector, as well as observing conditions such as the observation date and satellite attitude. We describe principles of the simulator and the ARF generator, and demonstrate their performance in comparison with in-flight data.

Monte Carlo Simulator and Ancillary Response Generator of Suzaku XRT/XIS System for Spatially Extended Source Analysis

The in-orbit performance and calibration of the Hard X-ray Detector (HXD) on board the X-ray astronomy satellite Suzaku are described. Its basic performances, including a wide energy bandpass of 10–600keV, energy resolutions of ∼ 4keV (FWHM) at 40keV and ∼ 11% at 511keV, and a high background rejection efficiency, have been confirmed by extensive in-orbit calibrations. The long-term gains of PIN-Si diodes have been stable within 1% for half a year, and those of scintillators have decreased by 5–20%. The residual non-X-ray background of the HXD is the lowest among past non-imaging hard X-ray instruments in energy ranges of 15–70 and 150–500keV. We provide accurate calibrations of energy responses, angular responses, timing accuracy of the HXD, and relative normalizations to the X-ray CCD cameras using multiple observations of the Crab Nebula.

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In-Orbit Performance of the Hard X-Ray Detector on Board Suzaku

The International Axion Observatory (IAXO) will be a forth generation axion helioscope. As its primary physics goal, IAXO will look for axions or axion-like particles (ALPs) originating in the Sun via the Primakoff conversion of the solar plasma photons. In terms of signal-to-noise ratio, IAXO will be about 4–5 orders of magnitude more sensitive than CAST, currently the most powerful axion helioscope, reaching sensitivity to axion-photon couplings down to a few × 10−12 GeV−1 and thus probing a large fraction of the currently unexplored axion and ALP parameter space. IAXO will also be sensitive to solar axions produced by mechanisms mediated by the axion-electron coupling gae with sensitivity — for the first time — to values of gae not previously excluded by astrophysics. With several other possible physics cases, IAXO has the potential to serve as a multi-purpose facility for generic axion and ALP research in the next decade. In this paper we present the conceptual design of IAXO, which follows the layout of an enhanced axion helioscope, based on a purpose-built 20 m-long 8-coils toroidal superconducting magnet. All the eight 60cm-diameter magnet bores are equipped with focusing x-ray optics, able to focus the signal photons into ~ 0.2 cm2 spots that are imaged by ultra-low-background Micromegas x-ray detectors. The magnet is built into a structure with elevation and azimuth drives that will allow for solar tracking for ~ 12 h each day.

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Conceptual design of the International Axion Observatory (IAXO)

We present the design parameters, production process, and in-flight performance of the X-ray telescopes (XRTs) onboard Suzaku. The imaging capability is significantly improved over the ASCA XRT, which had half-power diameters of 3. 0 6, to 1. 0 8–2. 0 3 for all four XRT-I modules. The optical axes are found to be distributed within a radius of 1. 3, which makes the observation efficiency of all the XRTs more than 97% at the XIS-default observing position. The vignetting over the XIS field of view predicted via ray-tracing coincides with that measured for observations of the Crab Nebula to within »10%. Contemporaneous fits of a power law to all the XIS spectra of the Crab Nebula taken at the two standard observing positions (XIS/HXDdefault positions) gives a flux consistent with that obtained by Toor & Seward (1974) to within »2%. The pre-collimator on the top of each XRT module successfully re

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Satoshi Okuma

Papers

The X-Ray Telescope onboard Suzaku