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The hot, X-ray-emitting phase of the circumgalactic medium of massive galaxies is believed to be the reservoir of baryons from which gas flows onto the central galaxy and into which feedback from AGN and stars inject mass, momentum, energy, and metals. These effects shape the velocity fields of the hot gas, which can be observed via the Doppler shifting and broadening of emission lines by X-ray IFUs. In this work, we analyze the gas kinematics of the hot circumgalactic medium of Milky Way-mass disk galaxies from the TNG50 simulation with synthetic observations to determine how future instruments can probe this velocity structure. We find that the hot phase is often characterized by outflows from the disk driven by feedback processes, radial inflows near the galactic plane, and rotation, though in some systems the velocity field is more disorganized and turbulent. With a spectral resolution of $\sim$1 eV, fast and hot outflows ($\sim$200-500 km s$^{-1}$) can be measured, depending on the orientation of the galaxy on the sky. The rotation velocity of the hot phase ($\sim$100-200 km s$^{-1}$) can be measured using line shifts in edge-on galaxies, and is slower than that of colder gas phases but similar to stellar rotation velocities. By contrast, the slow inflows ($\sim$50-100 km s$^{-1}$) are difficult to measure in projection with these other components, but may be detected in multi-component spectral fits. We find that the velocity measured is sensitive to which emission lines are used. Measuring these flows will constrain theories of how the gas in these galaxies evolves., Comment: 46 pages, 32 figures, accepted to ApJ

Low-temperature detectors often use mechanical coolers as part of the cooling chain in order to reach sub-Kelvin operating temperatures. The microphonics noise caused by the mechanical coolers is a general and inherent issue for these detectors. We have observed this effect in the ground test data obtained with the Resolve instrument to be flown on the XRISM satellite. Resolve is a cryogenic X-ray microcalorimeter spectrometer with a required energy resolution of 7 eV at 6 keV. Five mechanical coolers are used to cool from ambient temperature to about 4 K: four two-stage Stirling coolers (STC) driven nominally at 15 Hz and a Joule-Thomson cooler (JTC) driven nominally at 52 Hz. In 2019, we operated the flight-model instrument for two weeks, in which we also obtained accelerometer data inside the cryostat at a low-temperature stage (He tank). X-ray detector and accelerometer data were obtained continuously while changing the JTC drive frequency, which produced a unique data set for investigating how the vibration from the cryocoolers propagates to the detector. In the detector noise spectra, we observed harmonics of both STCs and JTC. More interestingly, we also observed the low (<20 Hz) frequency beat between the 4'th JTC and 14'th STC harmonics and the 7'th JTC and the 23--24'th STC harmonics. We present here a description and interpretation of these measurements., Comment: J Low Temp Phys (2023)

Micro-X is an X-ray sounding rocket payload that had its first flight on July 22, 2018. The goals of the first flight were to operate a transition edge sensor (TES) X-ray microcalorimeter array in space and take a high-resolution spectrum of the Cassiopeia A supernova remnant. The first flight was considered a partial success. The array and its time-division multiplexing readout system were successfully operated in space, but due to a failure in the attitude control system, no time on-target was acquired. A re-flight has been scheduled for summer 2022. Since the first flight, modifications have been made to the detector systems to improve noise and reduce the susceptibility to magnetic fields. The three-stage SQUID circuit, NIST MUX06a, has been replaced by a two-stage SQUID circuit, NIST MUX18b. The initial laboratory results for the new detector system will be presented in this paper., Comment: LTD proceedings, 6 pages, 3 figures, 1 table

The Micro-X sounding rocket is a NASA funded X-ray telescope payload that completed its first flight on July 22, 2018. This event marked the first operation of Transition Edge Sensors (TESs) and their SQUID-based multiplexing readout system in space. Unfortunately, due to an ACS pointing failure, the rocket was spinning during its five minute observation period and no scientific data was collected. However, data collected from the internal calibration source marked a partial success for the payload and offers a unique opportunity to study the response of TESs and SQUIDs in space. Of particular interest is the magnetic field response of the NIST MUX06a SQUID readout system to tumbling through Earth's magnetic field. We present a model to explain the baseline response of the SQUIDs, which lead to a subset of pixels failing to "lock" for the full observational period. Future flights of the Micro-X rocket will include the NIST MUX18b SQUID system with dramatically reduced magnetic susceptibility., Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, LTD19 conference proceedings

With its first flight in 2018, Micro-X became the first program to fly Transition-Edge Sensors and their SQUID readouts in space. The science goal was a high-resolution, spatially resolved X-ray spectrum of the Cassiopeia A Supernova Remnant. While a rocket pointing error led to no time on target, the data was used to demonstrate the flight performance of the instrument. The detectors observed X-rays from the on-board calibration source, but a susceptibility to external magnetic fields limited their livetime. Accounting for this, no change was observed in detector response between ground operation and flight operation. This paper provides an overview of the first flight performance and focuses on the upgrades made in preparation for reflight. The largest changes have been upgrading the SQUIDs to mitigate magnetic susceptibility, synchronizing the clocks on the digital electronics to minimize beat frequencies, and replacing the mounts between the cryostat and the rocket skin to improve mechanical integrity. As the first flight performance was consistent with performance on the ground, reaching the instrument goals in the laboratory is considered a strong predictor of future flight performance.

X-ray calorimeters routinely achieve very high spectral resolution, typically a few eV full width at half maximum (FWHM). Measurements of calorimeter line shapes are usually dominated by the natural linewidth of most laboratory calibration sources. This compounds the data acquisition time necessary to statistically sample the instrumental line broadening, and can add systematic uncertainty if the intrinsic line shape of the source is not well known. To address these issues, we have built a simple, compact monochromatic x-ray source using channel cut crystals. A commercial x-ray tube illuminates a pair of channel cut crystals which are aligned in a dispersive configuration to select the \kaone line of the x-ray tube anode material. The entire device, including x-ray tube, can be easily hand carried by one person and may be positioned manually or using a mechanical translation stage. The output monochromatic beam provides a collimated image of the anode spot with magnification of unity in the dispersion direction (typically 100-200 $\mu$m for the x-ray tubes used here), and is unfocused in the cross-dispersion direction, so that the source image in the detector plane appears as a line. We measured output count rates as high as 10 count/s/pixel for the Hitomi Soft X-ray Spectrometer, which had 819 $\mu$m square pixels. We implemented different monochromator designs for energies of 5.4 keV (one design) and 8.0 keV (two designs) which have effective theoretical FWHM energy resolution of 0.125, 0.197, and 0.086 eV, respectively; these are well-suited for optimal calibration measurements of state-of-the art x-ray calorimeters. We measured an upper limit for the energy resolution of our \crkaone monochromator of 0.7 eV FWHM at 5.4 keV, consistent with the theoretical prediction of 0.125 eV., Comment: 14 pages, 15 figures, accepted for publication in RSI

Micro-X is a sounding rocket-borne instrument that uses a microcalorimeter array to perform high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy. This instrument flew for the first time on July 22nd, 2018 from the White Sands Missile Range, USA. This flight marks the first successful operation of a Transition-Edge Sensor array and its time division multiplexing read-out system in space. This launch was dedicated to the observation of the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A. A failure in the attitude control system prevented the rocket from pointing and led to no time on target. The on-board calibration source provided X-rays in flight, and it is used to compare detector performance during pre-flight integration, flight, and after the successful post-flight recovery. This calibration data demonstrates the capabilities of the detector in a space environment as well as its potential for future flights., Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, Accepted to the JLTP for LTD-18

The Micro-X sounding rocket flew for the first time on July 22, 2018, becoming the first program to fly Transition-Edge Sensors and multiplexing SQUID readout electronics in space. While a rocket pointing failure led to no time on-target, the success of the flight systems was demonstrated. The successful flight operation of the instrument puts the program in a position to modify the payload for indirect galactic dark matter searches. The payload modifications are motivated by the science requirements of this observation. Micro-X can achieve world-leading sensitivity in the keV regime with a single flight. Dark matter sensitivity projections have been updated to include recent observations and the expected sensitivity of Micro-X to these observed fluxes. If a signal is seen (as seen in the X-ray satellites), Micro-X can differentiate an atomic line from a dark matter signature., Comment: Proceedings of the 18th International Workshop on Low Temperature Detectors (LTD18)

We report on the development of multi-absorber transition edge sensors (TESs), referred to as hydras. A hydra consists of multiple x-ray absorbers each with a different thermal conductance to a TES. Position information is encoded in the pulse shape. With some trade-off in performance, hydras enable very large format arrays without the prohibitive increase in bias and read-out components associated with arrays of individual TESs. Hydras are under development for the next generation of space telescope such as Lynx. Lynx is a NASA concept under study that will combine a < 1 arcsecond angular resolution optic with 100,000-pixel microcalorimeter array with energy resolution of deltaE_FWHM ~ 3 eV in the soft x-ray energy range. We present first results from hydras with 25-pixels for Lynx. Designs with absorbers on a 25 micron and 50 micron pitch are studied. Arrays incorporate, for the first time, microstrip buried wiring layers of suitable pitch and density required to readout a full-scale Lynx array. The resolution from the coadded energy histogram including all 25-pixels was deltaE_FWHM = 1.66+/-0.02 eV and 3.34+/-0.06 eV at an energy of 1.5 keV for the 25 micron and 50 micron absorber designs respectively. Position discrimination is demonstrated from parameterization of the rise-time., Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures. Low Temperature Detectors 18 Conference, Milan Italy

We present the first high-resolution laboratory spectra of X-ray emission following L-shell charge exchange between nickel ions and neutral H2 and He. We employ the commonly used charge exchange models found in XSPEC and SPEX, ACX and SPEX-CX, to simulate our experimental results. We show that significant differences between data and models exist in both line energies and strengths. In particular, we find that configuration mixing may play an important role in generating lines from core-excited states, and may be improperly treated in models. Our results indicate that if applied to astrophysical data, these models may lead to incorrect assumptions of the physical and chemical parameters of the region of interest., Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, 1 table

High-resolution spectroscopy of the core of the Perseus Cluster of galaxies, using the $Hitomi$ satellite above 2 keV and the $XMM$-$Newton$ Reflection Grating Spectrometer at lower energies, provides reliable constraints on the abundances of O, Ne, Mg, Si, S, Ar, Ca, Cr, Mn, Fe, and Ni. Accounting for all known systematic uncertainties, the Ar/Fe, Ca/Fe, and Ni/Fe ratios are determined with a remarkable precision of less than 10%, while the constraints on Si/Fe, S/Fe, and Cr/Fe are at the 15% level, and Mn/Fe is measured with a 20% uncertainty. The average biases in determining the chemical composition using archival CCD spectra from $XMM$-$Newton$ and $Suzaku$ range typically from 15-40%. A simple model in which the enrichment pattern in the Perseus Cluster core and the proto-solar nebula are identical gives a surprisingly good description of the high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy results, with $\chi^2=10.7$ for 10 d.o.f. However, this pattern is challenging to reproduce with linear combinations of existing supernova nucleosynthesis calculations, particularly given the precise measurements of intermediate $\alpha$-elements enabled by $Hitomi$. We discuss in detail the degeneracies between various supernova progenitor models and explosion mechanisms, and the remaining uncertainties in these theoretical models. We suggest that including neutrino physics in the core-collapse supernova yield calculations may improve the agreement with the observed pattern of $\alpha$-elements in the Perseus Cluster core. Our results provide a complementary benchmark for testing future nucleosynthesis calculations required to understand the origin of chemical elements., Comment: MNRAS in press

We have measured the energies of the strongest 1s-2ell (ell=s,p) transitions in He- through Ne-like silicon and sulfur ions to an accuracy of better than 1eV using Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's electron beam ion traps, EBIT-I and SuperEBIT, and the NASA/GSFC EBIT Calorimeter Spectrometer (ECS). We identify and measure the energies of 18 and 21 X-ray features from silicon and sulfur, respectively. The results are compared to new Flexible Atomic Code calculations and to semi-relativistic Hartree Fock calculations by Palmeri et al. (2008). These results will be especially useful for wind diagnostics in high mass X-ray binaries, such as Vela X-1 and Cygnus X-1, where high-resolution spectral measurements using Chandra's high energy transmission grating has made it possible to measure Doppler shifts of 100km/s. The accuracy of our measurements is consistent with that needed to analyze Chandra observations, exceeding Chandra's 100km/s limit. Hence, the results presented here not only provide benchmarks for theory, but also accurate rest energies that can be used to determine the bulk motion of material in astrophysical sources. We show the usefulness of our results by applying them to redetermine Doppler shifts from Chandra observations of Vela X-1., Comment: ApJ, in press

Quantum electrodynamics in very strong Coulomb fields is one scope which has not yet been tested experimentally with suffcient accuracy to really determine whether the perturbative approach is valid. One sensitive test is the determination of the 1s Lamb Shift in highly-charged very heavy ions. The 1s Lamb Shift of hydrogen-like lead (Pb81+) and gold (Au78+) has been determined using the novel detector concept of silicon microcalorimeters for the detection of hard X-rays. The results of (260 +- 22) eV for lead and (208 +- 13) eV for gold are within error bars in good agreement with theoretical predictions. For hydrogen-like lead, this represents the most accurate determination of the 1s Lamb Shift to our knowledge., Comment: This paper has been withdrawn because some technical details need to be clarified

We describe the potential of high resolution imaging spectroscopy with the SXS on ASTRO-H to advance our understanding of the interstellar- and circumgalactic media of our own Galaxy, and other galaxies. Topics to be addressed range from absorption spectroscopy of dust in the Galactic interstellar medium, to observations to constrain the total mass-, metal-, and energy flow out of starburst galaxies., Comment: 21 pages, 13 figures, ASTRO-H White Paper

The Athena+ mission concept is designed to implement the Hot and Energetic Universe science theme submitted to the European Space Agency in response to the call for White Papers for the definition of the L2 and L3 missions of its science program. The Athena+ science payload consists of a large aperture high angular resolution X-ray optics and twelve meters away, two interchangeable focal plane instruments: the X-ray Integral Field Unit (X-IFU) and the Wide Field Imager (WFI). The X-IFU is a cryogenic X-ray spectrometer, based on a large array of Transition Edge Sensors (TES), offering 2.5 eV spectral resolution, with ~5" pixels, over a field of view of 5 arc minutes in diameter. In this paper, we briefly describe the Athena+ mission concept and the X-IFU performance requirements. We then present the X-IFU detector and readout electronics principles, the current design of the focal plane assembly, the cooling chain and review the global architecture design. Finally, we describe the current performance estimates, in terms of effective area, particle background rejection, count rate capability and velocity measurements. Finally, we emphasize on the latest technology developments concerning TES array fabrication, spectral resolution and readout performance achieved to show that significant progresses are being accomplished towards the demanding X-IFU requirements., Comment: Supporting paper for the science theme "The Hot and Energetic Universe" to be implemented by the Athena+ X-ray observatory (http://www.the-athena-x-ray-observatory.eu). 17 pages, 19 figures

We report on our activities, currently in progress, aimed at performing accelerator experiments with soft protons and hyper-velocity dust particles. They include tests of different types of X-ray detectors and related components (such as filters) and measurements of scattering of soft protons and hyper-velocity dust particles off X-ray mirror shells. These activities have been identified as a goal in the context of a number of ongoing space projects in order to assess the risk posed by environmental radiation and dust and qualify the adopted instrumentation with respect to possible damage or performance degradation. In this paper we focus on tests for the Silicon Drift Detectors (SDDs) used aboard the LOFT space mission. We use the Van de Graaff accelerators at the University of T\"ubingen and at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics (MPIK) in Heidelberg, for soft proton and hyper-velocity dust tests respectively. We present the experimental set-up adopted to perform the tests, status of the activities and some very preliminary results achieved at present time., Comment: Proceedings of SPIE, Vol. 8443, Paper No. 8443-24, 2012

We present a high resolution spectrum of the diffuse X-ray background from 0.1 to 1 keV for a ~1 region of the sky centered at l=90, b=+60 using a 36-pixel array of microcalorimeters flown on a sounding rocket. With an energy resolution of 11 eV FWHM below 1 keV, the spectrum's observed line ratios help separate charge exchange contributions originating within the heliosphere from thermal emission of hot gas in the interstellar medium. The X-ray sensitivity below 1 keV was reduced by about a factor of four from contamination that occurred early in the flight, limiting the significance of the results. The observed centroid of helium-like O VII is 568+2-3 eV at 90% confidence. Since the centroid expected for thermal emission is 568.4 eV while for charge exchange is 564.2 eV, thermal emission appears to dominate for this line complex, consistent with much of the high-latitude O VII emission originating in 2-3 x 10^6 K gas in the Galactic halo. On the other hand, the observed ratio of C VI Ly gamma to Ly alpha is 0.3+-0.2. The expected ratios are 0.04 for thermal emission and 0.24 for charge exchange, indicating that charge exchange must contribute strongly to this line and therefore potentially to the rest of the ROSAT R12 band usually associated with 10^6 K emission from the Local Hot Bubble. The limited statistics of this experiment and systematic uncertainties due to the contamination require only >32% thermal emission for O VII and >20% from charge exchange for C VI at the 90% confidence level. An experimental gold coating on the silicon substrate of the array greatly reduced extraneous signals induced on nearby pixels from cosmic rays passing through the substrate, reducing the triggered event rate by a factor of 15 from a previous flight of the instrument., Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures, to be published in ApJ

ORIGIN is a proposal for the M3 mission call of ESA aimed at the study of metal creation from the epoch of cosmic dawn. Using high-spectral resolution in the soft X-ray band, ORIGIN will be able to identify the physical conditions of all abundant elements between C and Ni to red-shifts of z=10, and beyond. The mission will answer questions such as: When were the first metals created? How does the cosmic metal content evolve? Where do most of the metals reside in the Universe? What is the role of metals in structure formation and evolution? To reach out to the early Universe ORIGIN will use Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) to study their local environments in their host galaxies. This requires the capability to slew the satellite in less than a minute to the GRB location. By studying the chemical composition and properties of clusters of galaxies we can extend the range of exploration to lower redshifts (z ~ 0.2). For this task we need a high-resolution spectral imaging instrument with a large field of view. Using the same instrument, we can also study the so far only partially detected baryons in the Warm-Hot Intergalactic Medium (WHIM). The less dense part of the WHIM will be studied using absorption lines at low redshift in the spectra for GRBs., Comment: 34 pages, 13 figures. ESA Cosmic Vision medium-class mission (M3) proposal. Accepted for publication in Experimental Astronomy. Including minor corrections in the author list

We present the science case for a broadband X-ray imager with high-resolution spectroscopy, including simulations of X-ray spectral diagnostics of both active regions and solar flares. This is part of a trilogy of white papers discussing science, instrument (Bandler et al. 2010), and missions (Bookbinder et al. 2010) to exploit major advances recently made in transition-edge sensor (TES) detector technology that enable resolution better than 2 eV in an array that can handle high count rates. Combined with a modest X-ray mirror, this instrument would combine arcsecondscale imaging with high-resolution spectra over a field of view sufficiently large for the study of active regions and flares, enabling a wide range of studies such as the detection of microheating in active regions, ion-resolved velocity flows, and the presence of non-thermal electrons in hot plasmas. It would also enable more direct comparisons between solar and stellar soft X-ray spectra, a waveband in which (unusually) we currently have much better stellar data than we do of the Sun., Comment: 7 pages, white paper submitted the Solar and Heliophsyics Decadal Survey

We have measured K-shell x-ray spectra of highly ionized argon and phosphorus following charge exchange with molecular hydrogen at low collision energy in an electron beam ion trap using an x-ray calorimeter array with $\sim$6 eV resolution. We find that the emission at the high-end of the Lyman series is greater by a factor of 2 for phosphorus than for argon, even though the measurement was performed concurrently and the atomic numbers are similar. This does not agree with current theoretical models and deviates from the trend observed in previous measurements., Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures Accepted for publication in PRL

Neutrino oscillation experiments have proved that neutrinos are massive particles, but can't determine their absolute mass scale. Therefore the neutrino mass is still an open question in elementary particle physics. An international collaboration is growing around the project of Microcalorimeter Arrays for a Rhenium Experiment (MARE) for directly measuring the neutrino mass with a sensitivity of about 0.2eV/c2. Many groups are joining their experiences and technical expertise in a common effort towards this challenging experiment. We discuss the different scenarios and the impact of MARE as a complement of KATRIN., Comment: 3 pages, 1 figure Nucl. Instr. Meth. A, proceedings of LTD11 workshop, Tokyo 2005

X-ray emission following charge exchange has been studied on the University of California Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory electron beam ion traps EBIT-I and EBIT-II using a high-resolution microcalorimeter. The measured spectra include the K-shell emission from hydrogenlike and heliumlike C, N, O, and Ne needed for simulations of cometary x-ray emission. A comparison of the spectra produced in the interaction of O8+ with N2 and CH4 is presented that illustrates the dependence of the observed spectrum on the interaction gas., Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures

To detect a warm-hot intergalactic medium associated with the large-scale structure of the universe, we observed a quasar behind the Virgo cluster with XMM-Newton. With a net exposure time of 54 ks, we marginally detected an OVIII K alpha absorption line at 650.9 +0.8/-1.9 eV in the RGS spectra, with a statistical confidence of 96.4 %. The observed line center energy is consistent with the redshift of M87, and hence the absorber is associated with the Virgo cluster. From the curve of growth, the OVIII column density was estimated to be > 7 x 10^16 cm^-2. In the EPIC spectra, excess emission was found after evaluating the hot intracluster medium in the Virgo cluster and various background components. We inspected the ROSAT All-Sky Survey map of the diffuse soft X-ray background, and confirmed that the level of the north and west regions just outside of the Virgo cluster is consistent with the background model that we used, while that of the east side is significantly higher and the enhancement is comparable with the excess emission found in the EPIC data. We consider a significant portion of the excess emission to be associated with the Virgo cluster, although a possible contribution from the North Polar Spur cannot be excluded. Using the column density and the emission measure and assuming an oxygen abundance of 0.1 and an ionization fraction of 0.4, we estimate that the mean electron density and the line-of-sight distance of the warm-hot gas are < 6 x 10^-5 cm^-3 and > 9 Mpc, respectively. These numbers strongly suggest that we have detected a warm-hot intergalactic medium in a filament associated with the Virgo cluster., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures. Accepted for publication in PASJ. A reference is added