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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)

We have developed a framework for the Monte-Carlo simulation of the X-Ray Telescopes (XRT) and the X-ray Imaging Spectrometers (XIS) onboard Suzaku, mainly for the scientific analysis of spatially and spectroscopically complex celestial sources. A photon-by-photon instrumental simulator is built on the ANL platform, which has been successfully used in ASCA data analysis. The simulator has a modular structure, in which the XRT simulation is based on a ray-tracing library, while the XIS simulation utilizes a spectral "Redistribution Matrix File" (RMF), generated separately by other tools. Instrumental characteristics and calibration results, e.g., XRT geometry, reflectivity, mutual alignments, thermal shield transmission, build-up of the contamination on the XIS optical blocking filters (OBF), are incorporated as completely as possible. Most of this information is available in the form of the FITS (Flexible Image Transport System) files in the standard calibration database (CALDB). This simulator can also be utilized to generate an "Ancillary Response File" (ARF), which describes the XRT response and the amount of OBF contamination. The ARF is dependent on the spatial distribution of the celestial target and the photon accumulation region on the detector, as well as observing conditions such as the observation date and satellite attitude. We describe principles of the simulator and the ARF generator, and demonstrate their performance in comparison with in-flight data., Comment: 19 pages with 8 figures, accepted for publication in PASJ Vol 58, Suzaku special issue

We have measured the X-ray spectral properties of a complete flux-limited sample of bright AGNs from HEAO-1 all-sky catalogs to investigate their statistics and provide greater constraints on the bright-end of the hard X-ray luminosity function (HXLF) of AGNs and the AGN population synthesis model of the X-ray background. Spectral studies using data from ASCA, XMM-Newton and/or Beppo-SAX observations have been made for almost all AGNs in this sample. The spectral measurements enable us to construct the neutral absorbing column density (Log nH) distribution and separate HXLFs for absorbed (Log nH[cm-2]> 21.5) and unabsorbed AGNs in the local universe. Our results show evidence for a difference in the shapes of HXLFs of absorbed and unabsorbed AGNs in that absorbed AGN HXLF drops more rapidly at higher luminosities than that of unabsorbed AGNs, which is similar to that previously reported. In the Lx - nH plot, we found no AGN in the high-luminosity high-intrinsic absorption regime (Log Lx[erg/s]> 44.5, Log nH[cm-2]> 21.5) in our sample, where we expect about 5 AGNs if we assume that absorbed and unabsorbed having identical AGN HXLF shapes. We also find that the observed flux with ASCA or XMM-Newton is smaller than that with HEAO-1 by a factor of 0.29 on average, which is expected for re-observation of sources with a factor 2.5 variability amplitude scale., Comment: 43 pages(one column), 10 figures(5 electronic only figures have been included in the preprint source (tar.gz file)), accepted by The Astronomical Journal, 9. Mar 2006

We investigated the statistics of the X-ray spectral properties of a complete flux-limited sample of bright AGNs from HEAO-1 all-sky catalogs to provide the bright end constraint of the evolution of AGN hard X-ray luminosity function (HXLF) and the AGN population synthesis model of the X-ray background. Spectral studies have been made using ASCA and XMM-Newton observation data for almost all AGNs in this sample., Comment: PTPTex v0.88, 2 pages with 4 figures, Proceedings of the "Stellar-Mass, Intermediate -Masss, and Supermassive Black Holes" in Kyoto, Japan

The CZT detector on the Infocus hard X-ray telescope is a pixellated solid-state device capable of imaging spectroscopy by measuring the position and energy of each incoming photon. The detector sits at the focal point of an 8m focal length multilayered grazing incidence X-ray mirror which has significant effective area between 20--40 keV. The detector has an energy resolution of 4.0keV at 32keV, and the Infocus telescope has an angular resolution of 2.2 arcminute and a field of view of about 10 arcminutes. Infocus flew on a balloon mission in July 2001 and observed Cygnus X-1. We present results from laboratory testing of the detector to measure the uniformity of response across the detector, to determine the spectral resolution, and to perform a simple noise decomposition. We also present a hard X-ray spectrum and image of Cygnus X-1, and measurements of the hard X-ray CZT background obtained with the SWIN detector on Infocus., Comment: To appear in the proceedings of the SPIE conference "Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation", #4851-116, Kona, Hawaii, Aug. 22-28, 2002. 12 pages, 9 figures

We carried out the first wide-area unbiased survey with the ASCA satellite in the 0.7-10 keV band around a north Galactic-pole region covering a continuous area of 7 square degrees (Large Sky Survey; LSS). To make the best use of ASCA capability, we developed a new source-detection method where the complicated detector responses are fully taken into account. Applying this method to the entire LSS data independently in the total (0.7-7 keV), hard (2-10 keV), and soft (0.7-2 keV) band, we detected 107 sources altogether with sensitivity limits of 6 x 10E-14 (0.7-7 keV), 1 x 10E-13 (2-10 keV), and 2 x 10E-14 erg sE-1 cmE-2 (0.7-2 keV), respectively. A complete list of the detected sources is presented. Based on detailed studies by Monte Carlo simulations, we evaluated effects of the source confusion and accurately derived Log N - Log S relation in each survey band. The Log N - Log S relation in the hard band is located on the extrapolation from the GINGA and HEAO1 results with the Euclidean slope of -3/2, while that in the soft band is consistent with the results by ROSAT. At these flux limits, 30 (+/- 3) percent of the CXB in the 0.7-7 keV band and 23 (+/- 3) percent in the 2-10 keV band have been resolved into discrete sources. The average spectrum of faint sources detected in the total band shows a photon index of 1.63 +/- 0.07 in the 0.7-10 keV range, consistent with the comparison of source counts between the hard and the soft energy band. Those detected in the hard band show a photon index of 1.49 +/- 0.10 in the 2-10 keV range. These spectral properties suggest that contribution of sources with hard energy spectra become significant at a flux of 10E-13 erg sE-1 cmE-2 (2-10 keV). The most plausible candidates are type-II AGNs, as indicated by on-going optical identifications., Comment: 28 pages, 11 figures, to appear in ApJ 518, 1999; figure 1 replaced, minor errors in text corrected

We have made a series of joint spectral fits for two blank fields, the Lockman Hole and the Lynx-3A field, where a significant amount of both ASCA and ROSAT PSPC data exist after thorough screenings. The ASCA SIS, GIS and ROSAT PSPC spectra from these fields have been fitted simultaneously. Comparison at E>1$keV shows general agreement within 10% in the Lockman Hole data and a 20-30% disagreement in the Lynx-3A data, indicating remaining observation-dependent systematic problems. In both cases, satisfactory fits have been found for the overall 0.1-10 keV spectrum with an extragalactic power-law component (or a broken power-law component with steepening at E<1 keV), a hard thermal component with plasma temperature of kT\approx 0.14 keV and a soft thermal component kT\approx 0.07 keV., Comment: 4 pages, 3 postscript figures, using aa.cls, accepted to A&A Letters

A ray-trace simulation code for the Hard X-ray Telescope (HXT) on board the Hitomi (ASTRO-H) satellite is beingdeveloped. The half power diameter and effective area simulated based on the code are consistent with groundmeasurements within 10%. The HXT observed the pulsar wind nebula G21.5-0.9 for 105 ksec. We confirmed that theencircled energy function and the half power diameter obtained from the data are consistent with the ground measurements.

InFOCuS is a new generation balloon-borne hard X-ray telescope with focusing optics and spectroscopy. After several successful flights in recent years it is being refurbished for a 2010 flight from Australia to map the hard X-ray emission from the galactic center region. in this poster, we present the status of the mirror, detectors and attitude control system. The grazing incidence optics consists of a depth-graded platinum-carbon multilayer mirror with an 8-meter focal length. It has an effective area of 78 cm(sup 2) at 30 keV. an angular resolution of 2.0 arcmin (HPD), and a field of view of 10 arcmin. The detector is a CdZnTe solid-state device capable of imaging spectroscopy. The detector is surrounded by a 3-cm thick CsI anti-coincidence shield to reduce background from particles and photons not incident along the mirror focal direction. The gondola is being reconfigured in a floating ball configuration to improve pointing control and allow the telescope to be pointed vertically. Tracking will be accomplished with a suite of on-axis and off-axis star cameras. The payload will be ready to fly from Alice Springs, Australia in Spring 2010. In this flight, InFOCuS will have the angular resolution and sensitivity to determine whether Sgr A* is the source of the hard X-rays detected by Swift/BAT and INTEGRAL and determine if there are other nearby hard X-ray sources.