Soojing Hong

Hard X-ray Detector (HXD) on board Suzaku

The Hard X-ray Detector (HXD) on board Suzaku covers a wide energy range from 10 keV to 600 keV by combination of silicon PIN diodes and GSO scintillators. The HXD is designed to achieve an extremely low in-orbit back ground based on a combination of new techniques, including the concept of well-type active shield counter. With an effective area of 142 cm^2 at 20 keV and 273 cm2 at 150 keV, the background level at the sea level reached ~1x10^{-5} cts s^{-1} cm^{-2} keV^{-1} at 30 keV for the PI N diodes, and ~2x10^{-5} cts s^{-1} cm^{-2} keV^{-1} at 100 keV, and ~7x10^{-6} cts s^{-1} cm^{-2} keV^{-1} at 200 keV for the phoswich counter. Tight active shielding of the HXD results in a large array of guard counters surrounding the main detector parts. These anti-coincidence counters, made of ~4 cm thick BGO crystals, have a large effective area for sub-MeV to MeV gamma-rays. They work as an excellent gamma-ray burst monitor with limited angular resolution (~5 degree). The on-board signal-processing system and the data transmitted to the ground are also described.

In-orbit performance of the hard X-ray detector on board Suzaku

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.

Development of the HXD-II wide-band all-sky monitor onboard Astro-E2

The hard X-ray detector (HXD-II) is one of the three scientific instruments onboard Japanese X-ray astronomy satellite Astro-E2 scheduled to be launched in 2005. This mission is very unique in a point of having a lower background than any other past missions in the 10-600 keV range. In the HXD-II, the large and thick BGO crystals are used as active shields for particle and gamma-ray background to the main detector. They have a wide field of view of ~2pi and a large effective area of 400 cm2 even at 1 MeV. Hence, the BGO shields have been developed as a wide-band all-sky monitor (WAM) with a broadband coverage of 50-5000 keV. In this paper, overall design and performance of the HXD-II/WAM based on the results of preflight calibration tests carried out in June 2004 are described. By irradiating various radio isotopes with the WAM flight model, we verified that it had comparable capabilities with other gamma-ray burst detectors

Improvements of the astro-E2 hard X-ray detector (HXD-II)

We summarize significant improvements which have been achieved in the development of Astro-E2 Hard X-ray Detector (HXD-II). An expanded energy range and better energy resolution have been achieved from progresses in device materials and redesigning of the front-end electronics. An improved estimation for the detector background in orbit has also been conducted based upon results from our proton irradiation experiment. The sensitivity of HXD-II can be expected to reach an order of 10/sup -6/ [cs/sup -1/ keV/sup -1/ cm/sup -2/].

Development and qualification of the HXD-II onboard Astro-E2

The Hard X-ray Detector (HXD-II), one of instruments onboard the Astro-E2 satellite to be launched in February 2005, is in the final stage of its development. The HXD-II probes the universe in the energy range of 10-600 keV with a sensitivity by an order of magnitude better than those of previous missions. The assembly of the HXD-II completed in January 2004, followed by a series of pre-launch qualification tests. As a result, the design goals of the HXD-II have been met. These include; a background level of 5 x 10-6 counts/s/keV/cm2 at 200 keV for GSO and 1 x 10-5 counts/s/keV/cm2 at 30 keV for PIN; energy resolutions of 2.9 keV (PIN diode, at 59.5 keV) and 10% (GSO scintillator, at 662 keV); and low energy thresholds of 10 keV for PIN diodes and 30 keV for GSO scintillators. The measured background predicts a continuum sensitivity of a few x 10-6 photons/s/keV/cm2. Anti-Counter units surrounding the HXD-II provide 50 keV-5 MeV information on gamma-ray bursts and bright X-ray transients.

THE XMM-NEWTON DETECTION OF DIFFUSE INVERSE COMPTON X-RAYS FROM LOBES OF THE FR II RADIO GALAXY 3C 98

The XMM-Newton observation of the nearby FR II radio galaxy 3C 98 is reported. In two exposures on the target, faint diffuse X-ray emission associated with the radio lobes was significantly detected together with a bright X-ray active nucleus, of which the 2-10 keV intrinsic luminosity is (4-8) × 1042 ergs s-1. The EPIC spectra of the northern and southern lobes are reproduced by a single power-law model modified by the Galactic absorption, with a photon index of 2.2 and 1.7, respectively. These indices are consistent with that of the radio synchrotron spectrum, 1.73 ± 0.01. The luminosities of the northern and southern lobes are measured to be 8.3 × 1040 and 9.2 × 1040 ergs s-1, respectively, in the 0.7-7 keV range. The diffuse X-ray emission is interpreted as an inverse Compton emission, produced when the synchrotron-emitting energetic electrons in the lobes scatter off the cosmic microwave background photons. The magnetic field in the lobes is calculated to be about 1.7 μG, which is about 2.5 times lower than the value estimated under the minimum energy condition. It is inferred that the energy density of the electrons exceeds that in the magnetic fields by a factor of 40-50.

OBSERVATIONS OF THE PROMPT GAMMA-RAY EMISSION OF GRB 070125

The long, bright gamma-ray burst GRB 070125 was localized by the Interplanetary Network. We present light curves of the prompt gamma-ray emission as observed by Konus-Wind, RHESSI, Suzaku WAM, and Swift BAT. We detail the results of joint spectral fits with Konus and RHESSI data. The burst shows moderate hard-to-soft evolution in its multipeaked emission over a period of about 1 minute. The total burst fluence as observed by Konus is -->1.79 ? 10?4 ergs cm?2 (20 keV-10 MeV). Using the spectroscopic redshift -->z = 1.548, we find that the burst is consistent with the Amati -->Epeak,i ? Eiso correlation. Assuming a jet opening angle derived from broadband modeling of the burst afterglow, GRB 070125 is a significant outlier to the Ghirlanda -->Epeak,i ? E? correlation. Its collimation-corrected energy release, -->E? = 2.5 ? 1052 ergs, is the largest yet observed.

Preflight calibration and performance of the astro-E2/HXD-II wide-band all-sky monitor

The hard X-ray detector (HXD-II) onboard Astro-E2 consists of a main detector with energy range 10-600 keV and a BGO active shield detector for background reduction. The shield detector wide-band all-sky monitor (WAM) has been designed not only for background reduction but also for all sky monitoring of gamma-ray bursts (GRB) and bright soft gamma-ray sources. WAM has a large geometrical structure of BGO scintillators for reinforcing its stopping power and has an asymmetric shape for reducing its weight. This particular structure of WAM makes the gamma-ray response very complicated, and thus we need careful calibrations before the launch. We then performed preflight calibrations of WAM as a part of the HXD-II calibrations in 2003-2004. We measured the pulse height spectra and stopping power of each unit counter individually before the HXD-II integration by exposing them to collimated gamma-rays. After integration of the HXD-II detector and installing it to the spacecraft, we measured the same issues as above for WAM by irradiating the gamma-ray source from various directions. Taking into account these experimental results, we constructed the gamma-ray response matrix of WAM using the Geant4 Monte Carlo simulation. The response developed in this work was found to have reproduced the experimental data within 10-20% accuracy

X-Ray Spectra of the Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 Galaxy Ton S180 in Comparison with Galactic Black Holes

An analysis was made of 0.3-15 keV X-ray spectra of a Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 Galaxy, Ton S180, using archival data from ASCA, RXTE, and XMM-Newton. At energies above 2.5 keV, a power-law with a photon index of ~ 2.3 successfully and consistently reproduced the spectra from all of these observatories. Assuming this power-law component to extend toward lower energies, a soft excess, which is one of the most remarkable features of Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 Galaxies, is explained by another power-law multiplied by a thermal cutoff at ~ 0.4 keV. Some similarities have been observed between this object and Galactic black hole binaries in very high state, the latter being realized under high accretion rates. Attempts have been made to interpret the soft excess in terms of Comptonization of the disk photons by an electron cloud surrounding the accretion disk, like BHBs in a very high state.

Current Status of the Suzaku Wide‐band All‐sky Monitor (WAM)

The Suzaku Wide‐band All‐sky Monitor (WAM) consists of 20 BGO anti‐coincidence scintillators for the Hard X‐ray Detector (HXD). The WAM has a wide field of view (FOV), about half of the whole sky, a large collecting area, 800 cm2, and broad‐band energy coverage from 50 to 5000 keV. Thus it has been designed to work as a gamma‐ray burst detector. For the three years since Suzaku launch in July 2005, the WAM has been working very well. About 500 GRBs have been detected through the end of 2008, corresponding to a detection rate of ∼140 GRBs per year. The current status of the WAM is presented in this paper.