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R. Miyawaki

Publications and source records attributed to R. Miyawaki.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

Status of GRB Observations with the Suzaku Wideband All-sky Monitor

The Wide-band All-sky Monitor (WAM) is a function of the large lateral BGO shield of the Hard X-ray Detector (HXD) onboard Suzaku. Its large geometrical area of 800 cm^2 per side, the large stopping power for the hard X-rays and the wide-field of view make the WAM an ideal detector for gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) observations in the energy range of 50-5000 keV. In fact, the WAM has observed 288 GRBs confirmed by other satellites, till the end of May 2007.

astro-ph

Hard X-ray Detector (HXD) on Board Suzaku

The Hard X-ray Detector (HXD) on board Suzaku covers a wide energy range from 10 keV to 600 keV by combination of silicon PIN diodes and GSO scintillators. The HXD is designed to achieve an extremely low in-orbit back ground based on a combination of new techniques, including the concept of well-type active shield counter. With an effective area of 142 cm^2 at 20 keV and 273 cm2 at 150 keV, the background level at the sea level reached ~1x10^{-5} cts s^{-1} cm^{-2} keV^{-1} at 30 keV for the PI N diodes, and ~2x10^{-5} cts s^{-1} cm^{-2} keV^{-1} at 100 keV, and ~7x10^{-6} cts s^{-1} cm^{-2} keV^{-1} at 200 keV for the phoswich counter. Tight active shielding of the HXD results in a large array of guard counters surrounding the main detector parts. These anti-coincidence counters, made of ~4 cm thick BGO crystals, have a large effective area for sub-MeV to MeV gamma-rays. They work as an excellent gamma-ray burst monitor with limited angular resolution (~5 degree). The on-board signal-processing system and the data transmitted to the ground are also described.

astro-ph

In-Orbit Performance of the Hard X-ray Detector on board Suzaku

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 10-600 keV, energy resolutions of ~4 keV (FWHM) at 40 keV and ~11% at 511 keV, and a high background rejection efficiency, have been confirmed by extensive in-orbit calibrations. The long-term gains of PIN-Si diodes have been stable within 1% for half a year, and those of scintillators have decreased by 5-20%. The residual non-X-ray background of the HXD is the lowest among past non-imaging hard X-ray instruments in energy ranges of 15-70 and 150-500 keV. We provide accurate calibrations of energy responses, angular responses, timing accuracy of the HXD, and relative normalizations to the X-ray CCD cameras using multiple observations of the Crab Nebula.

astro-ph

Suzaku Observation of Two Ultraluminous X-Ray Sources in NGC 1313

Two ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) in the nearby Sb galaxy NGC 1313, named X-1 and X-2, were observed with Suzaku on 2005 September 15. During the observation for a net exposure of 28~ks (but over a gross time span of 90~ks), both objects varied in intensity by about 50~%. The 0.4--10 keV X-ray luminosity of X-1 and X-2 was measured as $2.5 \times 10^{40}~{\rm erg~s^{-1}}$ and $5.8 \times 10^{39}~{\rm erg~s^{-1}}$, respectively, with the former the highest ever reported for this ULX. The spectrum of X-1 can be explained by a sum of a strong and variable power-law component with a high energy cutoff, and a stable multicolor blackbody with an innermost disk temperature of $\sim 0.2$ keV. These results suggest that X-1 was in a ``very high'' state, where the disk emission is strongly Comptonized. The absorber within NGC 1313 toward X-1 is suggested to have a subsolar oxygen abundance. The spectrum of X-2 is best represented, in its fainter phase, by a multicolor blackbody model with the innermost disk temperature of 1.2--1.3 keV, and becomes flatter as the source becomes brighter. Hence X-2 is interpreted to be in a slim-disk state. These results suggest that the two ULXs have black hole masses of a few tens to a few hundreds solar masses.

astro-ph