The In-orbit Effective Area Calibration and Sensitivity Analysis of FXPT
Abstract
The effective area (EA) calibration is one of the most critical test items for X-ray telescopes. The ground calibration of telescope effective area can only be tested in long X-ray beam system, which results in a high test cost. The in-orbit effective area calibration can be implemented by natural radiation sources. The Crab Nebula is one of the brightest X-ray natural radiation sources on the celestial sphere, and has the most detailed observational data, which makes the Crab Nebula be the standard source for the X-ray telescope calibration. The paper uses the Crab Nebula as the calibration source to obtain the effective area (300-3000 eV) of FXPT (Focusing X-ray Pulsar Telescope). The observation sensitivity of FXPT is evaluated according to the noise level and the effective area of the telescope. After exact in-orbit calibration, the effective area of FXPT is (2.39 ± 0.39) cm^{2}@1.5 keV (3σ), and its observation sensitivity is 2.24×10^{-3} photon\cdot cm^{-2}\cdots^{-1}\cdot keV^{-1} (0.5-3 keV, observation time T= 1000 s, detected signal to noise ratio n_{σ} = 5).
- Publication:
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Acta Astronomica Sinica
- Pub Date:
- March 2018
- Bibcode:
- 2018AcASn..59...16S
- Keywords:
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- X-rays: general;
- instrumentation: detectors;
- stars: pulsars: Crab Nebula