M. Feroci, J. den Herder, E. Bozzo, D. Barret, S. Brandt, M. Hernanz, M. van der Klis, M. Pohl, A. Santangelo, L. Stella, A. Watts, J. Wilms, S. Zane, M. Ahangarianabhari, A. Alpar, D. Altamirano, L. Alvarez, L. Amati, C. Amoros, N. Andersson, A. Antonelli, A. Argan, R. Artigue, P. Azzarello, G. Baldazzi, S. Balman, M. Barbera, T. Belloni, G. Bertuccio, S. Bianchi, A. Bianchini, P. Bodin, J.-M. Bonnet Bidaud, S. Boutloukos, J. Braga, E. Brown, N. Bucciantini, L. Burderi, M. Bursa, C. Budtz-Jørgensen, E. Cackett, F. Cadoux, P. Cais, G. Caliandro, R. Campana, S. Campana, P. Casella, D. Chakrabarty, J. Chenevez, J. Coker, R. Cole, A. Collura, T. Courvoisier, A. Cros, A. Cumming, G. Cusumano, A. D'Ai, V. D'Elia, E. Del Monte, D. de Martino, A. De Rosa, S. Di Cosimo, S. Diebold, T. Di Salvo, I. Donnarumma, A. Drago, M. Durant, D. Emmanoulopoulos, Y. Evangelista, A. Fabian, M. Falanga, Y. Favre, C. Feldman, C. Ferrigno, M. Finger, G. Fraser, F. Fuschino, D. Galloway, J. Galvez Sanchez, E. Garcia-Berro, B. Gendre, S. Gezari, A. Giles, M. Gilfanov, P. Giommi, G. Giovannini, M. Giroletti, A. Goldwurm, D. Götz, C. Gouiffes, M. Grassi, P. Groot, C. Guidorzi, D. Haas, F. Hansen, D. Hartmann, C. A. Haswell, A. Heger, J. Homan, A. Hornstrup, R. Hudec, J. Huovelin, A. Ingram, J. J. In't Zand, J. Isern, G. Israel, L. Izzo, P. Jonker, P. Kaaret, V. Karas, D. Karelin, D. Kataria, L. Keek, T. Kennedy, D. Klochkov, W. Kluzniak, K. Kokkotas, S. Korpela, C. Kouveliotou, I. Kreykenbohm, L. Kuiper, I. Kuvvetli, C. Labanti, D. Lai, F. Lamb, F. Lebrun, D. Lin, D. Linder, G. Lodato, F. Longo, N. Lund, T. Maccarone, D. Macera, D. Maier, P. Malcovati, V. Mangano, A. Manousakis, M. Marisaldi, A. Markowitz, A. Martindale, G. Matt, I. McHardy, A. Melatos, M. Mendez, S. Migliari, R. Mignani, M. Miller, J. Miller, T. Mineo, G. Miniutti, S. Morsink, C. Motch, S. Motta, M. Mouchet, F. Muleri, A. Norton, M. Nowak, P. O'Brien, M. Orienti, M. Orio, M. Orlandini, P. Orleanski, J. Osborne, R. Osten, F. Ozel, L. Pacciani, A. Papitto, B. Paul, E. Perinati, V. Petracek, J. Portell, J. Poutanen, D. Psaltis, D. Rambaud, G. Ramsay, M. Rapisarda, A. Rachevski, P. Ray, N. Rea, S. Reddy, P. Reig, M. Reina Aranda, R. Remillard, C. Reynolds, P. Rodríguez-Gil, J. Rodriguez, P. Romano, E. M. Rossi, F. Ryde, L. Sabau-Graziati, G. Sala, R. Salvaterra, A. Sanna, S. Schanne, J. Schee, C. Schmid, A. Schwenk, A. Schwope, J.-Y. Seyler, A. Shearer, A. Smith, D. Smith, P. Smith, V. Sochora, P. Soffitta, P. Soleri, B. Stappers, B. Steltzer, N. Stergioulas, G. Stratta, T. Strohmayer, Z. Stuchlik, S. Suchy, V. Sulemainov, T. Takahashi, F. Tamburini, C. Tenzer, L. Tolos, G. Torok, J. Torrejon, D. Torres, A. Tramacere, A. Trois, S. Turriziani, P. Uter, P. Uttley, A. Vacchi, P. Varniere, S. Vaughan, S. Vercellone, V. Vrba, D. Walton, S. Watanabe, R. Wawrzaszek, N. Webb, N. Weinberg, H. Wende, P. Wheatley, R. Wijers, R. Wijnands, M. Wille, C. Wilson-Hodge, B. Winter, K. Wood, G. Zampa, N. Zampa, L. Zampieri, A. Zdziarski, B. Zhang
The LOFT mission concept is one of four candidates selected by ESA for the M3 launch opportunity as Medium Size missions of the Cosmic Vision programme. The launch window is currently planned for between 2022 and 2024. LOFT is designed to exploit the diagnostics of rapid X-ray flux and spectral variability that directly probe the motion of matter down to distances very close to black holes and neutron stars, as well as the physical state of ultradense matter. These primary science goals will be addressed by a payload composed of a Large Area Detector (LAD) and a Wide Field Monitor (WFM). The LAD is a collimated (<1 degree field of view) experiment operating in the energy range 2-50 keV, with a 10 m2 peak effective area and an energy resolution of 260 eV at 6 keV. The WFM will operate in the same energy range as the LAD, enabling simultaneous monitoring of a few-steradian wide field of view, with an angular resolution of <5 arcmin. The LAD and WFM experiments will allow us to investigate variability from submillisecond QPO’s to yearlong transient outbursts. In this paper we report the current status of the project.
KEYWORDS: Point spread functions, Calibration, X-ray telescopes, Charge-coupled devices, Monte Carlo methods, Galaxy groups and clusters, Wavelet transforms, Telescopes, Error analysis, X-rays
We are exploiting the Swift X-ray Telescope (XRT) deepest GRB follow-up observations to study the cosmic
X-Ray Background (XRB) population in the 0.2-10 keV energy band. We present some preliminary results of a
serendipitous survey performed on 221 fields observed with exposure longer than 10 ks. We show that the XRT is
a profitable instrument for surveys and that it is particularly suitable for the search and observation of extended
objects like clusters of galaxies. We used the brightest serendipitous sources and the longest observations to test
the XRT optics performance and the background characteristics all over the field of view, in different energy
bands during the first 2.5 years of fully operational mission.
The Swift X-ray Telescope (XRT) is a CCD based X-ray telescope designed for localization, spectroscopy and long term
light curve monitoring of Gamma-Ray Bursts and their X-ray afterglows. Since the launch of Swift in November 2004,
the XRT has undergone significant evolution in the way it is operated. Shortly after launch there was a failure of the
CCD thermo-electric cooling system, which led to the XRT team being required to devise a method of keeping the CCD
temperature below −50C utilizing only passive cooling by minimizing the exposure of the XRT radiator to the Earth. We
present in this paper an update on how the modeling of this passive cooling method has improved in first ~1000 days
since the method was devised, and the success rate of this method in day-to-day planning. We also discuss the changes
to the operational modes and onboard software of the XRT. These changes include improved rapid data product
generation in order to improve speed of rapid Gamma-Ray Burst response and localization to the community; changes to
the way XRT observation modes are chosen in order to better fine tune data acquisition to a particular science goal;
reduction of "mode switching" caused by the contamination of the CCD by Earth light or high temperature effects.
The X-ray telescope (XRT) on board the Swift Gamma Ray Burst Explorer has successfully operated since the spacecraft
launch on 20 November 2004, automatically locating GRB afterglows, measuring their spectra and lightcurves and
performing observations of high-energy sources. In this work we investigate the properties of the instrumental
background, focusing on its dynamic behavior on both long and short timescales. The operational temperature of the
CCD is the main factor that influences the XRT background level. After the failure of the Swift active on-board
temperature control system, the XRT detector now operates at a temperature range between -75C and -45C thanks to a
passive cooling Heat Rejection System. We report on the long-term effects on the background caused by radiation,
consisting mainly of proton irradiation in Swift's low Earth orbit and on the short-term effects of transits through the
South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA), which expose the detector to periods of intense proton flux. We have determined the
fraction of the detector background that is due to the internal, instrumental background and the part that is due to
unresolved astrophysical sources (the cosmic X-ray background) by investigating the degree of vignetting of the
measured background and comparing it to the expected value from calibration data.
The Swift X-ray Telescope (XRT) focal plane camera is a front-illuminated MOS CCD, providing a spectral response kernel of 144 eV FWHM at 6.5 keV. We describe the CCD calibration program based on celestial and on-board calibration sources, relevant in-flight experiences, and developments in the CCD response model. We illustrate how the revised response model describes the calibration sources well. Loss of temperature control motivated a laboratory program to re-optimize the CCD substrate voltage, we describe the small changes in the CCD response that would result from use of a substrate voltage of 6V.
The Swift X-ray Telescope (XRT) is designed to make astrometric,
spectroscopic and photometric observations of the X-ray emission from Gamma-ray bursts and their afterglows in the 0.2-10 keV energy band. Here we report the initial results of the analysis of Swift XRT effective area as measured both on-axis and off-axis during the in-flight calibration phase using the laboratory results and ray-tracing simulations as a starting point. Our analysis includes the study of the effective area at a range of energies, for different event grade selection and operating modes using two astronomical sources characterized by different intrinsic spectra.
The Swift X-ray Telescope (XRT) is a CCD based X-ray telescope designed for localization, spectroscopy and long term light curve monitoring of Gamma-Ray Bursts and their X-ray afterglows. Shortly after launch there was a failure of the thermo-electric cooler on the XRT CCD. Due to this the Swift XRT Team had the unexpected challenge of ensuring that the CCD temperature stayed below -50C utilizing only passive cooling through a radiator mounted on the side of the Swift. Here we show that the temperature of the XRT CCD is correlated with the average elevation of the Earth above the XRT radiator, which is in turn related to the targets that Swift observes in an orbit. In order to maximize passive cooling of the XRT CCD, the XRT team devised several novel methods for ensuring that the XRT radiator's exposure to the Earth was minimized to ensure efficient cooling. These methods include: picking targets on the sky for Swift to point at which are known to put the spacecraft into a good orientation for maximizing XRT cooling; biasing the spacecraft roll angle to point the XRT radiator away from the Earth as much as possible; utilizing time in the SAA, in which all of the instruments on-board Swift are non-operational, to point at "cold targets"; and restricting observing time on "warm" targets to only the periods at which the spacecraft is in a favorable orientation for cooling. By doing this at the observation planning stage we have been able to minimize the heating of the CCD and maintain the XRT as a fully operational scientific instrument, without compromising the science goals of the Swift mission.
The X-ray telescope (XRT) on board Swift, launched on 2004 Nov 20, is performing astrometric, spectroscopic and photometric observations of the X-ray emission from Gamma-ray burst afterglows in the energy band 0.2-10 keV. In this paper, we describe the results of the in-flight calibration relative to the XRT timing resolution and absolute timing capabilities. The timing calibration has been performed comparing the main pulse phases of the Crab profile obtained from several XRT observations in Low Rate Photodiode and Windowed Timing mode with those from contemporaneous RXTE observations. The XRT absolute timing is well reproduced with an accuracy of 200 μs for the Low Rate Photodiode and 300 μs for the Windowed Timing mode.
The Swift X-ray Telescope (XRT) is designed to make astrometric, spectroscopic and photometric observations of the X-ray emission from
Gamma-ray bursts and their afterglows, in the energy band 0.2-10 keV.
Swift was successfully launched on 2004 November 20. Here we report the results of the analysis of Swift XRT Point Spread Function (PSF) as measured in the first four months of the mission during the instrument calibration phase.
The analysis includes the study of the PSF of different point-like sources both on-axis and off-axis with different spectral properties. We compare the in-flight data with the expectations from the on-ground calibration. On the basis of the calibration data we built an analytical model to reproduce the PSF as a function of the energy and the source position within the detector which can be applied in the PSF correction calculation for any extraction region geometry.
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