Search

The Soft Gamma-ray Detector (SGD) is one of the instrument payloads onboard ASTRO-H, and will cover a wide energy band (60--600 keV) at a background level 10 times better than instruments currently in orbit. The SGD achieves low background by combining a Compton camera scheme with a narrow field-of-view active shield. The Compton camera in the SGD is realized as a hybrid semiconductor detector system which consists of silicon and cadmium telluride (CdTe) sensors. The design of the SGD Compton camera has been finalized and the final prototype, which has the same configuration as the flight model, has been fabricated for performance evaluation. The Compton camera has overall dimensions of 12 cm x 12 cm x 12 cm, consisting of 32 layers of Si pixel sensors and 8 layers of CdTe pixel sensors surrounded by 2 layers of CdTe pixel sensors. The detection efficiency of the Compton camera reaches about 15% and 3% for 100 keV and 511 keV gamma rays, respectively. The pixel pitch of the Si and CdTe sensors is 3.2 mm, and the signals from all 13312 pixels are processed by 208 ASICs developed for the SGD. Good energy resolution is afforded by semiconductor sensors and low noise ASICs, and the obtained energy resolutions with the prototype Si and CdTe pixel sensors are 1.0--2.0 keV (FWHM) at 60 keV and 1.6--2.5 keV (FWHM) at 122 keV, respectively. This results in good background rejection capability due to better constraints on Compton kinematics. Compton camera energy resolutions achieved with the final prototype are 6.3 keV (FWHM) at 356 keV and 10.5 keV (FWHM) at 662 keV, respectively, which satisfy the instrument requirements for the SGD Compton camera (better than 2%). Moreover, a low intrinsic background has been confirmed by the background measurement with the final prototype., Comment: 12 pages, 14 figures

The joint JAXA/NASA ASTRO-H mission is the sixth in a series of highly successful X-ray missions developed by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), with a planned launch in 2015. The ASTRO-H mission is equipped with a suite of sensitive instruments with the highest energy resolution ever achieved at E > 3 keV and a wide energy range spanning four decades in energy from soft X-rays to gamma-rays. The simultaneous broad band pass, coupled with the high spectral resolution of Delta E < 7 eV of the micro-calorimeter, will enable a wide variety of important science themes to be pursued. ASTRO-H is expected to provide breakthrough results in scientific areas as diverse as the large-scale structure of the Universe and its evolution, the behavior of matter in the gravitational strong field regime, the physical conditions in sites of cosmic-ray acceleration, and the distribution of dark matter in galaxy clusters at different redshifts., Comment: 24 pages, 18 figures, Proceedings of the SPIE Astronomical Instrumentation "Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2014: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray"

The type I Seyfert galaxy NGC 3227 was observed by Suzaku six times in 2008, with intervals of $\sim1$ week and net exposures of $\sim50$ ksec each. Among the six observations, the source varied by nearly an order of magnitude, being brightest in the 1st observation with a 2-10 keV luminosity of $1.2\times10^{42}$~erg~s$^{-1}$, while faintest in the 4th with $2.9\times10^{41}$~erg~s$^{-1}$. As it became fainter, the continuum in a 2-45 keV band became harder, while a narrow Fe-K$\alpha$ emission line, detected on all occasions at 6.4 keV of the source rest frame, remained approximately constant in the photon flux. Through a method of variability-assisted broad-band spectroscopy (e.g., Noda et al. 2013), the 2-45 keV spectrum of NGC 3227 was decomposed into three distinct components. One is a relatively soft power-law continuum with a photon index of $\sim 2.3$, weakly absorbed and highly variable on time scales of $\sim5$ ksec; it was observed only when the source was above a threshold luminosity of $\sim6.6 \times10^{41}$ erg s$^{-1}$ (in 2-10 keV), and was responsible for further source brightening beyond. Another is a harder and more absorbed continuum with a photon index of $\sim 1.6$, which persisted through the six observations and varied slowly on time scales of a few weeks by a factor of $\sim2$. This component, carrying a major fraction of the broad-band emission when the source is below the threshold luminosity, is considered as an additional primary emission. The last one is a reflection component with the narrow iron line, produced at large distances from the central black hole., Comment: 16 pages, 12 figures, Accepted to The Astrophysical Journal

The bright type I Seyfert galaxy NGC 3516 was observed by {\it Suzaku} twice, in 2005 October 12--15 and 2009 October 28--November 2, for a gross time coverage of 242 and 544 ksec and a net exposure of 134 and 255 ksec, respectively. The 2--10 keV luminosity was $2.8 \times 10^{41}$ erg s$^{-1}$ in 2005, and $1.6 \times 10^{41}$ erg s$^{-1}$ in 2009. The 1.4--1.7 keV and 2--10 keV count rates both exhibited peak-to-peak variations by a factor of $\sim2$ in 2005, while $\sim 4$ in 2009. In either observation, the 15--45 keV count rate was less variable. The 2--10 keV spectrum in 2005 was significantly more convex than that in 2009. Through a count-count-plot technique, the 2--45 keV signals in both data were successfully decomposed in a model-independent way into two distinct broadband components. One is a variable emission with a featureless spectral shape, and the other is a non-varying hard component accompanied by a prominent Fe-K emission line at 6.33 keV (6.40 keV in the rest frame). The former was fitted successfully by an absorbed power-law model, while the latter requires a new hard continuum in addition to a reflection component from distant materials. The spectral and variability differences between the two observations are mainly attributed to long-term changes of this new hard continuum, which was stable on time scales of several hundreds ksec., Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures

The neutron-star Low-Mass X-ray Binary Aquila X-1 was observed by Suzaku for seven times, from 2007 September 28 to October 30. The observations successfully traced an outburst decay in which the source luminosity decreased almost monotonically from $\sim 10^{37}$ erg s$^{-1}$ to $\sim 10^{34}$ erg s$^{-1}$, by $\sim 3$ orders of magnitude. To investigate luminosity-dependent changes in the accretion geometry, five of the seven data sets with a typical exposure of $\sim 18$ ks each were analyzed; the other two were utilized in a previous work \citep{Sakurai2012}. The source was detected up to 100 keV in the 2nd to the 4th observations, to 40 keV in the 5th, and to 10 keV on the last two occasions. All spectra were reproduced successfully by Comptonized blackbody model with relatively high ($\gtrsim 2.0$) optical depths, plus an additional softer optically-thick component. The faintest three spectra were reproduced alternatively by a single Comptonized blackbody model with a relatively low ($\lesssim 0.8$) optical depth. The estimated radius of the blackbody emission, including seed photons for the Comptonization, was $10 \pm 2$ km at a 0.8--100 keV luminosity of $2.4\times 10^{36}$ erg s$^{-1}$ (the 2nd to the 4th observations). In contrast, it decreased to $7 \pm 1$ km and further to $3 \pm 1$ km, at a luminosity of $(4.8-5.2)\times 10^{35}$ erg s$^{-1}$ (the 5th observation) and $\sim 2\times 10^{34}$ erg s$^{-1}$ (the 6th and 7th), respectively, regardless of the above model ambiguity. This can be taken as evidence for the emergence of a weak magnetosphere of the neutron star., Comment: PASJ in publish. 11 pages including 7 figures

Unified X-ray spectral and timing studies of Cygnus X-1 in the low/hard and hard intermediate state were conducted in a model-independent manner, using broadband Suzaku data acquired on 25 occasions from 2005 to 2009 with a total exposure of ~ 450 ks. The unabsorbed 0.1--500 keV source luminosity changed over 0.8--2.8% of the Eddington limit for 14.8 solar masses. Variations on short (1--2 seconds) and long (days to months) time scales require at least three separate components: a constant component localized below ~2 keV, a broad soft one dominating in the 2--10 keV range, and a hard one mostly seen in 10--300 keV range. In view of the truncated disk/hot inner flow picture, these are respectively interpreted as emission from the truncated cool disk, a soft Compton component, and a hard Compton component. Long-term spectral evolution can be produced by the constant disk increasing in temperature and luminosity as the truncation radius decreases. The soft Compton component likewise increases, but the hard Compton does not, so that the spectrum in the hard intermediate state is dominated by the soft Compton component; on the other hand, the hard Compton component dominates the spectrum in the dim low/hard state, probably associated with a variable soft emission providing seed photons for the Comptonization., Comment: 22 pages, 15 figures, PASJ accepted on April 2

To constrain the origin of the soft X-ray excess phenomenon seen in many active galactic nuclei, the intensity-correlated spectral analysis, developed by Noda et al. (2011b) for Markarian 509, was applied to wide-band (0.5-45 keV) Suzaku data of five representative objects with relatively weak reflection signature. They are the typical bare-nucleus type 1 Seyfert Fairall 9, the bright and typical type 1.5 Seyfert MCG-2-58-22, 3C382 which is one of the X-ray brightest broad line radio galaxies, the typical Seyfert-like radio loud quasar 4C+74.26, and the X-ray brightest radio quiet quasar MR2251-178. In all of them, soft X-ray intensities in energies below 3 keV were tightly correlated with that in 3-10 keV, but with significant positive offsets. These offsets, when calculated in finer energy bands, define a stable soft component in 0.5-3 keV. In each object, this component successfully explained the soft excess above a power-law fit. These components were interpreted in several alternative ways, including a thermal Comptonization component which is independent of the dominant power-law emission. This interpretation, considered physically most reasonable, is discussed from a viewpoint of Multi-Zone Comptonization, which was proposed for the black hole binary Cygnus X-1 (Makishima et al. 2008)., Comment: 18 pages, 12 figures, 7 tables

The neutron-star Low-Mass X-ray Binary Aquila X-1 was observed seven times in total with the Suzaku X-ray observatory from September 28 to October 30 in 2007, in the decaying phase of an outburst. In order to constrain the flux-dependent accretion geometry of this source over wider energy bands than employed in most of previous works, the present study utilized two out of the seven data sets. The 0.8-31 keV spectrum on September 28, taken with the XIS and HXD-PIN for an exposure of 13.8 ks, shows an absorbed 0.8-31 keV flux of $3.6\times 10^{-9}$ erg s$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$, together with typical characteristics of the soft state of this type of objects. The spectrum was successfully explained by an optically-thick disk emission plus a Comptonized blackbody component. Although these results are in general agreement with previous studies, the significance of a hard tail recently reported using the same data was inconclusive in our analysis. The spectrum acquired on October 9 for an exposure of 19.7 ks was detected over a 0.8-100 keV band with the XIS, HXD-PIN, and HXD-GSO, at an absorbed flux of $8.5\times 10^{-10}$ erg s$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$ (in 0.8-100 keV). It shows characteristics of the hard state, and was successfully explained by the same two continuum components but with rather different parameters including much stronger thermal Comptonization, of which the seed photon source was identified with blackbody emission from the neutron-star surface. As a result, the accretion flow in the hard state is inferred to take a form of an optically-thick and geometrically-thin disk down to a radius of $21\pm 4$ km from the neutron star, and then turn into an optically-thin nearly-spherical hot flow., Comment: PASJ in publish. 12 pages including 16 figures

We present the result of a systematic study of pileup phenomena seen in the X-ray Imaging Spectrometer, an X-ray CCD instrument, onboard the Suzaku observatory. Using a data set of observed sources in a wide range of brightness and spectral hardness, we characterized the pileup fraction, spectral hardening, and grade migration as a function of observed count rate in a frame per pixel. Using the pileup fraction as a measure of the degree of pileup, we found that the relative spectral hardening (the hardness ratio normalized to the intrinsic spectral hardness), branching ratio of split events, and that of detached events increase monotonically as the pileup fraction increases, despite the variety of brightness and hardness of the sample sources. We derived the pileup fraction as a function of radius used for event extraction. Upon practical considerations, we found that events outside of the radius with a pileup fraction of 1% or 3% are useful for spectral analysis. We present relevant figures, tables, and software for the convenience of users who wish to apply our method for their data reduction of piled-up sources., Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, pileup issues on the Suzaku XIS

The Type I Seyfert galaxy Markarian 509 was observed with Suzaku in 2010 November, for a gross time span of 2.2 days. Timing and spectral properties of the 0.5-45 keV X-rays, detected with the XIS and HXD, consistently revealed the presence of a soft spectral component that remained constant while the total X- ray intensity varied by \pm10%. This stable soft component, found in the 0.5-3.0 keV range, was interpreted as a result of thermal Comptonization in a corona with a temperature of ~ 0.5 keV and an optical depth of ~ 18. The time-avearged 0.5-45 keV Suzaku spectrum was reproduced successfully, as a combination of this thermal Comptonization component, a harder power-law of photon index ~ 1.8, moderate reflection, and an iron K-emission line. By analyzing four archival Suzaku datasets of the same object obtained in 2006, the thermal Comptonization component, which was stable during the 2.2 day pointing in 2010, was found to vary on time scales of a few weeks, independently of the power-law component. Implications of these results are discussed in terms of the "multi-zone Comptonization" view, obtained with Suzaku from the black hole binary Cygnus X-1., Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures

Improvements of in-orbit calibration of GSO scintillators in the Hard X-ray Detector on board Suzaku are reported. To resolve an apparent change of the energy scale of GSO which appeared across the launch for unknown reasons, consistent and thorough re-analyses of both pre-launch and in-orbit data have been performed. With laboratory experiments using spare hardware, the pulse height offset, corresponding to zero energy input, was found to change by ~0.5 of the full analog voltage scale, depending on the power supply. Furthermore, by carefully calculating all the light outputs of secondaries from activation lines used in the in-orbit gain determination, their energy deposits in GSO were found to be effectively lower, by several percent, than their nominal energies. Taking both these effects into account, the in-orbit data agrees with the on-ground measurements within ~5%, without employing the artificial correction introduced in the previous work (Kokubun et al. 2007). With this knowledge, we updated the data processing, the response, and the auxiliary files of GSO, and reproduced the HXD-PIN and HXD-GSO spectra of the Crab Nebula over 12-300 keV by a broken powerlaw with a break energy of ~110 keV., Comment: Suzaku HXD-GSO detector, calibration update; PASJ, May 2011

From 2005 to 2009, 25 observations of Cyg X-1 were performed with Suzaku, achieving a total exposure of 446 ks. In all observations, the source was found in the low/hard state, while the 1.5--12.0 keV count rate of the All-Sky Monitor onboard RXTE varied by a factor of ~ 3. In each observation, the 10--60 keV HXD-PIN spectrum and the 60--400 keV HXD-GSO spectrum were fitted successfully by a thermal Comptonization model plus reflection by a thick neutral material. As the soft X-ray intensity increased, the Compton y-parameter was found to decrease from 1.0 to 0.6, while the solid angle of reflection to increase by ~ 30%. Also conducted was timing analysis over a frequency range of 0.001--10 Hz. As the source became brighter in soft X-rays, the characteristic frequency of hard X-ray variation increased from 0.03 to 0.3 Hz, while the fractional hard X-ray variation integrated over 0.001--0.01 Hz decreased by a factor of ~ 5. The signals in the 60--200 keV band were generally found to vary on shorter time scales than those in the 10--60 keV band. These spectral and timing results can be consistently interpreted by presuming that increases in the mass accretion rate cause the Comptonizing hot corona to shrink, while the optically-thick disk to intrude deeper therein., Comment: 28 pages, 14 figures

Focusing on hard X-ray variability, we reanalyzed Suzaku data of Type I Seyfert galaxy MCG-6-30-15 obtained in 2006. Intensity-sorted spectroscopy and a principal component analysis consistently revealed a very hard component that varies independently of the dominant power-law emission. Although the exact nature of this hard component is not yet identified, it can be modeled as a power-law with a photon index ~2 affected by a partial covering absorption, or as a thermal Comptonization emission with a relatively large optical depth. When this component is included in the fitting model, the time-averaged 2.5-55 keV spectrum of MCG-6-30-15 can be reproduced successfully by invoking a mildly broadened iron line with its emission region located at > 8 times the gravitational radii from the central black hole, and a moderate reflection with a covering fraction of ~3.4. This result implies that the solution of a highly spinning black hole in MCG-6-30-15, obtained by Miniutti et al. (2007, PASJ, 59, S315) using the same Suzaku data, is a model dependent result.

The present paper investigates the temperature structure of the X-ray emitting plasma in the core of the Perseus cluster using the 1.8-20.0 keV data obtained with the Soft X-ray Spectrometer (SXS) onboard the Hitomi Observatory. A series of four observations were carried out, with a total effective exposure time of 338 ks and covering a central region _ 7′ in diameter. The SXS was operated with an energy resolution of _5 eV (full width at half maximum) at 5.9 keV. Not only fine structures of K-shell lines in He-like ions but also transitions from higher principal quantum numbers are clearly resolved from Si through Fe. This enables us to perform temperature diagnostics using the line ratios of Si, S, Ar, Ca, and Fe, and to provide the first direct measurement of the excitation temperature and ionization temperature in the Perseus cluster. The observed spectrum is roughly reproduced by a single temperature thermal plasma model in collisional ionization equilibrium, but detailed line ratio diagnostics reveal slight deviations from this approximation. In particular, the data exhibit an apparent trend of increasing ionization temperature with increasing atomic mass, as well as small differences between the ionization and excitation temperatures for Fe, the only element for which both temperatures can be measured. The best-fit two-temperature models suggest a combination of 3 and 5 keV gas, which is consistent with the idea that the observed small deviations from a single temperature approximation are due to the effects of projection of the known radial temperature gradient in the cluster core along the line of sight. Comparison with the Chandra/ACIS and the XMM-Newton/RGS results on the other hand suggests that additional lower-temperature components

We summarize all of the in-orbit operations of the soft x-ray spectrometer (SXS) onboard the ASTRO-H (Hitomi) satellite. The satellite was launched on February 17, 2016, and the communication with the satellite ceased on March 26, 2016. The SXS was still in the commissioning phase, in which the set-ups were progressively changed. This paper is intended to serve as a concise reference of the events in orbit in order to properly interpret the SXS data taken during its short lifetime and as a test case for planning the in-orbit operation for future microcalorimeter missions.

When using superfluid helium in low gravity environments, porous plug phase separators are commonly used to vent boiloff gas while confining the bulk liquid to the tank. Invariably, there is a flow of superfluid film from the perimeter of the porous plug down the vent line. For the Soft X-ray Spectrometer onboard ASTRO-H (Hitomi), its approximately 30-liter helium supply has a lifetime requirement of more than 3 years. A nominal vent rate is estimated as ~ 30 ug/s, equivalent to ~ 0.7 mW heat load. It is therefore critical to suppress any film flow whose evaporation would not provide direct cooling of the remaining liquid helium. That is, the porous plug vent system must be designed to both minimize film flow and to ensure maximum extraction of latent heat from the film. The design goal for Hitomi is to reduce the film flow losses to <2 ug/s, corresponding to a loss of cooling capacity of <40 uW. The design adopts the same general design as implemented for Astro-E and E2, using a vent system composed of a porous plug, combined with an orifice, a heat exchanger, and knife-edge devices. In this paper, design, on-ground testing results and in-orbit performance are described.