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Hiromasa Suzuki

Publications and source records attributed to Hiromasa Suzuki.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

A self-consistent model of shock-heated plasma in non-equilibrium states for direct parameter constraints from X-ray observations

X-ray observations of shock-heated plasmas, such as those found in supernova remnants, often exhibit features of temperature and ionization non-equilibrium. For accurate interpretation of these observations, proper calculations of the equilibration processes are essential. Here, we present a self-consistent model of thermal X-ray emission from shock-heated plasmas that accounts for both temperature and ionization non-equilibrium conditions. For a given pair of shock velocity and initial electron-to-ion temperature ratio, the temporal evolution of the temperature and ionization state of each element was calculated by simultaneously solving the relaxation processes of temperature and ionization. The resulting thermal X-ray spectrum was synthesized by combining our model with the AtomDB spectral code. Comparison between our model and the \texttt{nei} model, a constant-temperature non-equilibrium ionization model available in the XSPEC software package, reveals a 30\% underestimation of the ionization timescale in the \texttt{nei} model. We implemented our model in XSPEC to directly constrain the shock wave properties, such as the shock velocity and collisionless electron heating efficiency, from the thermal X-ray emission from postshock plasmas. We applied this model to archival Chandra data of the supernova remnant N132D, providing a constraint on the shock velocity of $\sim 800~\mathrm{km\,s^{-1}}$, in agreement with previous optical studies.

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Imaging reconstruction method on X-ray data of CMOS polarimeter combined with coded aperture

X-ray polarization is a powerful tool for unveiling the anisotropic characteristics of high-energy celestial objects. We present a novel imaging reconstruction method designed for hard X-ray polarimeters employing a Si CMOS sensor and coded apertures, which function as a photoelectron tracker and imaging optics, respectively. Faced with challenges posed by substantial artifacts and background noise in the coded aperture imaging associated with the conventional balanced correlation method, we adopt the Expectation-Maximization (EM) algorithm as the foundation of our imaging reconstruction method. The newly developed imaging reconstruction method is validated with imaging polarimetry and a series of X-ray beam experiments. The method demonstrates the capability to accurately reproduce an extended source comprising multiple segments with distinct polarization degrees. Comparative analysis exhibits a significant enhancement in imaging reconstruction accuracy compared to the balanced correlation method, with the background noise levels reduced to 17%. The outcomes of this study enhance the feasibility of Cube-Sat imaging polarimetry missions in the hard X-ray band, as the combination of Si CMOS sensors and coded apertures is a promising approach for realizing it.

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Status of Xtend telescope onboard X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM)

Xtend is one of the two telescopes onboard the X-ray imaging and spectroscopy mission (XRISM), which was launched on September 7th, 2023. Xtend comprises the Soft X-ray Imager (SXI), an X-ray CCD camera, and the X-ray Mirror Assembly (XMA), a thin-foil-nested conically approximated Wolter-I optics. A large field of view of $38^{\prime}\times38^{\prime}$ over the energy range from 0.4 to 13 keV is realized by the combination of the SXI and XMA with a focal length of 5.6 m. The SXI employs four P-channel, back-illuminated type CCDs with a thick depletion layer of 200 $μ$m. The four CCD chips are arranged in a 2$\times$2 grid and cooled down to $-110$ $^{\circ}$C with a single-stage Stirling cooler. Before the launch of XRISM, we conducted a month-long spacecraft thermal vacuum test. The performance verification of the SXI was successfully carried out in a course of multiple thermal cycles of the spacecraft. About a month after the launch of XRISM, the SXI was carefully activated and the soundness of its functionality was checked by a step-by-step process. Commissioning observations followed the initial operation. We here present pre- and post-launch results verifying the Xtend performance. All the in-orbit performances are consistent with those measured on ground and satisfy the mission requirement. Extensive calibration studies are ongoing.

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A dynamical model for IRAS 00500+6713: the remnant of a type Iax supernova SN 1181 hosting a double degenerate merger product WD J005311

IRAS 00500+6713 is a hypothesized remnant of a type Iax supernova SN 1181. Multi-wavelength observations have revealed its complicated morphology; a dusty infrared ring is sandwiched by the inner and outer X-ray nebulae. We analyze the archival X-ray data taken by XMM-Newton and Chandra to constrain the {angular radius}, mass, and metal abundance of the X-ray nebulae, and construct a theoretical model describing the dynamical evolution of IRAS 00500+6713, including the effects of the interaction between the SN ejecta and the intense wind enriched with carbon burning ashes from the central white dwarf (WD) J005311. We show that the inner X-ray nebula corresponds to the wind termination shock while the outer X-ray nebula to the shocked interface between the SN ejecta and the interstellar matter. The observed X-ray properties can be explained by our model with an {ejecta kinetic} energy of $E_\mathrm{ej} = (0.77 \mbox{--} 1.1)\times 10^{48}$~erg, an ejecta mass of $M_\mathrm{ej} = 0.18\mbox{--}0.53~M_\odot$, if the currently observed wind from WD J005311 started to blow $t_\mathrm{w} \gtrsim 810$ yr after the explosion, i.e., approximately after A.D. 1990. The inferred SN properties are compatible with those of Type Iax SNe and the timing of the wind launch may correspond to the Kelvin-Helmholtz contraction of the oxygen-neon core of WD J005311 that triggered a surface carbon burning. Our analysis supports that IRAS 00500+6713 is the remnant of SN Iax 1181 produced by a double degenerate merger of oxygen-neon and carbon-oxygen WDs, and WD J005311 is the surviving merger product.

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Measurement of Temperature Relaxation in the Postshock Plasma of the Northwestern Limb of SN 1006

Heating of charged particles via collisionless shocks, while ubiquitous in the universe, is an intriguing yet puzzling plasma phenomenon. One outstanding question is how electrons and ions approach an equilibrium after they were heated to different immediate-postshock temperatures. In order to fill the significant lack of observational information of the downstream temperature-relaxation process, we observe a thermal-dominant X-ray filament in the northwest of SN~1006 with Chandra. We divide this region into four layers with a thickness of 15$^{\prime\prime}$ or 0.16 pc each, and fit each spectrum by a non-equilibrium ionization collisional plasma model. The electron temperature was found to increase toward downstream from 0.52-0.62 keV to 0.82-0.95 keV on a length scale of 60 arcsec (or 0.64 pc). This electron temperature is lower than thermal relaxation processes via Coulomb scattering, requiring some other effects such as plasma mixture due to turbulence and/or projection effects, etc, which we hope will be resolved with future X-ray calorimeter missions such as XRISM and Athena.

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Evaluation of the X-ray SOI pixel detector with the on-chip ADC

XRPIX is the monolithic X-ray SOI (silicon-on-insulator) pixel detector, which has a time resolution better than 10 $\rmμ$s as well as a high detection efficiency for X-rays above 10 keV. XRPIX is planned to be installed on future X-ray satellites. To mount on satellites, it is essential that the ADC (analog-to-digital converter) be implemented on the detector because such peripheral circuits must be as compact as possible to achieve a large imaging area in the limited space in satellites. Thus, we developed a new XRPIX device with the on-chip ADC, and evaluated its performances. As the results, the integral non-linearity was evaluated to be 6 LSB (least significant bit), equivalent to 36 eV. The differential non-linearity was less than 0.7 LSB, and input noise from the on-chip ADC was 5~$\rm{e^{-}}$. Also, we evaluated end-to-end performance including the sensor part as well as the on-chip ADC. As the results, energy resolution at 5.9 keV was 294 $\rm{\pm}$ 4 eV in full-width at half maximum for the best pixel.

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Learning Self-Prior for Mesh Inpainting Using Self-Supervised Graph Convolutional Networks

In this paper, we present a self-prior-based mesh inpainting framework that requires only an incomplete mesh as input, without the need for any training datasets. Additionally, our method maintains the polygonal mesh format throughout the inpainting process without converting the shape format to an intermediate one, such as a voxel grid, a point cloud, or an implicit function, which are typically considered easier for deep neural networks to process. To achieve this goal, we introduce two graph convolutional networks (GCNs): single-resolution GCN (SGCN) and multi-resolution GCN (MGCN), both trained in a self-supervised manner. Our approach refines a watertight mesh obtained from the initial hole filling to generate a complete output mesh. Specifically, we train the GCNs to deform an oversmoothed version of the input mesh into the expected complete shape. The deformation is described by vertex displacements, and the GCNs are supervised to obtain accurate displacements at vertices in real holes. To this end, we specify several connected regions of the mesh as fake holes, thereby generating meshes with various sets of fake holes. The correct displacements of vertices are known in these fake holes, thus enabling training GCNs with loss functions that assess the accuracy of vertex displacements. We demonstrate that our method outperforms traditional dataset-independent approaches and exhibits greater robustness compared with other deep-learning-based methods for shapes that infrequently appear in shape datasets. Our code and test data are available at https://github.com/astaka-pe/SeMIGCN.

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Observational constraints on the maximum energies of accelerated particles in supernova remnants

Supernova remnants (SNRs) are thought to be the most plausible sources of Galactic cosmic rays. One of the principal questions is whether they are accelerating particles up to the maximum energy of Galactic cosmic rays ($\sim$PeV). In this paper, we summarize our recent studies on gamma-ray-emitting SNRs. We first evaluated the reliability of SNR age estimates to quantitatively discuss time dependence of their acceleration parameters. Then we systematically modeled their gamma-ray spectra to constrain the acceleration parameters. The current maximum energy estimates were found to be well below PeV for most sources. The basic time dependence of the maximum energy assuming the Sedov evolution ($\approx t^{-0.8\pm0.2}$) cannot be explained with the simplest acceleration condition (Bohm limit) and requires shock-ISM (interstellar medium) interaction. The inferred maximum energies during lifetime averaged over the sample can be expressed as $\lesssim 20$ TeV ($t_{\rm M}/\text{1 kyr})^{-0.8}$ with $t_{\rm M}$ being the age at the maximum, which reaches $\sim$PeV only if $t_{\rm M} \lesssim 10$ yr. The maximum energies during lifetime are suggested to have a variety of 1-2 orders of magnitude from object to object on the other hand. This variety will reflect the dependence on environments.

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Global deceleration and inward movements of X-ray knots and rims of RCW 103

Kinematics of shocks, ejecta knots, and the compact remnant of a supernova remnant gives an insight into the nature of the progenitor and surrounding environment. We report on a proper motion measurement of X-ray knots and rims of the magnetar-hosting supernova remnant RCW 103. Chandra data obtained in three epochs, 1999, 2010, and 2016 are used. We find a global deceleration of 12 knots and rims both in northern and southern regions within the last $\sim 24$ yrs, even though its age is thought to be larger than 2 kyr. Some of them even changed their moving directions from outward ($\sim 1,000$ km s$^{-1}$) to inward ($\sim -2,000$ km s$^{-1}$). Our findings can be explained with a collision with a high-density medium both in the northern and southern edges of the remnant, although the remnant may still be expanding in the wind-blown cavity. The proper motion of the associated magnetar 1E161348$-$5055 is possibly detected with a velocity of $\approx 500$ km s$^{-1}$.

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H.E.S.S. realtime follow-ups of IceCube high-energy neutrino alerts

The evidence for multi-messenger photon and neutrino emission from the blazar TXS 0506+056 has demonstrated the importance of realtime follow-up of neutrino events by various ground- and space-based facilities. The effort of H.E.S.S. and other experiments in coordinating observations to obtain quasi-simultaneous multiwavelength flux and spectrum measurements has been critical in measuring the chance coincidence with the high-energy neutrino event IC-170922A and constraining theoretical models. For about a decade, the H.E.S.S. transient program has included a search for gamma-ray emission associated with high-energy neutrino alerts, looking for gamma-ray activity from known sources and newly detected emitters consistent with the neutrino location. In this contribution, we present an overview of follow-up activities for realtime neutrino alerts with H.E.S.S. in 2021 and 2022. Our analysis includes both public IceCube neutrino alerts and alerts exchanged as part of a joint H.E.S.S.-IceCube program. We focus on interesting coincidences observed with gamma-ray sources, particularly highlighting the significant detection of PKS 0625-35, an AGN previously detected by H.E.S.S., and three IceCube neutrinos.

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Xtend, the Soft X-ray Imaging Telescope for the X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM)

Xtend is a soft X-ray imaging telescope developed for the X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM). XRISM is scheduled to be launched in the Japanese fiscal year 2022. Xtend consists of the Soft X-ray Imager (SXI), an X-ray CCD camera, and the X-ray Mirror Assembly (XMA), a thin-foil-nested conically approximated Wolter-I optics. The SXI uses the P-channel, back-illuminated type CCD with an imaging area size of 31 mm on a side. The four CCD chips are arranged in a 2$\times$2 grid and can be cooled down to $-120$ $^{\circ}$C with a single-stage Stirling cooler. The XMA nests thin aluminum foils coated with gold in a confocal way with an outer diameter of 45~cm. A pre-collimator is installed in front of the X-ray mirror for the reduction of the stray light. Combining the SXI and XMA with a focal length of 5.6m, a field of view of $38^{\prime}\times38^{\prime}$ over the energy range from 0.4 to 13 keV is realized. We have completed the fabrication of the flight model of both SXI and XMA. The performance verification has been successfully conducted in a series of sub-system level tests. We also carried out on-ground calibration measurements and the data analysis is ongoing.

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A broadband X-ray imaging spectroscopy in the 2030s: the FORCE mission

In this multi-messenger astronomy era, all the observational probes are improving their sensitivities and overall performance. The Focusing on Relativistic universe and Cosmic Evolution (FORCE) mission, the product of a JAXA/NASA collaboration, will reach a 10 times higher sensitivity in the hard X-ray band ($E >$ 10~keV) in comparison with any previous hard X-ray missions, and provide simultaneous soft X-ray coverage. FORCE aims to be launched in the early 2030s, providing a perfect hard X-ray complement to the ESA flagship mission Athena. FORCE will be the most powerful X-ray probe for discovering obscured/hidden black holes and studying high energy particle acceleration in our Universe and will address how relativistic processes in the universe are realized and how these affect cosmic evolution. FORCE, which will operate over 1--79 keV, is equipped with two identical pairs of supermirrors and wideband X-ray imagers. The mirror and imager are connected by a high mechanical stiffness extensible optical bench with alignment monitor systems with a focal length of 12~m. A light-weight silicon mirror with multi-layer coating realizes a high angular resolution of $<15''$ in half-power diameter in the broad bandpass. The imager is a hybrid of a brand-new SOI-CMOS silicon-pixel detector and a CdTe detector responsible for the softer and harder energy bands, respectively. FORCE will play an essential role in the multi-messenger astronomy in the 2030s with its broadband X-ray sensitivity.

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Orbital- and spin-phase variability in the X-ray emission from the accreting pulsar Cen X-3

We analyzed 39 ks NuSTAR observation data of the high mass X-ray binary Cen X-3 in order to investigate the orbital- and spin-phase spectral variability. The observation covers the orbital phase of $Φ=0.199$-$0.414$ of the source, where $Φ=0$ corresponds to the mid-eclipse. The orbital-phase-resolved spectroscopy revealed that low energy photons are more dominant for the spectral fluctuation, and a large part of the variability can be explained in terms of absorption by clumps of stellar wind. The spin-phase-resolved spectroscopy together with energy-resolved pulse profiles, on the other hand, presented large flux variations in high energy bands, which suggests that the origin of the variability is the different efficiency of Comptonization inside the accretion column. The energy band which includes Fe emission lines or cyclotron resonance scattering feature (CRSF) shows distinct variability compared to the nearby bands. The Fe lines show low variability along the spin phase, which indicates that the emission regions are apart from the neutron star. The central energy and strength of the CRSF are both positively correlated with the spin-phase-resolved flux, which suggests that the emitted photons face stronger magnetic fields and deeper absorption when they come from high-flux regions. We also examined the independence of the orbital- and spin-phase variability. They showed no correlation with each other and were highly independent, which implies the accretion stream is stable during the observation.

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Particle acceleration controlled by ambient density in the southwestern rim of RCW 86

Particle acceleration physics at supernova remnant (SNR) shocks is one of the most intriguing problems in astrophysics. SNR RCW~86 provides a suitable environment for understanding the particle acceleration physics because one can extract the information of both accelerated particles and acceleration environment at the same regions through the bright X-ray emission. In this work, we study X-ray proper motions and spectral properties of the southwestern region of RCW~86. The proper motion velocities are found to be $\sim 300$--2000~km~s$^{-1}$ at a distance of 2.8~kpc. We find two inward-moving filaments, which are more likely reflected shocks rather than reverse shocks. Based on the X-ray spectroscopy, we evaluate thermal parameters such as the ambient density and temperature, and non-thermal parameters such as the power-law flux and index. From the flux decrease in time of several non-thermal filaments, we estimate the magnetic field amplitudes to be $\sim 30$--100~$μ$G. Gathering the physical parameters, we then investigate parameter correlations. We find that the synchrotron emission from thermal-dominated filaments is correlated with the ambient density $n_{\rm e}$ as $\text{(power-law flux)} \propto n_{\rm e}^{1.0 \pm 0.2}$ and $\text{(power-law index)} \propto n_{\rm e}^{0.38 \pm 0.10}$, not or only weakly with the shock velocity and shock obliquity. As an interpretation, we propose a shock-cloud interaction scenario, where locally enhanced magnetic turbulence levels have a great influence on local acceleration conditions.

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Deep Point-to-Plane Registration by Efficient Backpropagation for Error Minimizing Function

Traditional algorithms of point set registration minimizing point-to-plane distances often achieve a better estimation of rigid transformation than those minimizing point-to-point distances. Nevertheless, recent deep-learning-based methods minimize the point-to-point distances. In contrast to these methods, this paper proposes the first deep-learning-based approach to point-to-plane registration. A challenging part of this problem is that a typical solution for point-to-plane registration requires an iterative process of accumulating small transformations obtained by minimizing a linearized energy function. The iteration significantly increases the size of the computation graph needed for backpropagation and can slow down both forward and backward network evaluations. To solve this problem, we consider the estimated rigid transformation as a function of input point clouds and derive its analytic gradients using the implicit function theorem. The analytic gradient that we introduce is independent of how the error minimizing function (i.e., the rigid transformation) is obtained, thus allowing us to calculate both the rigid transformation and its gradient efficiently. We implement the proposed point-to-plane registration module over several previous methods that minimize point-to-point distances and demonstrate that the extensions outperform the base methods even with point clouds with noise and low-quality point normals estimated with local point distributions.

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Deep Mesh Prior: Unsupervised Mesh Restoration using Graph Convolutional Networks

This paper addresses mesh restoration problems, i.e., denoising and completion, by learning self-similarity in an unsupervised manner. For this purpose, the proposed method, which we refer to as Deep Mesh Prior, uses a graph convolutional network on meshes to learn the self-similarity. The network takes a single incomplete mesh as input data and directly outputs the reconstructed mesh without being trained using large-scale datasets. Our method does not use any intermediate representations such as an implicit field because the whole process works on a mesh. We demonstrate that our unsupervised method performs equally well or even better than the state-of-the-art methods using large-scale datasets.

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Observational constraints on the maximum energies of accelerated particles in supernova remnants: low maximum energies and a large variety

Supernova remnants (SNRs) are thought to be the most promising sources of Galactic cosmic rays. One of the principal questions is whether they are accelerating particles up to the maximum energy of Galactic cosmic rays ($\sim$ PeV). In this work, a systematic study of gamma-ray emitting SNRs is conducted as an advanced study of Suzuki et al. 2021. Our purpose is to newly measure the evolution of maximum particle energies with increased statistics and better age estimates. We model their gamma-ray spectra to constrain the particle-acceleration parameters. Two candidates of the maximum energy of freshly accelerated particles, the gamma-ray cutoff and break energies, are found to be well below PeV. We also test a spectral model that includes both the freshly accelerated and escaping particles to estimate the maximum energies more reliably, but no tighter constraints are obtained with current statistics. The average time dependences of the cutoff energy ($\propto t^{-0.81 \pm 0.24}$) and break energy ($\propto t^{-0.77 \pm 0.23}$) cannot be explained with the simplest acceleration condition (Bohm limit), and requires shock-ISM (interstellar medium) interaction. The average maximum energy during lifetime is found to be $\lesssim 20$ TeV $(t_{\rm M}/1~{\rm kyr})^{-0.8}$ with $t_{\rm M}$ being the age at the maximum, which reaches PeV if $t_{\rm M} \lesssim 10$ yr. The maximum energies during lifetime are suggested to have a variety of 1.1--1.8 dex from object to object. Although we cannot isolate the cause of this variety, this work provides an important clue to understand the microphysics of particle acceleration in SNRs.

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Spatial and Temporal Variations of the Chandra ACIS Particle-Induced Background and Development of a Spectral-Model Generation Tool

In X-ray observations, estimation of the particle-induced background is important especially for faint and/or diffuse sources. Although software exists to generate total (sky and detector) background data suitable for a given Chandra ACIS observation, no public software exists to model the particle-induced background separately. We aim to understand the spatial and temporal variations of the particle-induced background of Chandra ACIS obtained in the two data modes, VFAINT and FAINT. Observations performed with ACIS in the stowed position shielded from the sky and the Chandra Deep Field South data sets are used. The spectra are modeled with a combination of the instrumental lines of Al, Si, Ni, and Au and continuum components. Similar spatial variations of the spectral shape are found in VFAINT and FAINT data, which are mainly due to inappropriate correction of charge transfer inefficiency for events that convert in the frame-store regions as explained by Bartalucci et al. 2014. Temporal variation of the spectral hardness ratio is found to be $\sim 10\%$ at maximum, which seems to be largely due to solar activity. We model this variation by modifying the spectral hardnesses according to the total count rate. Incorporating these properties, we have developed a tool ``mkacispback'' to generate the particle-induced background spectral model corresponding to an arbitrary celestial observation. As an example application, we use the background spectrum produced by the mkacispback tool in an analysis of the Cosmic X-ray Background in the CDF-S observations. We find an intensity of 3.10 (2.98--$3.21)\times 10^{-12}$ erg s$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$ deg$^{-2}$ in the 2--8 keV band, consistent with or lower than previous estimates. The tool mkacispback is available at https://github.com/hiromasasuzuki/mkacispback.

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