Simulating Galactic and Extragalactic Surveys with the NuSTAR Simulator NuSIM.
Abstract
One of the primary science objectives of the NASA SMEX hard X-ray mission NuSTAR is to conduct extragalactic and Galactic surveys in the 5 - 80 keV hard X-ray band. With its improved sensitivity over previous satellites at energies above 10 keV, NuSTAR will study populations of these energies, facilitating the& ulti-wavelength identification of high-energy sources, as well as uncovering hidden populations.
NuSIM is the instrument and science simulator for NuSTAR. It utilizes a completely object-oriented design based on C++ and ROOT in order to encapsulate individual simulation tasks in independent modules. The simulation modules encompass all relevant aspects of NuSTAR which are required to predict, plan, and compare measurements with simulations. These modules include astrophysical sources models, the optics system, a detailed detector interaction and detector effects engine, a trigger and data packaging engine, a data calibrator, as well as models for the mast movement, the star tracker, and the metrology system. We provide a short overview of NuSIM's key design features related to the surveying mode of the observatory, and show simulations of the Galactic center and the COSMOS field.- Publication:
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AAS/High Energy Astrophysics Division #12
- Pub Date:
- September 2011
- Bibcode:
- 2011HEAD...12.4308M