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X-Ray Imaging Spectrometer (XIS) on Board Suzaku

Hamaguchi, Kenji; Dotani, Tadayasu; Miller, Eric D. +43 more

The XIS is an X-ray Imaging Spectrometer system, consisting of state-of-the-art charge-coupled devices (CCDs) optimized for X-ray detection, camera bodies, and control electronics. Four sets of XIS sensors are placed at the focal planes of the grazing-incidence, nested thin-foil mirrors (XRT: X-Ray Telescope) onboard the Suzaku satellite. Three of…

The X-Ray Observatory Suzaku

Hamaguchi, Kenji; White, Nicholas E.; Isobe, Naoki +140 more

High-sensitivity wide-band X-ray spectroscopy is the key feature of the Suzaku X-ray observatory, launched on 2005 July 10. This paper summarizes the spacecraft, in-orbit performance, operations, and data processing that are related to observations. The scientific instruments, the high-throughput X-ray telescopes, X-ray CCD cameras, non-imaging ha…

Hard X-Ray Detector (HXD) on Board Suzaku

Isobe, Naoki; Yamaoka, Kazutaka; Fukazawa, Yasushi +66 more

The Hard X-ray Detector (HXD) on board Suzaku covers a wide energy range from 10keV to 600keV by the combination of silicon PIN diodes and GSO scintillators. The HXD is designed to achieve an extremely low in-orbit background based on a combination of new techniques, including the concept of a well-type active shield counter. With an effective are…

Extremely fast acceleration of cosmic rays in a supernova remnant

Maeda, Yoshitomo; Takahashi, Tadayuki; Uchiyama, Yasunobu +2 more

Galactic cosmic rays (CRs) are widely believed to be accelerated by shock waves associated with the expansion of supernova ejecta into the interstellar medium. A key issue in this long-standing conjecture is a theoretical prediction that the interstellar magnetic field can be substantially amplified at the shock of a young supernova remnant (SNR) …

The X-Ray Telescope onboard Suzaku

Maeda, Yoshitomo; Ishida, Manabu; Kunieda, Hideyo +31 more

Monte Carlo Simulator and Ancillary Response Generator of Suzaku XRT/XIS System for Spatially Extended Source Analysis

Hamaguchi, Kenji; Miller, Eric D.; Maeda, Yoshitomo +31 more

We have developed a framework for the Monte Carlo simulations of X-Ray Telescope (XRT) and X-ray Imaging Spectrometer (XIS) on board 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 ASC…

Relativistic X-Ray Lines from the Inner Accretion Disks Around Black Holes

Miller, J. M.

Relativistic X-ray emission lines from the inner accretion disks around black holes are reviewed. Recent observations with the Chandra X-ray Observatory, X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission-Newton, and Suzaku are revealing these lines to be good probes of strong gravitational effects. A number of important observational and theoretical developments are hig…

In-Orbit Performance of the Hard X-Ray Detector on Board Suzaku

Isobe, Naoki; Enoto, Teruaki; Yamaoka, Kazutaka +55 more

The in-orbit performance and calibration of the Hard X-ray Detector (HXD) on board the X-ray astronomy satellite Suzaku are described. Its basic performances, including a wide energy bandpass of 10-600keV, energy resolutions of ∼4keV (FWHM) at 40keV and ∼11% at 511keV, and a high background rejection efficiency, have been confirmed by extensive in…

Suzaku Observations of the Hard X-Ray Variability of MCG -6-30-15: the Effects of Strong Gravity around a Kerr Black Hole

Fabian, Andrew C.; Kunieda, Hideyo; Haba, Yoshito +21 more

Suzaku has, for the first time, enabled the hard X-ray variability of the Seyfert 1 galaxy MCG -6-30-15 to be measured. The variability in the 14-45keV band, which is dominated by a strong reflection hump, is quenched relative to that at a few keV. This directly demonstrates that the whole reflection spectrum is much less variable than the power-l…

Evidence for Solar-Wind Charge-Exchange X-Ray Emission from the Earth's Magnetosheath

Yamaguchi, Hiroya; Mitsuda, Kazuhisa; Fujimoto, Ryuichi +7 more

We report an apparent detection of the C VI 4p to 1s transition line at 459eV, during a long-term enhancement (LTE) in the Suzaku north ecliptic pole observation of 2005 September 2. The observed line intensity is comparable to that of the C VI 2p to 1s line at 367eV. This is strong evidence for the charge-exchange process. In addition, O VII , O …