arXiv subjects

Toshiki Sato

Publications and source records attributed to Toshiki Sato.

63 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2018

In-flight Calibration of Hitomi Soft X-ray Spectrometer (3) Effective Area

We present the result of the in-flight calibration of the effective area of the Soft X-ray Spectrometer (SXS) onboard the Hitomi X-ray satellite using an observation of the Crab nebula. We corrected for the artifacts when observing high count rate sources with the X-ray microcalorimeter. We then constructed a spectrum in the 0.5-20 keV band, which we modeled with a single power-law continuum attenuated by an interstellar extinction. We evaluated the systematic uncertainty upon the spectral parameters by various calibration items. In the 2-12 keV band, the SXS result is consistent with the literature values in flux (2.20 $\pm$ 0.08) $\times$10$^{-8}$ erg s$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$ with a 1$σ$ statistical uncertainty) but is softer in the power-law index (2.19 $\pm$ 0.11). The discrepancy is attributable to the systematic uncertainty of about $+$6/$-$7% and $+$2/$-$5% respectively for the flux and the power-law index. The softer spectrum is affected primarily by the systematic uncertainty of the Dewar gate valve transmission and the event screening.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2017

Inflight Calibration of the Hitomi Soft X-ray Spectrometer (2) Point Spread Function

We present results of inflight calibration of the point spread function (PSF) of the Soft X-ray Telescope (SXT-S) that focuses X-ray onto the pixel array of the Soft X-ray Spectrometer system (SXS). We make a full array image of a point-like source by extracting a pulsed component of the Crab nebula emission. Within the limited statistics afforded by an exposure time of only 6.9~ksec and the limited knowledge of the systematic uncetainties, we find that the raytracing model of 1'.2 half-power-diameter (HPD) is consistent with an image of the observed event distributions across pixels. The ratio between the Crab pulsar image and the raytracing shows scatter from pixel to pixel that is 40% or less in all except one pixel. The pixel-to-pixel ratio has a spread of 20%, on average, for the 15 edge pixels, with an averaged statistical error of 17% (1 sigma). In the central 16 pixels, the corresponding ratio is 15% with an error of 6%.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2017

X-ray Measurements of the Particle Acceleration Properties at Inward Shocks in Cassiopeia A

We present new evidence that the bright non-thermal X-ray emission features in the interior of the Cassiopeia A supernova remnant (SNR) are caused by inward moving shocks based on Chandra and NuSTAR observations. Several bright inward-moving filaments were identified using monitoring data taken by Chandra in 2000-2014. These inward-moving shock locations are nearly coincident with hard X-ray (15-40 keV) hot spots seen by NuSTAR. From proper motion measurements, the transverse velocities were estimated to be in the range $\sim$2,100-3,800 km s$^{-1}$ for a distance of 3.4 kpc. The shock velocities in the frame of the expanding ejecta reach values of $\sim$5,100-8,700 km s$^{-1}$, slightly higher than the typical speed of the forward shock. Additionally, we find flux variations (both increasing and decreasing) on timescales of a few years in some of the inward-moving shock filaments. The rapid variability timescales are consistent with an amplified magnetic field of $B \sim$ 0.5-1 mG. The high speed and low photon cut-off energy of the inward-moving shocks are shown to imply a particle diffusion coefficient that departs from the Bohm regime ($k_0 = D_0/D_{\rm 0,Bohm} \sim$ 3-8) for the few simple physical configurations we consider in this study. The maximum electron energy at these shocks is estimated to be $\sim$8-11 TeV, smaller than the values of $\sim$15-34 TeV inferred for the forward shock. Cassiopeia A is dynamically too young for its reverse shock to appear to be moving inward in the observer frame. We propose instead that the inward-moving shocks are a consequence of the forward shock encountering a density jump of $\gtrsim$ 5-8 in the surrounding material.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2017

Freely Expanding Knots of X-ray Emitting Ejecta in Kepler's Supernova Remnant

We report measurements of proper motion, radial velocity, and elemental composition for 14 X-ray knots in Kepler's supernova remnant (SNR) using Chandra data. The highest speed knots show both large proper motions (0.11-0.14 "/yr) and high radial velocities (v ~ 8,700--10,020 km/s) with estimated space velocities comparable to the typical Si velocity (~10,000 km/s) seen in SN Ia near maximum light. High speed ejecta knots appear only in specific locations and are morphologically and kinematically distinct from the rest of the ejecta. The proper motions of five knots extrapolate back over the age of Kepler's SNR to a consistent central position that agrees well with previous determinations, but is less subject to systematic errors. These five knots are expanding at close to the free expansion rate (expansion indices of 0.75 <~ m <~ 1.0), which we argue indicates either that they were formed in the explosion with a high density contrast (more than 100 times the ambient density) or that they have propagated through relatively low density (n_H < 0.1 cm^-3) regions in the ambient medium. X-ray spectral analysis shows that the undecelerated knots have high Si and S abundances, a lower Fe abundance and very low O abundance, pointing to an origin in the partial Si-burning zone, which occurs in the outer layer of the exploding white dwarf for SN Ia models. Other knots show slower speeds and expansion indices consistent with decelerated ejecta knots or features in the ambient medium overrun by the forward shock. Our new accurate location for the explosion site has well-defined positional uncertainties allowing for a great reduction in the area to be searched for faint surviving donor stars under non-traditional single-degenerate SN Ia scenarios; because of the lack of bright stars in the search area the traditional scenario remains ruled out.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2017

Direct Ejecta Velocity Measurements of Tycho's Supernova Remnant

We present the first direct ejecta velocity measurements of Tycho's supernova remnant (SNR). Chandra's high angular resolution images reveal a patchy structure of radial velocities in the ejecta that can be separated into distinct redshifted, blueshifted, and low velocity ejecta clumps or blobs. The typical velocities of the redshifted and blueshifted blobs are <~ 7,800 km/s and <~ 5,000 km/s, respectively. The highest velocity blobs are located near the center, while the low velocity ones appear near the edge as expected for a generally spherical expansion. Systematic uncertainty on the velocity measurements from gain calibration was assessed by carrying out joint fits of individual blobs with both the ACIS-I and ACIS-S detectors. We determine the three-dimensional kinematics of the Si- and Fe-rich clumps in the southeastern quadrant and show that these knots form a distinct, compact, and kinematically-connected structure, possibly even a chain of knots strung along the remnant's edge. By examining the viewing geometries we conclude that the knots in the southeastern region are unlikely to be responsible for the high velocity Ca II absorption features seen in the light echo spectrum of SN 1572, the originating event for Tycho's SNR.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2017

Smoothness-constrained model for nonparametric item response theory

This paper is concerned with the nonparametric item response theory (NIRT) for estimating item characteristic curves (ICCs) and latent abilities of examinees on educational and psychological tests. In contrast to parametric models, NIRT models can estimate various forms of ICCs under mild shape restrictions, such as the constraints of monotone homogeneity and double monotonicity. However, NIRT models frequently suffer from estimation instability because of the great flexibility of nonparametric ICCs, especially when there is only a small amount of item-response data. To improve the estimation accuracy, we propose a novel NIRT model constrained by monotone homogeneity and smoothness based on ordered latent classes. Our smoothness constraints avoid overfitting of nonparametric ICCs by keeping them close to logistic curves. We also implement a tailored expectation--maximization algorithm to calibrate our smoothness-constrained NIRT model efficiently. We conducted computational experiments to assess the effectiveness of our smoothness-constrained model in comparison with the common two-parameter logistic model and the monotone-homogeneity model. The computational results demonstrate that our model obtained more accurate estimation results than did the two-parameter logistic model when the latent abilities of examinees for some test items followed bimodal distributions. Moreover, our model outperformed the monotone-homogeneity model because of the effect of the smoothness constraints.

stat.AP↗

arXiv2017

Investigating consumers' store-choice behavior via hierarchical variable selection

This paper is concerned with a store-choice model for investigating consumers' store-choice behavior based on scanner panel data. Our store-choice model enables us to evaluate the effects of the consumer/product attributes not only on the consumer's store choice but also on his/her purchase quantity. Moreover, we adopt a mixed-integer optimization (MIO) approach to selecting the best set of explanatory variables with which to construct a store-choice model. We devise two MIO models for hierarchical variable selection in which the hierarchical structure of product categories is used to enhance the reliability and computational efficiency of the variable selection. We assess the effectiveness of our MIO models through computational experiments on actual scanner panel data. These experiments are focused on the consumer's choice among three types of stores in Japan: convenience stores, drugstores, and grocery supermarkets. The computational results demonstrate that our method has several advantages over the common methods for variable selection, namely, the stepwise method and $L_1$-regularized regression. Furthermore, our analysis reveals that convenience stores tend to be chosen because of accessibility, drugstores are chosen for the purchase of specific products at low prices, and grocery supermarkets are chosen for health food products by women with families.

stat.AP↗

arXiv2017

Multi-Year X-ray Variations of Iron-K and Continuum Emissions in the Young Supernova Remnant Cassiopeia A

We found simultaneous decrease of Fe-K line and 4.2-6 keV continuum of Cassiopeia A with the monitoring data taken by Chandra in 2000-2013. The flux change rates in the whole remnant are $-$0.65$\pm$0.02 \% yr$^{-1}$ in the 4.2--6.0 keV continuum and $-$0.6$\pm$0.1 \% yr$^{-1}$ in the Fe-K. In the eastern region where the thermal emission is considered to dominate, the variations show the largest values: $-$1.03$\pm$0.05 \% yr$^{-1}$ (4.2-6 keV band) and $-$0.6$\pm$0.1 \% yr$^{-1}$ (Fe-K line). In this region, the time evolution of the emission measure and the temperature have a decreasing trend. This could be interpreted as the adiabatic cooling with the expansion of $m = 0.66$. On the other hand, in the non-thermal emission dominated regions, the variations of the 4.2--6 keV continuum show the smaller rates: $-$0.60$\pm$0.04 \% yr$^{-1}$ in the southwestern region, $-$0.46$\pm$0.05 \% yr$^{-1}$ in the inner region and $+$0.00$\pm$0.07 \% yr$^{-1}$ in the forward shock region. In particular, the flux does not show significant change in the forward shock region. These results imply that a strong braking in the shock velocity has not been occurring in Cassiopeia A ($<$ 5 km s$^{-1}$ yr$^{-1}$). All of our results support that the X-ray flux decay in the remnant is mainly caused by the thermal components.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2015

Piecewise-Linear Approximation for Feature Subset Selection in a Sequential Logit Model

This paper concerns a method of selecting a subset of features for a sequential logit model. Tanaka and Nakagawa (2014) proposed a mixed integer quadratic optimization formulation for solving the problem based on a quadratic approximation of the logistic loss function. However, since there is a significant gap between the logistic loss function and its quadratic approximation, their formulation may fail to find a good subset of features. To overcome this drawback, we apply a piecewise-linear approximation to the logistic loss function. Accordingly, we frame the feature subset selection problem of minimizing an information criterion as a mixed integer linear optimization problem. The computational results demonstrate that our piecewise-linear approximation approach found a better subset of features than the quadratic approximation approach.

stat.ME↗