Search

LiteBIRD, the next-generation cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiment, aims for a launch in Japan's fiscal year 2032, marking a major advancement in the exploration of primordial cosmology and fundamental physics. Orbiting the Sun-Earth Lagrangian point L2, this JAXA-led strategic L-class mission will conduct a comprehensive mapping of the CMB polarization across the entire sky. During its 3-year mission, LiteBIRD will employ three telescopes within 15 unique frequency bands (ranging from 34 through 448 GHz), targeting a sensitivity of 2.2\,$\mu$K-arcmin and a resolution of 0.5$^\circ$ at 100\,GHz. Its primary goal is to measure the tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$ with an uncertainty $\delta r = 0.001$, including systematic errors and margin. If $r \geq 0.01$, LiteBIRD expects to achieve a $>5\sigma$ detection in the $\ell=$2-10 and $\ell=$11-200 ranges separately, providing crucial insight into the early Universe. We describe LiteBIRD's scientific objectives, the application of systems engineering to mission requirements, the anticipated scientific impact, and the operations and scanning strategies vital to minimizing systematic effects. We will also highlight LiteBIRD's synergies with concurrent CMB projects., Comment: 23 pages, 9 figures, 1 table, SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation 2024

LiteBIRD, the Lite (Light) satellite for the study of B-mode polarization and Inflation from cosmic background Radiation Detection, is a space mission for primordial cosmology and fundamental physics. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) selected LiteBIRD in May 2019 as a strategic large-class (L-class) mission, with an expected launch in the late 2020s using JAXA's H3 rocket. LiteBIRD is planned to orbit the Sun-Earth Lagrangian point L2, where it will map the cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization over the entire sky for three years, with three telescopes in 15 frequency bands between 34 and 448 GHz, to achieve an unprecedented total sensitivity of 2.2$\mu$K-arcmin, with a typical angular resolution of 0.5$^\circ$ at 100 GHz. The primary scientific objective of LiteBIRD is to search for the signal from cosmic inflation, either making a discovery or ruling out well-motivated inflationary models. The measurements of LiteBIRD will also provide us with insight into the quantum nature of gravity and other new physics beyond the standard models of particle physics and cosmology. We provide an overview of the LiteBIRD project, including scientific objectives, mission and system requirements, operation concept, spacecraft and payload module design, expected scientific outcomes, potential design extensions and synergies with other projects., Comment: 155 pages, accepted for publication in PTEP

LiteBIRD is a JAXA-led Strategic Large-Class mission designed to search for the existence of the primordial gravitational waves produced during the inflationary phase of the Universe, through the measurements of their imprint onto the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). These measurements, requiring unprecedented sensitivity, will be performed over the full sky, at large angular scales, and over 15 frequency bands from 34GHz to 448GHz. The LiteBIRD instruments consist of three telescopes, namely the Low-, Medium- and High-Frequency Telescope (respectively LFT, MFT and HFT). We present in this paper an overview of the design of the Medium-Frequency Telescope (89-224GHz) and the High-Frequency Telescope (166-448GHz), the so-called MHFT, under European responsibility, which are two cryogenic refractive telescopes cooled down to 5K. They include a continuous rotating half-wave plate as the first optical element, two high-density polyethylene (HDPE) lenses and more than three thousand transition-edge sensor (TES) detectors cooled to 100mK. We provide an overview of the concept design and the remaining specific challenges that we have to face in order to achieve the scientific goals of LiteBIRD., Comment: SPIE Conference

LiteBIRD, the Lite (Light) satellite for the study of B-mode polarization and Inflation from cosmic background Radiation Detection, is a space mission for primordial cosmology and fundamental physics. JAXA selected LiteBIRD in May 2019 as a strategic large-class (L-class) mission, with its expected launch in the late 2020s using JAXA's H3 rocket. LiteBIRD plans to map the cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization over the full sky with unprecedented precision. Its main scientific objective is to carry out a definitive search for the signal from cosmic inflation, either making a discovery or ruling out well-motivated inflationary models. The measurements of LiteBIRD will also provide us with an insight into the quantum nature of gravity and other new physics beyond the standard models of particle physics and cosmology. To this end, LiteBIRD will perform full-sky surveys for three years at the Sun-Earth Lagrangian point L2 for 15 frequency bands between 34 and 448 GHz with three telescopes, to achieve a total sensitivity of 2.16 micro K-arcmin with a typical angular resolution of 0.5 deg. at 100GHz. We provide an overview of the LiteBIRD project, including scientific objectives, mission requirements, top-level system requirements, operation concept, and expected scientific outcomes., Comment: 20 pages, 9 figures

LiteBIRD has been selected as JAXA's strategic large mission in the 2020s, to observe the cosmic microwave background (CMB) $B$-mode polarization over the full sky at large angular scales. The challenges of LiteBIRD are the wide field-of-view (FoV) and broadband capabilities of millimeter-wave polarization measurements, which are derived from the system requirements. The possible paths of stray light increase with a wider FoV and the far sidelobe knowledge of $-56$ dB is a challenging optical requirement. A crossed-Dragone configuration was chosen for the low frequency telescope (LFT : 34--161 GHz), one of LiteBIRD's onboard telescopes. It has a wide field-of-view ($18^\circ \times 9^\circ$) with an aperture of 400 mm in diameter, corresponding to an angular resolution of about 30 arcminutes around 100 GHz. The focal ratio f/3.0 and the crossing angle of the optical axes of 90$^\circ$ are chosen after an extensive study of the stray light. The primary and secondary reflectors have rectangular shapes with serrations to reduce the diffraction pattern from the edges of the mirrors. The reflectors and structure are made of aluminum to proportionally contract from warm down to the operating temperature at $5\,$K. A 1/4 scaled model of the LFT has been developed to validate the wide field-of-view design and to demonstrate the reduced far sidelobes. A polarization modulation unit (PMU), realized with a half-wave plate (HWP) is placed in front of the aperture stop, the entrance pupil of this system. A large focal plane with approximately 1000 AlMn TES detectors and frequency multiplexing SQUID amplifiers is cooled to 100 mK. The lens and sinuous antennas have broadband capability. Performance specifications of the LFT and an outline of the proposed verification plan are presented., Comment: 21 pages, 14 figures

Recent developments of transition-edge sensors (TESs), based on extensive experience in ground-based experiments, have been making the sensor techniques mature enough for their application on future satellite CMB polarization experiments. LiteBIRD is in the most advanced phase among such future satellites, targeting its launch in Japanese Fiscal Year 2027 (2027FY) with JAXA's H3 rocket. It will accommodate more than 4000 TESs in focal planes of reflective low-frequency and refractive medium-and-high-frequency telescopes in order to detect a signature imprinted on the cosmic microwave background (CMB) by the primordial gravitational waves predicted in cosmic inflation. The total wide frequency coverage between 34GHz and 448GHz enables us to extract such weak spiral polarization patterns through the precise subtraction of our Galaxy's foreground emission by using spectral differences among CMB and foreground signals. Telescopes are cooled down to 5Kelvin for suppressing thermal noise and contain polarization modulators with transmissive half-wave plates at individual apertures for separating sky polarization signals from artificial polarization and for mitigating from instrumental 1/f noise. Passive cooling by using V-grooves supports active cooling with mechanical coolers as well as adiabatic demagnetization refrigerators. Sky observations from the second Sun-Earth Lagrangian point, L2, are planned for three years. An international collaboration between Japan, USA, Canada, and Europe is sharing various roles. In May 2019, the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), JAXA selected LiteBIRD as the strategic large mission No. 2., Comment: Journal of Low Temperature Physics, in press

Inflation is the leading theory of the first instant of the universe. Inflation, which postulates that the universe underwent a period of rapid expansion an instant after its birth, provides convincing explanation for cosmological observations. Recent advancements in detector technology have opened opportunities to explore primordial gravitational waves generated by the inflation through B-mode (divergent-free) polarization pattern embedded in the Cosmic Microwave Background anisotropies. If detected, these signals would provide strong evidence for inflation, point to the correct model for inflation, and open a window to physics at ultra-high energies. LiteBIRD is a satellite mission with a goal of detecting degree-and-larger-angular-scale B-mode polarization. LiteBIRD will observe at the second Lagrange point with a 400 mm diameter telescope and 2,622 detectors. It will survey the entire sky with 15 frequency bands from 40 to 400 GHz to measure and subtract foregrounds. The U.S. LiteBIRD team is proposing to deliver sub-Kelvin instruments that include detectors and readout electronics. A lenslet-coupled sinuous antenna array will cover low-frequency bands (40 GHz to 235 GHz) with four frequency arrangements of trichroic pixels. An orthomode-transducer-coupled corrugated horn array will cover high-frequency bands (280 GHz to 402 GHz) with three types of single frequency detectors. The detectors will be made with Transition Edge Sensor (TES) bolometers cooled to a 100 milli-Kelvin base temperature by an adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator.The TES bolometers will be read out using digital frequency multiplexing with Superconducting QUantum Interference Device (SQUID) amplifiers. Up to 78 bolometers will be multiplexed with a single SQUID amplidier. We report on the sub-Kelvin instrument design and ongoing developments for the LiteBIRD mission., Comment: 7 pages 2 figures Journal of Low Temperature Physics - Special edition - LTD17 Proceeding

We describe the in-orbit performance of the soft X-ray imaging system consisting of the Soft X-ray Telescope and the Soft X-ray Imager aboard Hitomi. Verification and calibration of imaging and spectroscopic performance are carried out making the best use of the limited data of less than three weeks. Basic performance including a large field of view of 38'x38' is verified with the first light image of the Perseus cluster of galaxies. Amongst the small number of observed targets, the on-minus-off pulse image for the out-of-time events of the Crab pulsar enables us to measure a half power diameter of the telescope as about 1.3'. The average energy resolution measured with the onboard calibration source events at 5.89 keV is 179 pm 3 eV in full width at half maximum. Light leak and cross talk issues affected the effective exposure time and the effective area, respectively, because all the observations were performed before optimizing an observation schedule and parameters for the dark level calculation. Screening the data affected by these two issues, we measure the background level to be 5.6x10^{-6} counts s^{-1} arcmin^{-2} cm^{-2} in the energy band of 5-12 keV, which is seven times lower than that of the Suzaku XIS-BI., Comment: Accepted for publication in PASJ. 17 pages, 18 figures

There is still 10-20% uncertainty on the neutron star (NS) mass-radius relation. These uncertainties could be reduced by an order of magnitude through an unambiguous measure of M/R from the surface redshift of a narrow line, greatly constraining the Equation of State for ultra-dense material. It is possible that the SXS on ASTRO-H can detect this from an accreting neutron star with low surface velocity in the line of sight i.e. either low inclination or low spin. Currently there is only one known low inclination LMXB, Ser X-1, and one known slow spin LMXB, J17480-2446 in Terzan 5. Ser X-1 is a persistent source which is always in the soft state (banana branch), where the accreting material should form a equatorial belt around the neutron star. A pole-on view should then allow the NS surface to be seen directly. A 100 ks observation should allow us to measure M/R if there are any heavy elements in the photosphere at the poles. Conversely, J17480-2446 in Terzan 5 is a transient accretion powered millisecond pulsar, where the accreting material is collimated onto the magnetic pole in the hard (island) state (L_x < 0.1 L_Edd). The hotspot where the shock illuminates the NS surface is clearly seen in this state. A 100 ks ToO observation of this (or any other similarly slow spin system) in this state, may again allow the surface redshift to be directly measured. (abstract continues), Comment: 19 pages, 7 figures, ASTRO-H White Paper

Athena is an X-ray observatory-class mission concept, developed from April to December 2011 as a result of the reformulation exercise for L-class mission proposals in the framework of ESA's Cosmic Vision 2015-2025. Athena's science case is that of the Universe of extremes, from Black Holes to Large-scale structure. The specific science goals are structured around three main pillars: "Black Holes and accretion physics", "Cosmic feedback" and "Large-scale structure of the Universe". Underpinning these pillars, the study of hot astrophysical plasmas offered by Athena broadens its scope to virtually all corners of Astronomy. The Athena concept consists of two co-aligned X-ray telescopes, with focal length 12 m, angular resolution of 10" or better, and totalling an effective area of 1 m2 at 1 keV (0.5 m2 at 6 keV). At the focus of one of the telescopes there is a Wide Field Imager (WFI) providing a field of view of 24'\times 24', 150 eV spectral resolution at 6 keV, and high count rate capability. At the focus of the other telescope there is the X-ray Microcalorimeter Spectrometer (XMS), a cryogenic instrument offering a spectral resolution of 3 eV over a field of view of 2.3' \times 2.3'. Although Athena has not been selected as ESA's Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 L1 mission, its science goals and concept conform the basis of what should become ESA's X-ray astronomy flagship., Comment: 94 pages

The International X-Ray Observatory (IXO) will address fundamental questions in astrophysics, including "When did the first SMBH form? How does large scale structure evolve? What happens close to a black hole? What is the connection between these processes? What is the equation of state of matter at supra-nuclear density?" This report presents an overview of the assessment study phase of the IXO candidate ESA L-class Cosmic Vision mission. We provide a description of the IXO science objectives, the mission implementation and the payload. The performance will offer more than an order of magnitude improvement in capability compared with Chandra and XMM-Newton. This observatory-class facility comprises a telescope with highly nested grazing incidence optics with a performance requirement of 2.5 sq.m. of effective area at 1.25 keV with a 5" PSF. There is an instrument complement that provides capabilities in imaging, spatially resolved spectroscopy, timing, polarimetry and high resolution dispersive spectroscopy. Since earlier submissions to the Astro2010 Decadal Survey, substantial technological progress has been made, particularly in the mirror development. Risk reduction measures and important programmatic choices have also been identified. An independent internal Technical and Programmatic Review has also been carried out by ESA, concluding with positive recommendations. Subject to successful conclusion of agreements between the partner space agencies, IXO is fully ready to proceed to further definition, moving towards an eventual launch in 2021-2022., Comment: The full version of the Yellow Book and the Technical Review Board reports are available at http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=47796&fbodylongid=2176

The wide-band Suzaku spectra of the black hole binary GX 339-4, acquired in 2007 February during the Very High state, were reanalyzed. Effects of event pileup (significant within ~ 3' of the image center) and telemetry saturation of the XIS data were carefully considered. The source was detected up to ~ 300$ keV, with an unabsorbed 0.5--200 keV luminosity of ~3.8 10^{38} erg/s at 8 kpc. The spectrum can be approximated by a power-law of photon index 2.7, with a mild soft excess and a hard X-ray hump. When using the XIS data outside 2' of the image center, the Fe-K line appeared extremely broad, suggesting a high black hole spin as already reported by Miller et al. (2008) based on the Suzaku data and other CCD data. When the XIS data accumulation is further limited to >3' to avoid event pileup, the Fe-K profile becomes narrower, and there appears a marginally better solution that suggests the inner disk radius to be 5-14 times the gravitational radius (1-sigma), though a maximally spinning black hole is still allowed by the data at the 90% confidence level. Consistently, the optically-thick accretion disk is inferred to be truncated at a radius 5-32 times the gravitational radius. Thus, the Suzaku data allow an alternative explanation without invoking a rapidly spinning black hole. This inference is further supported by the disk radius measured previously in the High/Soft state., Comment: 5 pages, figures, Suzaku results on GX 339-4, accepted to APJL. Nov. 11, 2009, accepted to ApJL

We present results of the Suzaku observation of the dipping, periodically bursting low mass X-ray binary XB 1323-619 in which we concentrate of the spectral evolution in dipping in the energy range 0.8 - 70 keV. It is shown that spectral evolution in dipping is well-described by absorption on the bulge in the outer accretion disk of two continuum components: emission of the neutron star plus the dominant, extended Comptonized emission of the accretion disk corona (ADC). This model is further supported by detection of a relatively small, energy-independent decrease of flux above 20 keV due to Thomson scattering. It is shown that this is consistent with the electron scattering expected of the bulge plasma. We address the recent proposal that the dip sources may be explained by an ionized absorber model giving a number of physical arguments against this model. In particular, that model is inconsistent with the extended nature of the ADC for which the evidence is now overwhelming., Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures; invited contribution to the Frascati Workshop 2009 "Multifrequency behaviour of high energy cosmic sources"; Mem.S.A.It in press

We present results of an observation with Suzaku of the dipping, periodic bursting low mass X-ray binary XB 1323-619. Using the energy band 0.8 - 70 keV, we show that the source spectrum is well-described as the emission of an extended accretion disk corona, plus a small contribution of blackbody emission from the neutron star. The dip spectrum is well-fitted by the progressive covering model in which the extended ADC is progressively overlapped by the absorbing bulge of low ionization state in the outer accretion disk and that dipping is basically due to photoelectric absorption in the bulge. An energy-independent decrease of flux at high energies (20 - 70 keV) is shown to be consistent with the level of Thomson scattering expected in the bulge. An absorption feature at 6.67 keV (Fe XXV) is detected in the non-dip spectrum and other possible weak features. In dipping, absorption lines of medium and highly ionized states are seen suggestive of absorption in the ADC but there is no evidence that the lines are stronger than in non-dip. We show that the luminosity of the source has changed substantially since the Exosat observation of 1985, increasing in luminosity between 1985 and 2003, then in 2003 - 2007 falling to the initial low value. X-ray bursting has again become periodic, which it ceased to do in its highest luminosity state, and we find that the X-ray bursts exhibit both the fast decay and later slow decay characteristic of the rp burning process. We present arguments against the recent proposal that the decrease of continuum flux in the dipping LMXB in general can be explained as absorption in an ionized absorber rather than in the bulge in the outer disk generally accepted to be the site of absorption., Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, Astronomy and Astrophysics in press

The broad-band 1-300 keV Suzaku spectrum of IGR J17497-2821, the X-ray transient discovered by INTEGRAL in September 2006, is presented. Suzaku observed IGR J17497-2821 on September 25, eight days after its discovery, for a net exposure of about 53 ksec. During the Suzaku observation, IGR J17497-2821 is very bright, 2 x 10^37 erg/s at 8 kpc in the 1-300 keV range, and shows a hard spectrum, typical of black hole candidates in the low-hard state. Despite the multi-mission X-ray monitoring of the source, only with Suzaku is it possible to obtain a broad-band spectrum in the 1-300 keV range with a very high signal to noise ratio. A sum of a multi-color disc (DISKBB) and a thermal Comptonization component (COMPPS) with mild reflection is a good representation of our IGR J17497-2821 Suzaku spectrum. The spectral properties of the accretion disc as well as the cut-off energy in the spectrum at about 150 keV are clearly detected and constrained. We discuss the implications on the physical model used to interpret the data and the comparison with previous results., Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, Accepted for publication in PASJ, Suzaku Special Issue

The NeXT (New exploration X-ray Telescope), the new Japanese X-ray Astronomy Satellite following Suzaku, is an international X-ray mission which is currently planed for launch in 2013. NeXT is a combination of wide band X-ray spectroscopy (3 - 80 keV) provided by multi-layer coating, focusing hard X-ray mirrors and hard X-ray imaging detectors, and high energy-resolution soft X-ray spectroscopy (0.3 - 10 keV) provided by thin-foil X-ray optics and a micro-calorimeter array. The mission will also carry an X-ray CCD camera as a focal plane detector for a soft X-ray telescope and a non-focusing soft gamma-ray detector. With these instruments, NeXT covers very wide energy range from 0.3 keV to 600 keV. The micro-calorimeter system will be developed by international collaboration lead by ISAS/JAXA and NASA. The simultaneous broad bandpass, coupled with high spectral resolution of Delta E ~ 7 eV by the micro-calorimeter will enable a wide variety of important science themes to be pursued., Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures, Proceedings of the SPIE meeting, "Space Telescopes and Instrumentation II: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray 2008", Marseille (2008)

The transient X-ray binary pulsar A0535+262 was observed with Suzaku on 2005 September 14 when the source was in the declining phase of the August-September minor outburst. The ~103 s X-ray pulse profile was strongly energy dependent, a double peaked profile at soft X-ray energy band (<3 keV) and a single peaked smooth profile at hard X-rays. The width of the primary dip is found to be increasing with energy. The broad-band energy spectrum of the pulsar is well described with a Negative and Positive power-law with EXponential (NPEX) continuum model along with a blackbody component for soft excess. A weak iron K_alpha emission line with an equivalent width ~25 eV was detected in the source spectrum. The blackbody component is found to be pulsating over the pulse phase implying the accretion column and/or the inner edge of the accretion disk may be the possible emission site of the soft excess in A0535+262. The higher value of the column density is believed to be the cause of the secondary dip at the soft X-ray energy band. The iron line equivalent width is found to be constant (within errors) over the pulse phase. However, a sinusoidal type of flux variation of iron emission line, in phase with the hard X-ray flux suggests that the inner accretion disk is the possible emission region of the iron fluorescence line., Comment: 21 pages, 6 figures. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal, 2008 January issue

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., Comment: Paper contains 18 figures and 15 tables. Accepted for publication in PASJ

The binary X-ray pulsar A0535+262 was observed with the Suzaku X-ray observatory, on 2005 September 14 for a net exposure of 22 ksec. The source was in a declining phase of a minor outburst, exhibiting 3--50 keV luminosity of about $3.7 \times 10^{35}$ ergs s$^{-1}$ at an assumed distance of 2 kpc. In spite of the very low source intensity (about 30 mCrab at 20 keV), its electron cyclotron resonance was detected clearly with the Suzaku Hard X-ray Detector, in absorption at about 45 keV. The resonance energy is found to be essentially the same as those measured when the source is almost two orders of magnitude more luminous. These results are compared with the luminosity-dependent changes in the cyclotron resonance energy, observed from 4U 0115+63 and X 0331+53., Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, accepted to ApJL, high resolution version is available from http://cosmic.riken.jp/terada/01work/paper/a0535_suzaku2006.pdf

We present results obtained from three BeppoSAX observations of the accretion-powered transient X-ray pulsar KS 1947+300 carried out during the declining phase of its 2000 November -- 2001 June outburst. A detailed spectral study of KS 1947+300 across a wide X-ray band (0.1--100.0 keV) is attempted for the first time here. Timing analysis of the data clearly shows a 18.7 s pulsation in the X-ray light curves in the above energy band. The pulse profile of KS 1947+300 is characterized by a broad peak with sharp rise followed by a narrow dip. The dip in the pulse profile shows a very strong energy dependence. Broad-band pulse-phase-averaged spectroscopy obtained with three of the BeppoSAX instruments shows that the energy spectrum in the 0.1--100 keV energy band has three components, a Comptonized component, a ~0.6 keV blackbody component, and a narrow and weak iron emission line at 6.7 keV with a low column density of material in the line of sight. We place an upper limit on the equivalent width of the iron K_\alpha line at 6.4 keV of ~13 eV (for a width of 100 eV). Assuming a spherical blackbody emitting region and the distance of the source to be 10 kpc, the radius of the emitting region is found to be in the range of 14--22 km, which rules out the inner accretion disk as the soft X-ray emitting region., Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures, Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal

We present here high resolution X-ray spectrum of the accreting binary X-ray pulsar GX 1+4 obtained with the High Energy Transmission Grating (HETG) instrument of the Chandra X-ray Observatory. This was supplemented by a simultaneous observation with the Proportional Counter Array (PCA) of the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE). During this observation, the source was in a somewhat low intensity state and the pulse profile with both Chandra and RXTE shows a narrow dip, characteristic of GX 1+4 in medium and low intensity states. The continuum X-ray spectrum obtained with the HETG and PCA can be fitted well with a high energy cutoff power-law model with line of sight absorption. Interestingly, we find that this low state is accompanied by a relatively small absorption column density. A 6.4 keV narrow emission line with an equivalent width of 70 eV is clearly detected in the HETG spectrum. The fluorescence iron line, or at least part of it is produced in the neutral or lowly ionized iron in the circumstellar material that also causes most of the line of sight absorption. In the HETG spectrum, we have found evidence for a weak (equivalent width ~30 eV) emission line at 6.95 keV. This line is identified as Ly_alpha emission line from hydrogen-like iron and the spectrum does not show emission lines from helium-like iron. We discuss various emission regions for the hydrogen-like iron emission line, like gas diffused into the Alfven sphere or an accretion curtain flowing from the inner accretion disk to the magnetic poles., Comment: 15 pages, 4 postscript figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal

We present results from analysis of the observation of the dipping, quasi-periodic bursting LMXB XB 1323-619 made with XMM-Newton in Jan., 2003. A number of absorption lines were discovered in the spectrum, notably at 6.70 and 6.98 keV which we identify with scattering by ions Fe XXV and Fe XXVI. Such features have been seen in other dipping sources, but their origin has not been understood. Curve of growth analysis provided a consistent solution assuming collisional ionization with kT=45 keV, close to the electron temperature we previously determined for the ADC in this source. We thus propose that the absorption lines in the dipping LMXB are produced in the ADC. Spectral evolution in dipping was well-described by the progressive covering model which we have previously shown to give very good explanations of many dipping sources. We discuss the proposal of Boirin et al. (2004b), that spectral evolution in the dipping LMXB may be explained by subjecting the continuum to a highly ionized absorber. This would require a decrease in X-ray intensity by a factor of ~3 in dipping at energies where photoelectric absorption is not effective (40-100 keV) which previous analysis of BeppoSAX data on several sources rules out, e.g. in XB 1323-619, any decrease was less than 10+/-10%. We find a remarkable linear increase in the rate of X-ray bursts with time over the 14-year period since 1989, and a systematic non-linear increase in source luminosity (L). The linear variation of burst rate with L shows that the burst rate is proportional to mass accretion rate, and if continued implies that the gap between bursts will become zero on January 11, 2008. In reality we expect the source to undergo a transition from X-ray bursting to X-ray flaring confirming that flaring is unstable nuclear burning., Comment: MNRAS accepted; 10 pages, 8 figures

The NeXT mission has been proposed to study high-energy non-thermal phenomena in the universe. The high-energy response of the super mirror will enable us to perform the first sensitive imaging observations up to 80 keV. The focal plane detector, which combines a fully depleted X-ray CCD and a pixellated CdTe detector, will provide spectra and images in the wide energy range from 0.5 keV to 80 keV. In the soft gamma-ray band up to ~1 MeV, a narrow field-of-view Compton gamma-ray telescope utilizing several tens of layers of thin Si or CdTe detector will provide precise spectra with much higher sensitivity than present instruments. The continuum sensitivity will reach several times 10^(-8) photons/s/keV/cm^(2) in the hard X-ray region and a few times10^(-7) photons/s/keV/cm^(2) in the soft gamma-ray region., Comment: 12 pages, 13 figures, to be published in the SPIE proceedings 5488, typo corrected in sec.3

We present here the results of an investigation of the pulse averaged and pulse phase resolved energy spectra of two high luminosity accretion powered X-ray pulsars SMC X-1 and LMC X-4 made with ASCA. The phase averaged energy spectra definitely show the presence of a soft excess in both the sources. If the soft excess is modeled as a separate black-body or thermal bremsstrahlung type component, pulse phase resolved spectroscopy of SMC X-1 shows that the soft component also has a pulsating nature. Same may be true for LMC X-4, though a very small pulse fraction limits the statistical significance. The pulsating soft component is found to have a nearly sinusoidal profile, dissimilar to the complex profile seen at higher energies, which can be an effect of smearing. Due to very high luminosity of these sources, the size of the emission zone required for the soft component is large (radius ~300-400 km). We show that the pulsating nature of the soft component is difficult to explain if a thermal origin is assumed for it. We further investigated with alternate models, like inversely broken power-law or two different power-law components and found that these models can also be used to explain the excess at low energy. A soft power-law component may be a common feature of the accreting X-ray pulsars, which is difficult to detect because most of the HMXB pulsars are in the Galactic plane and experience large interstellar absorption. In LMC X-4, we have also measured two additonal mid-eclipse times, which confirm the known orbital decay., Comment: 28 pages (AAS preprint), 10 Postscript figures, ApJ accepted

The ASCA calibration has evolved considerably since launch and indeed, is still evolving. There have been concerns in the literature that changes in the ASCA calibration have resulted in the Fe-Kalpha lines in active galaxies (AGN) now being systematically narrower than was originally thought. If this were true, a large body of ASCA results would be impacted. In particular, it has been claimed that the broad red wing (when present) of the Fe-Kalpha line has been considerably weakened by changes in the ASCA calibration. We demonstrate explicitly that changes in the ASCA calibration over a period of about eight years have a negligible effect on the width, strength, or shape of the Fe-Kalpha lines. The reduction in both width and equivalent width is only ~8% or less. We confirm this with simulations and individual sources, as well as sample average profiles. The average profile for type 1 AGN is still very broad, with the red wing extending down to ~4 keV. The reason for the claimed, apparently large, discrepancies is that in some sources the \fekalfa line is complex, and a single-Gaussian model, being an inadequate description of the line profile, picks up different portions of the profile with different calibration. Single-Gaussian fits do not therefore model all of the line emission in some sources, in which case they do not compare old and current calibration since the models do not then describe the data., Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 569, 10 April, 2002. 22 pages, 4 figures

Chandra and XMM observations are showing that the Fe-K emission lines in type 1 AGN are composite, in general consisting of a narrow and a broad component. We review the latest Chandra HETG results and compare the line profiles with those measured by ASCA. The narrow Fe-K line components necessitate re-modeling of the line profiles measured previously and revision of the parameters of the relativistic broad components, as well re-interpretation of variability studies. We also explicitly demonstrate the effect of changes in the ASCA calibration on the measurements of the Fe-K lines in AGN. We find that the differences in measured parameters are insignificant. Both the intrinsic width and EW change by less than 8%. Fe-K line studies which claim much larger differences do not adequately model the line emission. We point out that it is incorrect to compare different calibrations, and indeed make astrophysical inferences, using models which do not describe the data. We then present some new results for the highest S/N broad Fe-K line profile in the entire ASCA archive, from NGC 4151., Comment: In ``X-ray Emission from Accretion onto Black Holes'', E79, proceedings of a workshop held by JHU and LHEA, in Baltimore, MD, June 20-23, 2001, eds. T. Yaqoob, & J. H. Krolik, published electronically. 4 pages including 8 color figures

We present observations of the Rapid Burster (RB, also known as MXB 1730-335) using the Chandra High Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer. The average interval between type II (accretion) bursts was about 40 s. There was one type I (thermonuclear flash) burst and about 20 "mini-bursts" which are probably type II bursts whose peak flux is 10-40% of the average peak flux of the other type II bursts. The time averaged spectra of the type II bursts are well fit by a blackbody with a temperature of kT = 1.6 keV, a radius of 8.9 km for a distance of 8.6 kpc, and an interstellar column density of 1.7e22 per sq. cm. No narrow emission or absorption lines were clearly detected. The 3 sigma upper limits to the equivalent widths of any features are < 10 eV in the 1.1-7.0 keV band and as small as 1.5 eV near 1.7 keV. We suggest that Comptonization destroys absorption features such as the resonance line of Fe XXVI., Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in AJ (with minor changes and enhanced discussion of the instrument configuration)

We report observation results of the super-soft X-ray sources (SSS) CAL87 and RXJ0925.7-4758 with the X-ray CCD cameras (Solid-state Imaging Spectrometer; SIS) on-board the ASCA satellite. We have applied theoretical spectral models to CAL87, and constrained the white dwarf mass and intrinsic luminosity as 0.8 - 1.2 M_solar and 4 x 10^{37}- 1.2 x 10^{38} erg s^{-1}, respectively. However, we have found the observed luminosity is an order of magnitude smaller than the theoretical estimate, which indicates the white dwarf is permanently blocked by the accretion disk, and we are observing a scattering emission by a fully ionized accretion disk corona (ADC) whose column density is ~ 1.5 x 10^{23} cm^{-2}. Through simulation, we have shown that the orbital eclipse can be explained by the ADC model, such that a part of the extended X-ray emission from the ADC is blocked by the companion star filling its Roche lobe. We have found that very high surface gravity and temperature, ~ 10^{10} cm s^{-2} and ~ 100 eV respectively, as well as a strong absorption edge at ~ 1.02 keV, are required to explain the X-ray energy spectrum of RXJ0925.7-4758. These values are only possible for an extremely heavy white dwarf near the Chandrasekhar limit. Although the super soft source luminosity should be ~ 10^{38} erg s^{-1} at the Chandrasekhar limit, the observed luminosity of RXJ0925.7-4758 is nearly two orders of magnitude smaller even assuming an extreme distance of ~10 kpc. To explain the luminosity discrepancy, we propose a model that very thick matter which was previously ejected from the system, as a form of jets, intervenes the line of sight, and reduces the luminosity significantly due to Thomson scattering., Comment: ApJ accepted

We have searched the rising portion of type I X-ray bursts observed from the Rapid Burster with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer for the presence of periodicities. The 95 per cent confidence upper limit on the average root-mean-square variation of near coherent pulsations with a width of <1 Hz (in 60--2048 Hz) during the first second of the bursts is <8.8 per cent. We find a possible detection (>98 per cent significance) at 306.5 Hz., Comment: Submitted to MNRAS. 7 pages, 2 figures; uses mn.sty and psfig

We present new results on the recently discovered 69 ms X-ray pulsar AXS J161730-505505, the sixth youngest sample of all known pulsars. We have undertaken a comprehensive X-ray observing campaign of AXS J161730-505505 with the ASCA, SAX, and XTE observatories and follow its long term spin-down history between 1989 and 1999, using these, archival GINGA and ASCA data sets, and the radio ephemeris. The spin-down is not simply described by a linear function as originally thought, but instead we find evidence of a giant glitch (|Delta P/P| > 10E-6) between 1993 August and 1997 September, perhaps the largest yet observed from a young pulsar. The glitch is well described by steps in the period and its first derivative accompanied by a persistent second derivative similar to those in the Vela pulsar. The pulse profile of AXS J161730-505505 presents a single asymmetric peak which is maintained over all observation epochs. The energy spectrum is also steady over time, characterized by a highly absorbed power-law with a photon index 1.4 +/- 0.2, consistent with that found for other young rotation powered pulsars., Comment: 6 pages with 2 figures, LaTex, emulateapj.sty. To appear in the Astrophysical Journal Letters

We present new observations of two anomalous X-ray pulsars (AXP) 4U 0142+61 and 1E 1048.1-5937 made in 1998 with the ASCA. The energy spectra of these two AXPs are found to consist of two components, a power-law and a blackbody emission from the neutron star surface. These observations, when compared to earlier ASCA observations in 1994 show remarkable stability in the intensity, spectral shape and pulse profile. However, we find that the spin-down rate in 1E 1048.1-5937 is not constant. In this source, we have clearly identified three epochs with spin-down rates different from each other and the average value. This has very strong implications for the magnetar hypothesis of AXPs. We also note that the spin-down rate and its variations in 1E 1048.1-5937 are much larger than what can normally be produced by an accretion disk with very low mass accretion rate corresponding to its low X-ray luminosity., Comment: 12 pages, 7 postscript figures included, To appear in the Astrophysical Journal

We observed the HH24-26 region in the L1630 Orion molecular cloud complex with the X-ray observatory ASCA in the 0.5$-$10 keV band. X-ray emission was detected from the T Tauri star SSV61 and from the region where the Class I protostars SSV63E and SSV63W are located (hereafter SSV63E+W). The spectra of both SSV63E+W and SSV61 are well explained by an optically thin thermal plasma model. The spectrum of the T Tauri star SSV61 has a low temperature of $kT=0.9$ (0.7$-$1.2) keV and a moderate absorption of $N_{\rm{H}}=1.3$ (0.9$-$1.7) $\times10^{22}$ cm$^{-2}$, while that of the protostar SSV63E+W has a high temperature of $kT=5.0$ (3.3$-$7.9) keV and a heavy absorption of $N_{\rm{H}}=1.5$ (1.2$-$1.8) $\times10^{23}$ cm$^{-2}$. The X-ray light curve of SSV63E+W showed a flare during the observation. The peak flux reached about 9 times that of the quiescent flux. The temperature and the absorption column density do not change conspicuously during the flare. The 0.5$-$10 keV luminosity of SSV63E+W was about $1\times10^{32}$ erg s$^{-1}$ in the quiescent state. The present detection of hard X-rays from SSV63E+W is remarkable, because this is the first X-ray detection of a protostar in Orion., Comment: 14 pages, 3 postscript figures, uses aasms4.sty

In previous papers, we presented the discovery of a 12-s X-ray pulsar in the supernova remnant Kes 73, providing the first direct evidence for an ultramagnetized neutron star, a magnetar, with an equivalent dipole field of nearly twenty times the quantum critical magnetic field. Our conclusions were based on two epochs of measurement of the spin, along with an age estimate of the host supernova remnant. Herein, we present a spin chronology of the pulsar using additional GINGA, ASCA, XTE, & SAX datasets spanning over a decade. Timing and spectral analysis confirms our initial results and severely limit an accretion origin for the observed flux. Over the 10 year baseline, the pulsar is found to undergo a rapid, constant spindown, while maintaining a steady flux and an invariant pulse profile. Within the measurement uncertainties, no systematic departures from a linear spin-down are found - departures as in the case of glitches or simply stochastic fluctuations in the pulse times-of-arrival (e.g. red timing noise). We suggest that this pulsar is akin to the soft gamma-ray repeaters, however, it is remarkably stable and has yet to display similar outbursts; future gamma-ray activity from this object is likely., Comment: 6 pages with 3 embedded figures, LaTex, emulateapj.sty. Submitted to the ApJ Letters

We report the ASCA results of the bursting X-ray pulsar \gro, which was observed in February 1996 and March 1997. The source flux in the 2--10 keV band was $2.0\times10^{-8}$ erg/sec/cm$^2$ in 1996 and $5.0\times10^{-9}$ erg/sec/cm$^2$ in 1997. We detected 12 and 17 Type II bursts during the two observations with mean bursting intervals of about 27 min and 37 min. Each burst is followed by an intensity dip with the depleted flux depending on the burst fluence. The energy spectra are approximated by an absorbed power law with additional structure around 6--7 keV\@. Constant absorption column, $(5-6)\times10^{22}$ cm$^{-2}$, independent of the observation dates and emission phases (persistent, burst and dip) is interpreted as an interstellar absorption. The source may be actually located near the Galactic center, at a distance of 8.5 kpc. The structure in the energy spectrum at 6--7 keV is most probably due to iron and maybe reproduced by a disk line model with additional broadening mechanism., Comment: 28 pages 11 figures. ApJ accepted

We observed the newly discovered Galactic jet source XTE J0421+560 (= CI Cam) with ASCA from 1998 April 3.3 to April 4.1 (UT), three days after the beginning of the outburst. The X-ray intensity in the 1-10 keV band gradually decreased with an e-folding time of about 30 hours; the decline was accompanied by spectral softening. Two flare-like intensity enhancements were detected below 1 keV. We could fit the average spectrum above 0.8 keV with a two-temperature model (5.7 and 1.1 keV) of thermal emission from an optically thin ionization-equilibrium plasma. The broad iron-K profile, however, requires an extra emission line at 6.4 keV, or Doppler broadening (or both). The former can be explained in terms of reflection from cold matter, while the latter can be attributed to emission from the twin jets. In both cases, the time evolution of the emission measure and of the temperature are difficult to explain by emission from a single plasma, suggesting that heat input and/or injection of material was occurring during the outburst., Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJL; Fig. 1 corrected

We describe the evolutionary progression of an outburst of the Rapid Burster. Four outbursts have been observed with the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer between February 1996 and May 1998, and our observations are consistent with a standard evolution over the course of each. An outburst can be divided into two distinct phases: Phase I is dominated by type I bursts, with a strong persistent emission component; it lasts for 15-20 days. Phase II is characterized by type II bursts, which occur in a variety of patterns. The light curves of time-averaged luminosity for the outbursts show some evidence for reflares, similar to those seen in soft X-ray transients. The average recurrence time for Rapid Burster outbursts during this period has been 218 days, in contrast with an average ~180 day recurrence period observed during 1976-1983., Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures included with psfig. MN style file (v1.4). Reworked X-ray spectral fits section in response to referee comments; minor changes to Table 1. Accepted by MNRAS

We report results of analysis of the ASCA observation of 1993, May 7th of the dipping LMXB source XBT 0748-676, and propose a new explanation of the spectral evolution in dipping in this source. We show that the non-dip and dip spectra in several intensity bands are well fitted using the same physical model that we have previously shown gives good explanations of several dipping sources, consisting of point source blackbody emission from the neutron star, plus extended Comptonised emission from the accretion disk corona (ADC), with progressive covering of the ADC during dipping. Best fit values of kT_bb = 1.99 +/- 0.16 keV and power law photon index Gamma = 1.70 +/- 0.16 are found. The strong excess below 1 keV was well fitted by a Gaussian line at ~0.65 keV. In dipping, good fits were obtained by allowing it to be covered by the same progressive covering factor as the extended continuum emission, providing strong evidence that the line originates in the ADC. By using our two-component model we show that the unabsorbed component is the uncovered fraction of the Comptonised emission, and in the band 1 - 10 keV, we do not need to invoke substantial electron scattering to explain dipping., Comment: 7 pages, Latex, 3 eps figures

We summarize recent observations of Cyg X-1 during its 1996 state transition. The results favor an emission geometry with a central optically thin corona surrounded by an optically thick, geometrically thin accretion disk. As the soft state is approached, the inner edge of the disk moves closer to the black hole, and the corona shrinks, perhaps due to more efficient cooling. Soft X-rays are from the innermost disk, and inverse-Comptionization by the corona appears to be responsible for the hard X-ray emission. Both Compton reflection and an iron emission line have been observed in both states. They are likely to originate in the inner region of the disk. Also briefly discussed is the theoretical effort to simultaneously model the observed spectral and temporal X-ray properties of Cyg X-1., Comment: 2 pages. Proceedings of IAU Symposium 188 ``The Hot Universe'', Kyoto, Japan, August 26-30, 1997

We report results from simultaneous ASCA and RXTE observations of Cyg X-1 when the source made a rare transition from the hard (= low) state to the soft (= high) state in 1996. These observations together cover a broad energy range ~0.7--50 keV with a moderate energy resolution at the iron K-band, thus make it possible to disentangle various spectral components. The low-energy spectrum is dominated by an ultra-soft component, which is likely to be the emission from the hottest inner portion of the accretion disk around the black hole. At high energies, the X-ray spectrum can be described by a Comptonized spectrum with a reflection component. The Compton corona, which upscatters soft ``seed photons'' to produce the hard X-ray emission, is found to have a y-parameter ~0.28. The hard X-ray emission illuminates the accretion disk and the re-emitted photons produce the observed ``reflection bump''. We show that the reflecting medium subtends only a small solid angle ($\sim 0.15\times 2\pi$), but has a large ionization parameter such that iron is ionized up to \ion{Fe}{24}-\ion{Fe}{26}. The presence of a broad iron line at $6.58\pm0.04$ keV is also consistent with a highly ionized disk, if we take into account the gravitational and Doppler shift of the line energy. These results imply a geometry with a central corona surrounding the black hole and the reflection occurring in the innermost region of the disk where matter is highly ionized., Comment: 11 pages, including 2 wide tables (to be printed out in landscape mode) and 3 ps figures. To appear in ApJ Letters

We report results of analysis of the ASCA observation of the Low Mass X-ray Binary dipping source XB1916-053 made on 1993, May 2nd. We have shown that the spectra can be well fitted by the same two-component model previously used to give good explanations of the very different dip sources X1755-338 and X1624-490, consisting of point-source blackbody emission from the neutron star plus extended Comptonised emission from the accretion disk corona. In XB1916-053, all levels of dipping can be fitted using kT_bb= 2.14+/-0.28 keV and power law photon index = 2.42 +/-0.21. Dipping is shown to be due to large increases of column density for the point-like blackbody, combined with the extended power law component being progressively covered by absorber until in the deepest parts of dips, the partial covering fraction approaches unity. This approach differs radically from the ``absorbed plus unabsorbed'' approach previously used in spectral modelling of XB1916-053 and similar sources, in which the normalisation of the unabsorbed component is allowed to decrease markedly in dipping, behavior generally attributed to the effects of electron scattering. Thus we have shown that spectral evolution in XB1916-053 can be explained simply in terms of photoelectric absorption without the need for substantial electron scattering. This explanation is supported by calculation of the relative importance of photoelectric absorption and electron scattering in the absorbing region which shows that little electron scattering is expected in the ASCA energy band., Comment: 9 pages, Latex, 5 eps figures

We report the discovery of the cessation of flickering in dips in the black hole candidate Cygnus X-1, detected for the first time in the ASCA observation of May 9th., 1995. During this observation, particularly deep dipping took place resulting in strong changes in hardness ratio corresponding to absorption of the power law spectral component. The deadtime corrected light curve with high time resolution clearly shows a dramatic decrease in the extent of flickering in the band 0.7 - 4.0 keV during dipping, but in the band 4.0 - 10.0 keV, there is relatively little change. We show that the rms flickering amplitude in the band 0.7 - 4.0 keV is proportional to the X-ray intensity in this band which changes by a factor of almost three. This is direct evidence that the strong Low State flickering is intrinsic to the power law emission; ie takes place as part of the emission process. The rms amplitude is proportional to the intensity in the low energy band, except for a possible deviation from linearity at the lower intensities. If confirmed, this non-linearity could imply a process such as electron scattering of radiation which will tend to smear out the fluctuations, or a process of fluctuation generation which depends on radial position in the source. Thus timing observations during absorption dips can give information about the source region and may place constraints on its size., Comment: 6 pages including 4 figures, accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journal Letters

We report on ASCA energy spectra of Cir X-1 taken near its zero phase on 1994 August 4-5. The ASCA SIS detectors allow a more detailed study of the iron K complex than has been possible before. We find that prior to a sudden upward flux transition the dominant iron K feature appears to consist of a large edge from neutral or nearly-neutral iron. The depth of the edge corresponds to an absorption column of about 1.5E24 cm^{-2}, while little absorption over that expected from the Galaxy is seen at lower X-ray energies. The differential absorption at high and low X-ray energies combined with the iron edge energy are strong evidence that partial covering is a crucial determinant of the behaviour observed from Cir X-1. The continuum spectral variability observed by ASCA can also be understood naturally in terms of partial covering column changes. There is evidence for a relatively weak emission line from neutral iron with an equivalent width of only about 65 eV. After the flux transition, the strength of the edge feature is greatly reduced, suggesting a large reduction in the amount of partial covering. For a large region of statistically acceptable chi-squared parameter space, the luminosity of Cir X-1, after correction for partial covering, need not change during the transition. We discuss models for the partial covering and suggest that X-ray scattering by electrons may be important. Aspects of the Cir X-1 spectrum are very similar to those of Seyfert 2 galaxies with Compton-thin tori., Comment: 14 pages, uuencoded compressed tar file, MNRAS