No Arabic abstract
The charge transfer inefficiency (CTI) of the X-ray CCDs on board the Suzaku satellite (X-ray Imaging Spectrometers; XIS) has increased since the launch due to radiation damage, and the energy resolution has been degraded. To improve the CTI, we have applied a spaced-row charge injection (SCI) technique to the XIS in orbit; by injecting charges into CCD rows periodically, the CTI is actively decreased. The CTI in the SCI mode depends on the distance between a signal charge and a preceding injected row, and the pulse height shows periodic positional variations. Using in-flight data of onboard calibration sources and of the strong iron line from the Perseus cluster of galaxies, we studied the variation in detail. We developed a new method to correct the variation. By applying the new method, the energy resolution (FWHM) at 5.9 keV at March 2008 is ~155 eV for the front-illuminated CCDs and ~175 eV for the back-illuminated CCD.
The X-ray Imaging Spectrometer (XIS) on board the Suzaku satellite is an X-ray CCD camera system that has superior performance such as a low background, high quantum efficiency, and good energy resolution in the 0.2-12 keV band. Because of the radiation damage in orbit, however, the charge transfer inefficiency (CTI) has increased, and hence the energy scale and resolution of the XIS has been degraded since the launch of July 2005. The CCD has a charge injection structure, and the CTI of each column and the pulse-height dependence of the CTI are precisely measured by a checker flag charge injection (CFCI) technique. Our precise CTI correction improved the energy resolution from 230 eV to 190 eV at 5.9 keV in December 2006. This paper reports the CTI measurements with the CFCI experiments in orbit. Using the CFCI results, we have implemented the time-dependent energy scale and resolution to the Suzaku calibration database.
We present a non-iterative method to deconvolve the spatial response function or the point spread function (PSF) from images taken with the Suzaku X-ray Imaging Spectrometer (XIS). The method is optimized for analyses of extended sources with high photon statistics. Suzaku has four XIS detectors each with its own X-ray CCD and X-Ray Telescope (XRT) and has been providing unique opportunities in spatially-resolved spectroscopic analyses of extended objects. The detectors, however, suffer from broad and position-dependent PSFs with their typical half-power density (HPD) of about 110. In the authors view, this shortcoming has been preventing the high collecting area and high spectral resolution of Suzaku to be fully exploited. The present method is intended to recover spatial resolution to ~15 over a dynamic range around 1:100 in the brightness without assuming any source model. Our deconvolution proceeds in two steps: An XIS image is multiplied with the inverse response matrix calculated from its PSF after rebinning CCD pixels to larger-size tiles (typically 6x 6); The inverted image is then adaptively smoothed to obtain the final deconvolved image. The PSF is modeled on a ray-tracing program and an observed point-source image. The deconvolution method has been applied to images of Centaurus A, PSR B1509-58 and RCW 89 taken by one XIS (XIS-1). The results have been compared with images obtained with Chandra to conclude that the spatial resolution has been recovered to ~20 down to regions where surface brightness is about 1:50 of the brightest tile in the image. We believe the spatial resolution and the dynamic range can be improved in the future with higher fidelity PSF modeling and higher precision pointing information.
A charge injection technique is applied to the X-ray CCD camera, XIS (X-ray Imaging Spectrometer) onboard Suzaku. The charge transfer inefficiency (CTI) in each CCD column (vertical transfer channel) is measured by the injection of charge packets into a transfer channel and subsequent readout. This paper reports the performances of the charge injection capability based on the ground experiments using a radiation damaged device, and in-orbit measurements of the XIS. The ground experiments show that charges are stably injected with the dispersion of 91eV in FWHM in a specific column for the charges equivalent to the X-ray energy of 5.1keV. This dispersion width is significantly smaller than that of the X-ray events of 113eV (FWHM) at approximately the same energy. The amount of charge loss during transfer in a specific column, which is measured with the charge injection capability, is consistent with that measured with the calibration source. These results indicate that the charge injection technique can accurately measure column-dependent charge losses rather than the calibration sources. The column-to-column CTI correction to the calibration source spectra significantly reduces the line widths compared to those with a column-averaged CTI correction (from 193eV to 173eV in FWHM on an average at the time of one year after the launch). In addition, this method significantly reduces the low energy tail in the line profile of the calibration source spectrum.
Suzaku X-ray observations of a young supernova remnant, Cassiopeia A, were carried out. K-shell transition lines from highly ionized ions of various elements were detected, including Chromium (Cr-Kalpha at 5.61 keV). The X-ray continuum spectra were modeled in the 3.4--40 keV band, summed over the entire remnant, and were fitted with a simplest combination of the thermal bremsstrahlung and the non-thermal cut-off power-law models. The spectral fits with this assumption indicate that the continuum emission is likely to be dominated by the non-thermal emission with a cut-off energy at > 1 keV. The thermal-to-nonthermal fraction of the continuum flux in the 4-10 keV band is best estimated as ~0.1. Non-thermal-dominated continuum images in the 4--14 keV band were made. The peak of the non-thermal X-rays appears at the western part. The peak position of the TeV gamma-rays measured with HEGRA and MAGIC is also shifted at the western part with the 1-sigma confidence. Since the location of the X-ray continuum emission was known to be presumably identified with the reverse shock region, the possible keV-TeV correlations give a hint that the accelerated multi-TeV hadrons in Cassiopeia A are dominated by heavy elements in the reverse shock region.
We report the diffuse X-ray emissions from the Sgr A and B regions observed with Suzaku. From the Sgr A region, we found many K-shell transition lines of iron and nickel. The brightest are K alpha lines from FeI, FeXXV and FeXXVI at 6.4 keV, 6.7 keV and 6.9 keV. In addition, K alpha lines of NiI and NiXXVII, K beta of FeI, FeXXV and FeXXVI, and K gamma of FeXXV and FeXXVI are detected for the first time. The center energy of K alpha of FeXXV favors collisional excitation as the origin for this line emission. The ionization temperature determined from the flux ratio of K alpha of FeXXV and FeXXVI is similar to the electron temperature determined from the flux ratio of K alpha and K beta of FeXXV, which are in the range of 5-7 keV. Consequently, the Galactic Center diffuse X-rays (GCDX) are consistent with emission from a plasma nearly in ionization equilibrium. The radio complex Sgr B region also exhibits K alpha lines of FeI, FeXXV and FeXXVI. The 6.7 keV line (FeXXV) map exhibits a local excess at (l,b) = (0.612, 0.01), and could be a new young SNR. The 6.4 keV image is clumpy with local excesses near Sgr B2 and at (l,b) = (0.74, -0.09). Like Sgr B2, this latter excess may be another X-ray reflection Nebulae (XRN).