基本情報
- 所属
- 国立研究開発法人宇宙航空研究開発機構 宇宙科学研究所 助教総合研究大学院大学 宇宙観測科学講座 飛翔体天文学分野 助教
- 学位
- 博士(理学)(1998年3月 京都大学)修士(理学)(1995年3月 京都大学)
- 研究者番号
- 80342624
- ORCID ID
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9099-5755- J-GLOBAL ID
- 202001011170717781
- researchmap会員ID
- R000011919
論文
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Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters 540(1) L34-L40 2025年3月19日ABSTRACT We report measurements of the linear polarization degree (PD) and angle (PA) for hard X-ray emission from the Crab pulsar and wind nebula. Measurements were made with the XL-Calibur ($\sim$15–80 keV) balloon-borne Compton-scattering polarimeter in July 2024. The polarization parameters are determined using a Bayesian analysis of Stokes parameters obtained from X-ray scattering angles. Well-constrained ($\sim 8.5\sigma$) results are obtained for the polarization of the $\sim$19–64 keV signal integrated over all pulsar phases: PD = (25.1$\pm$2.9) per cent and PA = (129.8$\pm 3.2)^\circ$. In the off-pulse (nebula-dominated) phase range, the PD is constrained at $\sim 4.5\sigma$ and is compatible with the phase-integrated result. The PA of the nebular hard X-ray emission aligns with that measured by IXPE in the 2–8 keV band for the toroidal inner region of the pulsar wind nebula, where the hard X-rays predominantly originate. For the main pulsar peak, PD = (32.8$^{+18.2}_{-28.5}$) per cent and PA = (156.0 $\pm$ 21.7)$^\circ$, while for the second peak (inter-pulse), PD = (0.0$^{+33.6}_{-0.0}$) per cent and PA = (154.5 $\pm$ 34.5)$^\circ$. A low level of polarization in the pulsar peaks likely does not favour emission originating from the inner regions of the pulsar magnetosphere. Discriminating between Crab pulsar emission models will require deeper observations, e.g. with a satellite-borne hard X-ray polarimeter.
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Nature 638(8050) 365-369 2025年2月12日 査読有り
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Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan 77(1) L1-L8 2024年12月26日 査読有りAbstract Sagittarius A East is a supernova remnant with a unique surrounding environment, as it is located in the immediate vicinity of the supermassive black hole at the Galactic center, Sagittarius A$^{*}$. The X-ray emission of the remnant is suspected to show features of overionized plasma, which would require peculiar evolutionary paths. We report on the first observation of Sagittarius A East with the X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM). Equipped with a combination of a high-resolution microcalorimeter spectrometer and a large field-of-view CCD imager, we for the first time resolved the Fe xxv K-shell lines into fine structure lines and measured the forbidden-to-resonance intensity ratio to be $1.39 \pm 0.12$, which strongly suggests the presence of overionized plasma. We obtained a reliable constraint on the ionization temperature just before the transition into the overionization state, of $\gt\! 4\:$keV. The recombination timescale was constrained to be $\lt\! 8 \times 10^{11} \:$cm$^{-3}\:$s. The small velocity dispersion of $109 \pm 6\:$km$\:$s$^{-1}$ indicates a low Fe ion temperature $\lt\! 8\:$keV and a small expansion velocity $\lt\! 200\:$km$\:$s$^{-1}$. The high initial ionization temperature and small recombination timescale suggest that either rapid cooling of the plasma via adiabatic expansion from dense circumstellar material or intense photoionization by Sagittarius A$^{*}$ in the past may have triggered the overionization.
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The Astrophysical Journal Letters 977(2) L34-L34 2024年12月11日 査読有りAbstract The X-ray binary system Cygnus X-3 (4U 2030+40, V1521 Cyg) is luminous but enigmatic owing to the high intervening absorption. High-resolution X-ray spectroscopy uniquely probes the dynamics of the photoionized gas in the system. In this Letter, we report on an observation of Cyg X-3 with the XRISM/Resolve spectrometer, which provides unprecedented spectral resolution and sensitivity in the 2–10 keV band. We detect multiple kinematic and ionization components in absorption and emission whose superposition leads to complex line profiles, including strong P Cygni profiles on resonance lines. The prominent Fe xxv Heα and Fe xxvi Lyα emission complexes are clearly resolved into their characteristic fine-structure transitions. Self-consistent photoionization modeling allows us to disentangle the absorption and emission components and measure the Doppler velocity of these components as a function of binary orbital phase. We find a significantly higher velocity amplitude for the emission lines than for the absorption lines. The absorption lines generally appear blueshifted by ∼−500–600 km s−1. We show that the wind decomposes naturally into a relatively smooth and large-scale component, perhaps associated with the background wind itself, plus a turbulent, denser structure located close to the compact object in its orbit.
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Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan 76(6) 1186-1201 2024年10月10日 査読有りAbstract We present an initial analysis of the X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) first-light observation of the supernova remnant (SNR) N 132D in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The Resolve microcalorimeter has obtained the first high-resolution spectrum in the 1.6–10 keV band, which contains K-shell emission lines of Si, S, Ar, Ca, and Fe. We find that the Si and S lines are relatively narrow, with a broadening represented by a Gaussian-like velocity dispersion of $\sigma _v \sim 450$ km s$^{-1}$. However, the Fe He$\alpha$ lines are substantially broadened with $\sigma _v \sim 1670$ km s$^{-1}$. This broadening can be explained by a combination of the thermal Doppler effect due to the high ion temperature and the kinematic Doppler effect due to the SNR expansion. Assuming that the Fe He$\alpha$ emission originates predominantly from the supernova ejecta, we estimate the reverse shock velocity at the time when the bulk of the Fe ejecta were shock heated to be $-1000 \lesssim V_{\rm rs}$ (km s$^{-1}$) $\lesssim 3300$ (in the observer frame). We also find that Fe Ly$\alpha$ emission is redshifted with a bulk velocity of $\sim 890$ km s$^{-1}$, substantially larger than the radial velocity of the local interstellar medium surrounding N 132D. These results demonstrate that high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy is capable of providing constraints on the evolutionary stage, geometry, and velocity distribution of SNRs.
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The Astrophysical Journal Letters 973(1) L25-L25 2024年9月1日 査読有りAbstract We present an analysis of the first two XRISM/Resolve spectra of the well-known Seyfert-1.5 active galactic nucleus (AGN) in NGC 4151, obtained in 2023 December. Our work focuses on the nature of the narrow Fe K α emission line at 6.4 keV, the strongest and most common X-ray line observed in AGN. The total line is found to consist of three components. Even the narrowest component of the line is resolved with evident Fe K α,1 (6.404 keV) and K α,2 (6.391 keV) contributions in a 2:1 flux ratio, fully consistent with neutral gas with negligible bulk velocity. Subject to the limitations of our models, the narrowest and intermediate-width components are consistent with emission from optically thin gas, suggesting that they arise in a disk atmosphere and/or wind. Modeling the three line components in terms of Keplerian broadening, they are readily associated with (1) the inner wall of the “torus,” (2) the innermost optical “broad-line region” (or “X-ray BLR”), and (3) a region with a radius of r ≃ 100 GM/c 2 that may signal a warp in the accretion disk. Viable alternative explanations of the broadest component include a fast-wind component and/or scattering; however, we find evidence of variability in the narrow Fe K α line complex on timescales consistent with small radii. The best-fit models are statistically superior to simple Voigt functions, but when fit with Voigt profiles the time-averaged lines are consistent with a projected velocity broadening of FWHM . Overall, the resolution and sensitivity of XRISM show that the narrow Fe K line in AGN is an effective probe of all key parts of the accretion flow, as it is currently understood. We discuss the implications of these findings for our understanding of AGN accretion, future studies with XRISM, and X-ray-based black hole mass measurements.
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Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2024: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray 55-55 2024年8月22日
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Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2024: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray 53-53 2024年8月22日
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Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2024: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray 232-232 2024年8月21日
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Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2024: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray 56-56 2024年8月21日
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Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2024: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray 58-58 2024年8月21日
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Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2024: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray 236-236 2024年8月21日
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Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2024: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray 224-224 2024年8月21日
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Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2024: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray 59-59 2024年8月21日
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Astroparticle Physics 158 102944-102944 2024年6月 査読有り
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Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan 2024年2月9日 査読有りAbstract We develop a new deconvolution method to recover the precise Crab Nebula image taken by the Hitomi HXT, suppressing the artifact due to the bright Crab pulsar. We extend the Richardson–Lucy method, introducing two components corresponding to the nebula and pulsar with regularization for smoothness and flux, respectively, and performing simultaneous deconvolution of multi-pulse-phase images. The structures, including the torus and jets, seen in the deconvolved nebula image at the lowest energy band of 3.6–15 keV appear consistent with those identified in the high-resolution Chandra X-ray image. Above 15 keV, we confirm NuSTAR’s findings that the nebula size decreases in higher energy bands. We find that the north-east side of the nebula is fainter in higher energy bands. Our deconvolution method is applicable for any telescope images of faint diffuse objects containing a bright point source.
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SPACE TELESCOPES AND INSTRUMENTATION 2024: ULTRAVIOLET TO GAMMA RAY, PT 1 13093 2024年HiZ-GUNDAM is a future satellite mission for gamma-ray burst observations. One of the mission instruments is the wide-field X-ray monitor with a field of view (FoV) of 0.6 steradian at 0.4-4.0 keV, consisting of Lobster Eye Optics (LEO) and pnCCD image sensors. LEOs need to be spatially well-aligned to achieve both of wide FoV and fine position accuracy of < 3 arcmin. To address this challenge, we explored an alignment method with X-rays and developed an optical frame. This study reports on the evaluation of the optical frame, our alignment method, and x-ray performance of the optical system.
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Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 527(3) 7121-7135 2023年11月27日 査読有りABSTRACT We analyse the XMM–Newton RGS spectra of Wolf–Rayet (WR) 140, an archetype long-period eccentric WR+O colliding wind binary. We evaluate the spectra of O and Fe emission lines and find that the plasmas emitting these lines have the largest approaching velocities with the largest velocity dispersions between phases 0.935 and 0.968 where the inferior conjunction of the O star occurs. This behaviour is the same as that of the Ne line-emission plasma presented in our previous paper. We perform a diagnosis of the electron number density ne using the He-like triplet lines of O and Ne-like Fe–L lines. The former results in a conservative upper limit of ne ≲ 1010–1012 cm−3 on the O line-emission site, while the latter cannot impose any constraint on the Fe line-emission site because of statistical limitations. We calculate the line-of-sight velocity and its dispersion separately along the shock cone. By comparing the observed and calculated line-of-sight velocities, we update the distance of the Ne line-emission site from the stagnation point. By assuming radiative cooling of the Ne line-emission plasma using the observed temperature and the local stellar wind density, we estimate that the line-emission site extends along the shock cone by at most ±58 per cent (phase 0.816) of the distance from the stagnation point. In this framework, the excess of the observed velocity dispersion over that calculated is ascribed to turbulence in the hot-shocked plasma at earlier orbital phases of 0.816, 0.912, and 0.935, with the largest velocity dispersion of 340-630 km s−1 at phase 0.912.
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Optics for EUV, X-Ray, and Gamma-Ray Astronomy XI 2023年10月5日
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Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment 1048 167975-167975 2023年3月 査読有り
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Journal of Low Temperature Physics 209(5-6) 971-979 2022年12月 査読有り
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Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems 8(04) 2022年10月22日 査読有り
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Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 2022年5月10日<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>We analyze a series of XMM-Newton RGS data of the binary Wolf-Rayet star WR140 that encompasses one entire orbit. We find that the RGS detects X-rays from optically-thin thermal plasma only during orbital phases when the companion O star is on the near side of the WR star. Although such X-rays are believed to be emitted from the shock cone formed through collision of the stellar winds, temperature and density profiles of the plasma along the cone have not been measured observationally. We find that the temperature of the plasma producing Ne emission lines is 0.4-0.8 keV, using the intensity ratio of Kα lines from He-like and H-like Ne. We also find, at orbital phases 0.816 and 0.912, that the electron number density in the Ne line-emission site is approximately 1012 cm−3 from the observed intensity ratios f/r and i/r of the He-like triplet. We calculated the shock cone shape analytically, and identify the distance of the Ne line-emission site from the shock stagnation point to be 0.9-8.9× 1013 cm using the observed ratio of the line-of-sight velocity and its dispersion. This means that we will be able to obtain the temperature and density profiles along the shock cone with emission lines from other elements. We find that the photo-excitation rate by the O star is only 1.3-16.4 per cent of that of the collisional excitation at orbital phase 0.816. This implies that our assumption that the plasma is collisionally excited is reasonable, at least at this orbital phase.</jats:p>
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Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan 74(2) 477-487 2022年3月21日 査読有りAbstract We report on the results of our simultaneous observations of three large stellar flares with soft X-rays (SXRs) and an Hα emission line from two binary systems of RS CVn type. The energies released in the X-ray and Hα emissions during the flares were 1036–1038 and 1035–1037 erg, respectively. This renders the set of the observations as the first successful simultaneous X-ray/Hα observations of the stellar flares with energies above 1035 erg; although the coverage of the Hα observations was limited, with $\sim\! 10\%$ of the e-folding time in the decay phase of the flares, that of the SXR ones was complete. Combining the obtained physical parameters and those in literature for solar and stellar flares, we obtained a good proportional relation between the emitted energies of X-ray and Hα emissions for a flare energy range of 1029–1038 erg. The ratio of the Hα-line to bolometric X-ray emissions was ∼0.1, where the latter was estimated by converting the observed SXR emission to that in the 0.1–100 keV band according to the best-fitting thin thermal model. We also found that the e-folding times of the SXR and Hα light curves in the decaying phase of a flare are in agreement for a time range of 1–104 s. Even very large stellar flares with energies of six orders of magnitude larger than the most energetic solar flares follow the same scaling relationships with solar and much less energetic stellar flares. This fact suggests that their physical parameters can be estimated on the basis of the known physics of solar and stellar flares.
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Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering 12181 2022年HiZ-GUNDAM is a future satellite mission for gamma-ray burst observations. One of the mission instruments is the wide-field X-ray monitor with a field of view (FoV) of 0.5 steradian at 0.4–4.0 keV, consisting of Lobster Eye Optics (LEO) and focal-imaging pixel sensors. LEOs need to be spatially well-aligned to achieve both a wide FoV and fine accuracy in determining the location of X-ray transients. An alignment method is being investigated with visible light and shape measurements. We developed a titanium frame for positioning two LEO segments and estimated visible light on LEOs. We will report development of the alignment method.
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Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan 73(5) 1418-1428 2021年10月4日 査読有り<title>Abstract</title> We present our analysis of the Suzaku data of SS Cygni (SS Cyg) from 2005 both in quiescence and outburst. A fluorescent iron Kα line bears significant information about the geometry of an X-ray-emitting hot plasma and a cold reflector, such as the surfaces of the white dwarf (WD) and the accretion disk (AD). Our reflection simulation has revealed that the X-ray-emitting hot plasma is located either very close to the WD surface in the boundary layer (BL), with an upper limit radial position of &lt;1.004 times the white dwarf radius (RWD), or near the entrance of the BL where the optically thick AD is truncated at a distance of 1.14–1.27 RWD for the assumed WD mass of 1.19 M⊙ in quiescence. In the latter configuration, the plasma torus is located just above the inner edge of the AD. The result suggests that the accreting matter is heated up close to the maximum temperature immediately after the matter enters the BL. The matter probably expands precipitously at the entrance of the BL and leaves the disk plane to reach a height comparable to the radial distance of the plasma torus from the center of the WD. In outburst, on the other hand, our spectral analysis favors the picture that the optically thick disk reaches the WD surface. In addition, the plasma distributes above the disk like coronae, as suggested by a previous study, and the 90% upper limit of the coronae radial position is 1.2 RWD.
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Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems 7(2) 2021年4月 査読有りResolve onboard the x-ray satellite X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) is a cryogenic instrument with an x-ray microcalorimeter in a Dewar. A lid partially transparent to x-rays (called gate valve or GV) is installed at the top of the Dewar along the optical axis. Because observations will be made through the GV for the first few months, the x-ray transmission calibration of the GV is crucial for initial scientific outcomes. We present the results of our ground calibration campaign of the GV, which is composed of a Be window and a stainless steel mesh. For the stainless steel mesh, we measured its transmission using the x-ray beamline at ISAS. For the Be window, we used synchrotron facilities to measure the transmission and modeled the data with (i) photoelectric absorption and incoherent scattering of Be, (ii) photoelectric absorption of contaminants, and (iii) coherent scattering of Be changing at specific energies. We discuss the physical interpretation of the transmission discontinuity caused by the Bragg diffraction in polycrystal Be, which we incorporated into our transmission phenomenological model. We present the x-ray diffraction measurement on the sample to support our interpretation. The measurements and the constructed model meet the calibration requirements of the GV. We also performed a spectral fitting of the Crab nebula observed with Hitomi SXS and confirmed improvements of the model parameters.
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Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics 126(4) 2021年4月 査読有り
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The Astrophysical Journal 910(1) 25-25 2021年3月1日 査読有り<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>We report that the RS CVn–type star GT Mus (HR 4492, HD 101379+HD 101380) was the most active star in the X-ray sky in the last decade in terms of the scale of recurrent energetic flares. We detected 11 flares from GT Mus in 8 yr of observations with the Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image (MAXI) from 2009 August to 2017 August. The detected flare peak luminosities were 1–4 × 10<jats:sup>33</jats:sup> erg s<jats:sup>−1</jats:sup> in the 2.0–20.0 keV band for its distance of 109.6 pc. Our timing analysis showed long durations (<jats:italic>τ</jats:italic> <jats:sub>r</jats:sub> + <jats:italic>τ</jats:italic> <jats:sub>d</jats:sub>) of 2–6 days with long decay times (<jats:italic>τ</jats:italic> <jats:sub>d</jats:sub>) of 1–4 days. The released energies during the decay phases of the flares in the 0.1–100 keV band were in the range of 1–11 × 10<jats:sup>38</jats:sup> erg, which are at the upper end of the observed stellar flare. The released energies during the whole duration were in the range of 2–13 × 10<jats:sup>38</jats:sup> erg in the same band. We carried out X-ray follow-up observations for one of the 11 flares with the Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) on 2017 July 18 and found that the flare cooled quasi-statically. On the basis of a quasi-static cooling model, the flare loop length is derived to be 4 × 10<jats:sup>12</jats:sup> cm (or 60 <jats:italic>R</jats:italic> <jats:sub>☉</jats:sub>). The electron density is derived to be 1 × 10<jats:sup>10</jats:sup> cm<jats:sup>−3</jats:sup>, which is consistent with the typical value of solar and stellar flares (10<jats:sup>10–13</jats:sup> cm<jats:sup>−3</jats:sup>). The ratio of the cooling timescales between radiative (<jats:italic>τ</jats:italic> <jats:sub>rad</jats:sub>) and conductive (<jats:italic>τ</jats:italic> <jats:sub>cond</jats:sub>) cooling is estimated to be <jats:italic>τ</jats:italic> <jats:sub>rad</jats:sub> ∼ 0.1 <jats:italic>τ</jats:italic> <jats:sub>cond</jats:sub> from the temperature; thus, radiative cooling was dominant in this flare.</jats:p>
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Astroparticle Physics 126 102529-102529 2021年3月 査読有りXL-Calibur is a hard X-ray (15-80 keV) polarimetry mission operating from a stabilised balloon-borne platform in the stratosphere. It builds on heritage from the X-Calibur mission, which observed the accreting neutron star GX 301 - 2 from Antarctica, between December 29th 2018 and January 1st 2019. The XL-Calibur design incorporates an X-ray mirror, which focusses X-rays onto a polarimeter comprising a beryllium rod surrounded by Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CZT) detectors. The polarimeter is housed in an anticoincidence shield to mitigate background from particles present in the stratosphere. The mirror and polarimeter-shield assembly are mounted at opposite ends of a 12 m long lightweight truss, which is pointed with arcsecond precision by WASP – the Wallops Arc Second Pointer. The XL-Calibur mission will achieve a substantially improved sensitivity over X-Calibur by using a larger effective area X-ray mirror, reducing background through thinner CZT detectors, and improved anticoincidence shielding. When observing a 1 Crab source for tdaydays, the Minimum Detectable Polarisation (at 99% confidence level) is ∼2%·tday−1/2. The energy resolution at 40 keV is ∼5.9 keV. The aim of this paper is to describe the design and performance of the XL-Caliburmission, as well as the foreseen science programme.
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Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan 73(1) 143-153 2021年2月5日 査読有り<title>Abstract</title> We present our analysis of the Suzaku data of U Geminorum (U Gem) from 2012 both in quiescence and outburst. Unlike SS Cygni (SS Cyg), the hard X-ray flux of U Gem is known to increase at times of optical outburst. A sophisticated spectral model and reliable distance estimate now reveal that this can be attributed to the fact that the mass accretion rate onto the white dwarf (WD) does not exceed the critical rate that causes the optically thin to thick transition of the boundary layer. From comparison of the X-ray and optical light curves, the X-ray outburst peak seems to be retarded by 2.1 ± 0.5 d, although there remains uncertainty in the X-ray peak identification, due to short data coverage. The larger delay than SS Cyg (0.9–1.4 d) also supports the lower accretion rate in U Gem. A fluorescent iron 6.4 keV emission line bears significant information about the geometry of the X-ray-emitting hot plasma and the accretion disk (AD) that reflects the hard X-ray emission. Our reflection simulation has shown that the optically thick AD is truncated at a distance of 1.20–1.25 times the white dwarf radius (RWD) in quiescence, and the accreting matter in the disk turns into the optically thin hard-X-ray-emitting plasma at this radius. In outburst, on the other hand, our spectral analysis favors the picture that the optically thick disk reaches the WD surface, although disk truncation can take place in the region of &lt;1.012 RWD. From the profile of the 6.4 keV line, we have also discovered that the accreting matter is heated up close to the maximum temperature immediately after the matter enters the boundary layer at the disk truncation radius. This is consistent with the fact that the hard X-ray spectra of dwarf novae, in general, can be well represented with the cooling flow model.
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Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems 7(01) 2021年1月6日 査読有りAthena, a future high-energy mission, is expected to consist of a large aperture x-ray mirror with a focal length of 12 m. The mirror surface is to be coated with iridium and a low Z overcoat. To define the effective area of the x-ray telescope, the atomic scattering factors of iridium with an energy resolution less than that (2.5 eV) of the x-ray integral field unit are needed. We measured the reflectance of the silicon pore optics mirror plate coated with iridium in the energy range of 9 to 15 keV and that near the iridium L-edges in steps of 10 and 1.5 eV, respectively, at the synchrotron beamline SPring-8. The L3, L2, and L1 edges were clearly detected around 11,215, 12,824, and 13,428 eV, respectively. The measured scattering factors were 1/43 % smaller than the corresponding values reported by Henke et al., likely due to the presence of an overlayer on the iridium coating, and were consistent with those measured by Graessle et al. The angular dependence of the reflectivity measured indicates that the iridium surface was extremely smooth, with a surface roughness of 0.3 nm.
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Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2020: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray 11444 2021年1月4日 筆頭著者責任著者This paper introduces a second-generation balloon-borne hard X-ray polarimetry mission, XL-Calibur.1 The XL-Calibur will follow up on the X-Calibur mission which was flown from Dec. 29, 2018 for a 2.5 days balloon flight from McMurdo (the Antarctic). X-ray polarimetry promises to give qualitatively new information about high-energy astrophysical sources, such as pulsars and binary black hole systems. The XL-Calibur contains a grazing incidence X-ray telescope with a focal plane detector unit that is sensitive to linear polarization. The telescope is very similar in design to the ASTRO-H HXT telescopes that has the world's largest effective area above 10 keV. XL-Calibur will use the same type of mirror. The detector unit combines a low atomic number Compton scatterer with a CdZnTe detector assembly to measure the polarization making use of the fact that polarized photons Compton scatter preferentially perpendicular to the electric field orientation. It also contains a CdZnTe imager at the bottom. The detector assembly is surrounded by a BGO anticoincidence shield. The pointing system with arcsecond accuracy will be achieved by the WASP (Wallops Arc Second Pointer) from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility. A first flight of the XL-Calibur is currently foreseen for 2022, flying from Sweden.
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Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2020: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray 11444 2020年12月30日XL-Calibur is a balloon-borne hard X-ray polarimetry mission, the first flight of which is currently foreseen for 2022. XL-Calibur carries an X-ray telescope consists of 213 Wolter I grazing-incidence mirrors which are nested in a coaxial and cofocal configuration. The optics design is nearly identical to the Hard X-ray Telescope (HXT) on board the ASTRO-H satellite. The telescope was originally fabricated for the Formation Flying Astronomical Survey Telescope (FFAST) project. However, the telescope can be used for XL-Calibur, since the FFAST project was terminated before completion. The mirror surfaces are coated with Pt/C depth-graded multilayers to reflect hard X-rays above 10 keV by Bragg reflection. The effective area of the telescope is larger than 300 cm2 at 20 keV. This paper reports the current status of the telescope for XL-Calibur.
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Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2020: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray 2020年12月14日
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Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2020: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray 11444 2020年12月13日© 2020 SPIE The X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) is the successor to the 2016 Hitomi mission that ended prematurely. Like Hitomi, the primary science goals are to examine astrophysical problems with precise high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy. XRISM promises to discover new horizons in X-ray astronomy. XRISM carries a 6 x 6 pixelized X-ray micro-calorimeter on the focal plane of an X-ray mirror assembly and a co-aligned X-ray CCD camera that covers the same energy band over a large field of view. XRISM utilizes Hitomi heritage, but all designs were reviewed. The attitude and orbit control system were improved in hardware and software. The number of star sensors were increased from two to three to improve coverage and robustness in onboard attitude determination and to obtain a wider field of view sun sensor. The fault detection, isolation, and reconfiguration (FDIR) system was carefully examined and reconfigured. Together with a planned increase of ground support stations, the survivability of the spacecraft is significantly improved.
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Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2020: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray 11444 2020年12月13日The XRISM X-ray observatory will fly two advanced instruments, the Resolve high-resolution spectrometer and the Xtend wide-field imager. These instruments, particularly Resolve, pose calibration challenges due to the unprecedented combination of spectral resolution, spectral coverage, and effective area, combined with a need to characterize the imaging fidelity of the full instrument system to realize the mission's ambitious science goals. We present the status of the XRISM in-flight calibration plan, building on lessons from Hitomi and other X-ray missions. We present a discussion of targets and observing strategies to address the needed calibration measurements, with a focus on developing methodologies to plan a thorough and flexible calibration campaign and provide insight on calibration systematic error. We also discuss observations that exploit Resolve's spectral resolution to calibrate atomic codes, and cross-calibration between the XRISM instruments and with other observatories.
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Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2020: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray 11444 2020年12月13日Resolve onboard the X-ray satellite XRISM is a cryogenic instrument with an X-ray microcalorimeter in a Dewar. A lid partially transparent to X-rays is installed at the top of the Dewar along the optical axis, which is called the gate valve (GV). Because observations will be made through the GV for the first few months, the X-ray transmission calibration of the GV is crucial for initial scientific outcomes. We present the results of our ground calibration campaign of the GV, which is composed of a Be window and a stainless steel mesh. For the stainless steel mesh, we measured its transmission using the X-ray beamline at ISAS for the first time. For the Be window, we used synchrotron facilities to measure the transmission and modeled the data with (i) photoelectric absorption and incoherent scattering of Be, (ii) photoelectric absorption of contaminants, and (iii) coherent scattering of Be. We discuss the physical interpretation of the transmission discontinuity caused by the Bragg diffraction in poly-crystal Be, which we incorporated into our phenomenological model. The measurements and the constructed model meet the calibration requirements of the GV. We also performed a spectral fitting of the Crab nebula data observed with Hitomi SXS and confirmed improvements of the model.
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Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2020: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray 11444 2020年12月13日We are studying an improved DIOS (Diffuse Intergalactic Oxygen Surveyor) program, Super DIOS, which is accepted for establishing the Research Group in ISAS/JAXA, for a launch year after 2030. The aim of Super DIOS is an X-ray quantitative exploration of”dark baryon” over several scales from circumgalactic medium, cluster outskirt to warm-hot intergalactic medium along the Cosmic web with mapping redshifted emission lines from mainly oxygen and other ions. These observations play key roles for investigating the physical condition, such as the energy flow and metal circulation, of most baryons in the Universe. This mission will perform wide field X-ray spectroscopy with a field of view of about 0.5-1 degree and energy resolution of a few eV with TES microcalorimeter, but with much improved angular resolution of about 10-15 arcseconds. We will also consider including a small gamma-ray burst monitor and a fast repointing system. We will have an international collaboration with US and Europe for all the onboard instruments.
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Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2020: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray 11444 2020年12月13日CFRP is a composite material composed of carbon fiber and resin. CFRP is commonly applied to the aerospace industry which requires lightweight and intensity. Thanks to superior formability of CFRP, we can form shape of Wolter-1 optics, which consists of paraboloid and hyperboloid, to a monolithic substrate. Since the surface roughness of a CFRP substrate is a few µm, we have to make the smooth surface for reflecting X-rays on the CFRP substrate. We have developed a new method of shaping the reflective surface instead of the replica method used in lightweight X-ray mirrors such as Astro-H. In the new method, the reflective surface is formed by pasting thin sheet-glasses with 100 µm thick onto the CFRP substrate. The thin sheet-glass has a surface roughness about 0.4 nm as measured by Zygo. We fabricated a CFRP mirror pasting thin sheet-glasses, and then coated tungsten on the mirror in June 2020. The figure error (s) of the CFRP mirror was achieved to be about 1-2 µm by stacking the CFRP mirror on the housing module. X-ray imaging quality of the CFRP mirror was measured at Spring-8 in July 2020. The half-power diameter of the CFRP mirror was estimated to be about 150 arcsec, which was nearly equal to the prediction from a distribution of the slope error deduced from the surface profile. We describe a future plan to improve the image quality of the CFRP mirror.
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ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL 893(1) 2020年4月 査読有りWe report the detection of the Mn-K alpha line in the SN-IIb remnant, Cassiopeia A. Manganese (Mn-55 after decay of Co-55), a neutron-rich element, together with chromium (Cr-52 after decay of Fe-52), is mainly synthesized in core-collapse supernovae at the explosive incomplete Si-burning regime. Therefore, the Mn/Cr mass ratio with its neutron excess reflects the neutronization at the relevant burning layer during the explosion. Chandra's deep archival X-ray data of Cassiopeia A indicate a low Mn/Cr mass ratio with values in the range 0.10-0.66, which, when compared to one-dimensional SN explosion models, requires that the electron fraction be 0.4990 less than or similar to Y-e less than or similar to 0.5 at the incomplete Si-burning layer. An explosion model assuming a solar-metallicity progenitor with a typical explosion energy (1 x 10(51) erg) fails to reproduce such a high electron fraction. We can satisfy the observed Mn/Cr mass ratio if the explosive Si-burning regime was to extend into the O/Ne hydrostatic layer, which has a higher Y-e. This would require an energetic (>2 x 10(51) erg) and/or asymmetric explosion of a subsolar-metallicity progenitor (Z less than or similar to 0.5Z) for Cassiopeia A. The low initial metallicity can be used to rule out a single-star progenitor, leaving the possibility of a binary progenitor with a compact companion. We discuss the detectability of X-rays from Bondi accretion onto such a compact companion around the explosion site. We also discuss other possible mass-loss scenarios for the progenitor system of Cassiopeia A.
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ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL 891(2) 2020年3月 査読有りWe report X-ray spectroscopic results for four giant solar flares that occurred on 2005 September 7 (X17.0), 2005 September 8 (X5.4), 2005 September 9 (X6.2), and 2006 December 5 (X9.0), obtained from Earth albedo data with the X-ray Imaging Spectrometer (XIS) on board Suzaku. The good energy resolution of the XIS (FWHM similar to 100 eV) enables us to separate a number of line-like features and detect the underlying continuum emission. These features include Si He alpha, Si Ly alpha, S He alpha, S Ly alpha, Ar He alpha, and Ca He alpha originating from solar flares as well as fluorescent Ar K alpha and Ar K beta from the Earth's atmosphere. Absolute elemental abundances (X/H) averaged over the four flares are obtained to be similar to 2.0 (Ca), similar to 0.7 (Si), similar to 0.3 (S), and similar to 0.9 (Ar) at around flare peaks. This abundance pattern is similar to those of active stars' coronae showing inverse first ionization potential (i-FIP) effects, i.e., elemental abundances decrease with decreasing FIP with a turnover at the low end of the FIP. The abundances are almost constant during the flares, with the exception of Si which increases by a factor of similar to 2 in the decay phase. The evolution of the Si abundance is consistent with the finding that the i-FIP plasma originates from chromospheric evaporation and then mixes with the surrounding low-FIP biased materials. Flare-to-flare abundance varied by a factor of two, agreeing with past observations of solar flares. Finally, we emphasize that Earth albedo data acquired by X-ray astronomy satellites like Suzaku and the X-Ray Imaging Spectroscopy Mission can significantly contribute to studies of solar physics.
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PUBLICATIONS OF THE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF JAPAN 71(5) 2019年10月We present a concept for an X-ray imaging system with a high angular resolution and moderate sensitivity. In this concept, a two-dimensional detector, i.e., an imager, is put at a slightly out-of-focus position of the focusing mirror, rather than just at the mirror focus, as in the standard optics, to capture miniature images of objects. In addition, a set of multi-grid masks (or a modulation collimator) is installed in front of the telescope. We find that the masks work as a coded aperture camera and that they boost the angular resolution of the focusing optics. The major advantage of this concept is that a much better angular resolution, having an order of 2-3 or more than in the conventional optics, is achievable, while a high throughput (large effective area) is maintained, which is crucial in photon-limited high-energy astronomy, because any type of mirrors, including lightweight reflective mirrors, can be employed in our concept. If the signal-to-noise ratio is sufficiently high, we estimate that angular resolutions at the diffraction limit of 4 '' and 0.'' 4 at similar to 7 keV can be achieved with a pair of masks at distances of 1 m and 100 m, respectively.
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PUBLICATIONS OF THE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF JAPAN 71(3) 2019年6月The reported detection of a 3.5 keV emission signal in the Perseus cluster core by Bulbul et al. (2014, ApJ, 789, 13) was ruled out at high confidence in analysis conducted by Aharonian et al. (2017, ApJ, 837, L15) of X-ray spectra at 5 eV energy resolution obtained with the Hitomi observatory Soft X-ray Spectrometer (SXS). Using the same data, we search the full 2-12 keV SXS energy band for previously unidentified emission and absorption features. No significant unidentified line emission or absorption is found. Line flux upper limits (1 sigma per resolution element) vary with photon energy and assumed intrinsic width, decreasing from similar to 100 at 2 keV to <10 photons cm(-2) s(-1) sr(-1) over most of the 5-10 keV energy range for a Gaussian line with Doppler broadening of 640 km s(-1). Limits for narrower and broader lines have a similar energy dependence and are systematically smaller and larger, respectively. These line flux limits are used to constrain the decay rate of hypothetical dark matter candidates. For the sterile neutrino decay rate, we place new constraints over the mass range of 4-24 keV with mass resolution better than any previous X-ray analysis. Additionally, the accuracy of relevant thermal spectral models and atomic data are evaluated. The Perseus cluster spectra may be described by a composite of multi-temperature thermal and active galactic nuclei (AGN) power-law continua. Superposed on these, a few line emission signals possibly originating from unmodeled atomic processes (including Si XIV and Fe XXV) aremarginally detected and tabulated. Comparisons with previous X-ray upper limits and future prospects for dark matter searches using high-energy resolution spectroscopy are discussed.
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PUBLICATIONS OF THE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF JAPAN 71(1) 2019年1月We propose an image reconstruction method for an X-ray telescope system with an angular resolution booster proposed by Maeda et al. (2018, PASJ, submitted). The system consists of double multi-grid masks in front of an X-ray mirror and an off-focused two-dimensional imager. Because the obtained image is off-focused, an additional image reconstruction process is assumed to be included. Our image reconstruction method is an extension of the traditional Richardson-Lucy algorithm with two regularization terms, one for sparseness and the other for smoothness. Such a combination is desirable for astronomical imaging because astronomical objects have a variety in shape, from point sources to diffuse sources to mixtures of both. The performance of the system is demonstrated with simulated data for point sources and diffuse X-ray sources such as Cas A and the Crab Nebula. The image resolution is improved from a few arcmin of focused image without the booster to a few arcsec with the booster. Through the demonstration, the angular resolution booster with the image reconstruction method is shown to be feasible.
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Journal of Low Temperature Physics 193(5-6) 991-995 2018年12月1日The X-ray Astronomy Recovery Mission (XARM) is a recovery mission of ASTRO-H/Hitomi, which is expected to be launched in Japanese Fiscal Year of 2020 at the earliest. The Resolve instrument on XARM consists of an array of 6 × 6 silicon-thermistor microcalorimeters cooled down to 50 mK and a high-throughput X-ray mirror assembly with the focal length of 5.6 m. Hitomi was launched into orbit in February 2016 and observed several celestial objects, although the operation of Hitomi was terminated in April 2016. The soft X-ray spectrometer (SXS) on Hitomi demonstrated high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy of ~ 5 eV FWHM in orbit for most of the pixels. The Resolve instrument is planned to mostly be a copy of the Hitomi SXS and soft X-ray telescope designs, though several changes are planned based on the lessons learned from Hitomi. We report a brief summary of the SXS performance and the status of the Resolve instrument.
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PUBLICATIONS OF THE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF JAPAN 70(6) 2018年12月We present the results from the Hitomi Soft Gamma-ray Detector (SGD) observation of the Crab nebula. The main part of SGD is a Compton camera, which in addition to being a spectrometer, is capable of measuring polarization of gamma-ray photons. The Crab nebula is one of the brightest X-ray / gamma-ray sources on the sky, and, the only source from which polarized X-ray photons have been detected. SGD observed the Crab nebula during the initial test observation phase of Hitomi. We performed the data analysis of the SGD observation, the SGD background estimation and the SGD Monte Carlo simulations, and, successfully detected polarized gamma-ray emission from the Crab nebula with only about 5 ks exposure time. The obtained polarization fraction of the phase-integrated Crab emission (sum of pulsar and nebula emissions) is (22.1% +/- 10.6%), and, the polarization angle is 110.degrees 7 + 13.degrees 2 /-13.degrees 0 in the energy range of 60-160 keV (The errors correspond to the 1 sigma deviation). The confidence level of the polarization detection was 99.3%. The polarization angle measured by SGD is about one sigma deviation with the projected spin axis of the pulsar, 124.degrees 0 +/- 0.degrees 1.
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Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 2018年11月High-resolution spectroscopy of the core of the Perseus Cluster of galaxies, using the Hitomi satellite above 2 keV and the XMM-Newton Reflection Grating Spectrometer at lower energies, provides reliable constraints on the abundances of O, Ne, Mg, Si, S, Ar, Ca, Cr, Mn, Fe, and Ni. Accounting for all known systematic uncertainties, the Ar/Fe, Ca/Fe, and Ni/Fe ratios are determined with a remarkable precision of less than 10%, while the constraints on Si/Fe, S/Fe, and Cr/Fe are at the 15% level, and Mn/Fe is measured with a 20% uncertainty. The average biases in determining the chemical composition using archival CCD spectra from XMM-Newton and Suzaku range typically from 15-40%. A simple model in which the enrichment pattern in the Perseus Cluster core and the proto-solar nebula are identical gives a surprisingly good description of the high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy results, with χ2 = 10.7 for 10 d.o.f. However, this pattern is challenging to reproduce with linear combinations of existing supernova nucleosynthesis calculations, particularly given the precise measurements of intermediate α-elements enabled by Hitomi. We discuss in detail the degeneracies between various supernova progenitor models and explosion mechanisms, and the remaining uncertainties in these theoretical models. We suggest that including neutrino physics in the core-collapse supernova yield calculations may improve the agreement with the observed pattern of α-elements in the Perseus Cluster core. Our results provide a complementary benchmark for testing future nucleosynthesis calculations required to understand the origin of chemical elements....
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PUBLICATIONS OF THE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF JAPAN 70(3) 2018年6月We present results from the Hitomi X-ray observation of a young composite-type supernova remnant (SNR) G21.5-0.9, whose emission is dominated by the pulsar wind nebula (PWN) contribution. The X-ray spectra in the 0.8-80 keV range obtained with the Soft X-ray Spectrometer (SXS), Soft X-ray Imager, and Hard X-ray Imager (HXI) show a significant break in the continuum as previously found with the NuSTAR observation. After taking into account all known emissions from the SNR other than the PWN itself, we find that the Hitomi spectra can be fitted with a broken power law with photon indices of Gamma(1) = 1.74 +/- 0.02 and Gamma(2) = 2.14 +/- 0.01 below and above the break at 7.1 +/- 0.3 keV, which is significantly lower than the NuSTAR result (similar to 9.0 keV). The spectral break cannot be reproduced by time-dependent particle injection one-zone spectral energy distribution models, which strongly indicates that a more complex emission model is needed, as suggested by recent theoretical models. We also search for narrow emission or absorption lines with the SXS, and perform a timing analysis of PSR J1833-1034 with the HXI and the Soft Gamma-ray Detector. No significant pulsation is found from the pulsar. However, unexpectedly, narrow absorption line features are detected in the SXS data at 4.2345 keV and 9.296 keV with a significance of 3.65 sigma. While the origin of these features is not understood, their mere detection opens up a new field of research and was only possible with the high resolution, sensitivity, and ability to measure extended sources provided by an X-ray microcalorimeter.
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JOURNAL OF ASTRONOMICAL TELESCOPES INSTRUMENTS AND SYSTEMS 4(2) 2018年4月The Soft X-ray Spectrometer onboard the Astro-H (Hitomi) orbiting x-ray observatory featured an array of 36 silicon thermistor x-ray calorimeters optimized to perform high spectral resolution x-ray imaging spectroscopy of astrophysical sources in the 0.3-to 12-keV band. Extensive preflight calibration measurements are the basis for our modeling of the pulse height-energy relation and energy resolution for each pixel and event grade, telescope collecting area, detector efficiency, and pulse arrival time. Because of the early termination of mission operations, we needed to extract the maximum information from observations performed only days into the mission when the onboard calibration sources had not yet been commissioned and the dewar was still coming into thermal equilibrium, so our technique for reconstructing the per-pixel time-dependent pulse height-energy relation had to be modified. The gain scale was reconstructed using a combination of an absolute energy scale calibration at a single time using a fiducial from an onboard radioactive source and calibration of a dominant time-dependent gain drift component using a dedicated calibration pixel, as well as a residual time-dependent variation using spectra from the Perseus cluster of galaxies. The energy resolution was also measured using the onboard radioactive sources. It is consistent with instrument-level measurements accounting for the modest increase in noise due to spacecraft systems interference. We use observations of two pulsar wind nebulae to validate our models of the telescope area and detector efficiency and to derive a more accurate value for the thickness of the gate-valve Be window, which had not been opened by the time mission operations ceased. We use observations of the Crab nebula to refine the pixel-to-pixel timing and validate the absolute timing. (C) The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
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大気球シンポジウム: 2022年度 = Balloon Symposium: 2022 2022年11月大気球シンポジウム 2022年度（2022年11月7-8日. ハイブリッド開催（JAXA相模原キャンパス& オンライン)) Balloon Symposium 2022 (November 7-8, 2022. Hybrid(in-person & online) Conference (Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)(ISAS)), Sagamihara, Kanagawa Japan 著者人数: 87名 資料番号: SA6000177030 レポート番号: isas22-sbs-030
講演・口頭発表等
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44th COSPAR Scientific Assembly 2022年
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nuclear burning in massive stars – towards the formation of binary black holes – 2021年7月28日
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Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2020: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray 2020年12月19日
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The 15th Symposium of Japanese Research Community on X-ray Imaging Optics 2019年10月26日 招待有り
担当経験のある科目(授業)
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2023年9月 - 2024年3月
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2021年4月 - 2022年3月宇宙理学概論(オムニパス) (総合研究大学院大学)
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2019年10月 - 2020年3月宇宙理学概論(オムニパス) (総合研究大学院大学)
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2009年10月 - 2010年3月応用物理学講義 (中央大学)
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2009年4月 - 2009年9月宇宙物理学講義 (中央大学)
共同研究・競争的資金等の研究課題
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日本学術振興会 科学研究費助成事業 2023年4月 - 2027年3月
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日本学術振興会 科学研究費助成事業 基盤研究(B) 2022年4月 - 2025年3月
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日本学術振興会 科学研究費助成事業 基盤研究(A) 2020年4月 - 2023年3月
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日本学術振興会 科学研究費助成事業 挑戦的研究(萌芽) 2019年6月 - 2022年3月
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日本学術振興会 科学研究費助成事業 新学術領域研究(研究領域提案型) 2013年4月 - 2015年3月
