XMM-Newton Reflection Grating Spectrometer

Junjie Mao; Frits Paerels; Matteo Guainazzi; Jelle S. Kaastra

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arXiv · 2307.01414

XMM-Newton Reflection Grating Spectrometer

Junjie Mao·Frits Paerels·Matteo Guainazzi·Jelle S. Kaastra

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Abstract

The past two decades have witnessed the rapid growth of our knowledge of the X-ray Universe thanks to flagship X-ray space observatories like XMM-Newton and Chandra. A significant portion of discoveries would have been impossible without the X-ray diffractive grating spectrometers aboard these two space observatories. We briefly overview the physical principles of diffractive grating spectrometers as the background to the beginning of a new era with the next-generation (diffractive and non-diffractive) high-resolution X-ray spectrometers. This chapter focuses on the Reflection Grating Spectrometer aboard XMM-Newton, which provides high-quality high-resolution spectra in the soft X-ray band. Its performance and excellent calibration quality have allowed breakthrough advancements in a wide range of astrophysical topics. For the benefit of new learners, we illustrate how to reduce RGS imaging, timing, and spectral data.

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Junjie Mao, Frits Paerels, Matteo Guainazzi, Jelle S. Kaastra. 2023-07-04. XMM-Newton Reflection Grating Spectrometer. https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.01414

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