Background Model for the Low-Energy Telescope of Insight-HXMT

Abstract

With more than 150 blank sky observations at high Galactic latitude, we make a systematic study to the background of the Low Energy Telescope (LE) of the Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (dubbed as Insight-HXMT). Both the on-ground simulation and the in-orbit observation indicate that the background spectrum mainly has two components. One is the particle background that dominates above 7 keV and its spectral shape is consistent in every geographical locations. Another is the diffuse X-ray background that dominates below 7 keV and has a stable spectrum less dependent of the sky region. The particle background spectral shape can be obtained from the blind detector data of all the blank sky observations, and the particle background intensity can be measured by the blind detector at 10-12.5 keV. The diffuse X-ray background in the high Galactic latitude can also be obtained from the blank sky spectra after subtracting the particle background. Based on these characteristics, we develop the background model for both the spectrum and the light curve. The systematic error for the background spectrum is investigated with different exposures (T_exp). For the spectrum with T_exp=1 ks, the average systematic errors in 1-7 keV and 1-10 keV are 4.2% and 3.7%, respectively. We also perform the systematic error analyses of the background light curves with different energy bands and time bins. The results show that the systematic errors for the light curves with different time bins are <8% in 1-10 keV.