XMM-Newton Users' Handbook

Contents

• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• 1 Glossary
• 2 Introduction
  • 2.1 Scope of this document
  • 2.2 Structure and contents of the Users' Handbook
  • 2.3 Location
  • 2.4 Sources of information
  • 2.5 Updates on this document
  • 2.6 How to obtain further help and information
  • 2.7 Acknowledgments
  
  
• 3 XMM-Newton - a concise overview
  • 3.1 Basic characteristics
  • 3.2 X-ray Telescopes
    • 3.2.1 X-ray point-spread function
      • 3.2.1.1 On-axis PSF
      • 3.2.1.2 Off-axis PSF
    • 3.2.2 X-ray effective area
      • 3.2.2.1 On-axis effective area
      • 3.2.2.2 Off-axis effective area
    • 3.2.3 Response matrices used in the SAS data analysis
    • 3.2.4 Straylight rejection
  • 3.3 EUROPEAN PHOTON IMAGING CAMERA (EPIC)
    • 3.3.1 Two types of EPIC camera: MOS and pn
      • 3.3.1.1 EPIC MOS chip geometry
      • 3.3.1.2 EPIC pn chip geometry
    • 3.3.2 Science modes of the EPIC cameras
    • 3.3.3 EPIC imaging - angular resolution
    • 3.3.4 Intrinsic energy resolution of EPIC
    • 3.3.5 EPIC quantum efficiencies
    • 3.3.6 EPIC filters and effective area
    • 3.3.7 EPIC background
      • 3.3.7.1 EPIC external `flaring' background
      • 3.3.7.2 EPIC internal `quiescent' background
      • 3.3.7.3 EPIC Detector Noise
      • 3.3.7.4 EPIC background and its importance for extended sources
    • 3.3.8 EPIC's sensitivity limits
    • 3.3.9 EPIC photon pile-up
    • 3.3.10 EPIC out-of-time events
    • 3.3.11 EPIC event grade selection
    • 3.3.12 EPIC-specific proposal submission information
      • 3.3.12.1 EPIC spectral quality
      • 3.3.12.2 EPIC flux to count rate conversion
      • 3.3.12.3 Count rate conversion from other X-ray satellite missions
  • 3.4 REFLECTION GRATING SPECTROMETER (RGS)
    • 3.4.1 Diffraction Geometry
    • 3.4.2 RFC chip arrays
    • 3.4.3 RGS Order Separation
    • 3.4.4 In-Flight Performance
      • 3.4.4.1 The Line Spread Function
      • 3.4.4.2 Resolving Power and Spectral Resolution
      • 3.4.4.3 RGS spectral resolution for extended sources
      • 3.4.4.4 Wavelength Scale Accuracy
      • 3.4.4.5 RGS effective area for dispersive spectroscopy
      • 3.4.4.6 The RGS Background
      • 3.4.4.7 RGS Sensitivity Limits
    • 3.4.5 Operating mode of the RGS
    • 3.4.6 RGS specific proposal submission information
      • 3.4.6.1 RGS avoidance angles
      • 3.4.6.2 RGS flux to count rate conversion
      • 3.4.6.3 RGS spectral quality
  • 3.5 OPTICAL MONITOR (OM)
    • 3.5.1 OM telescope
    • 3.5.2 OM detector
      • 3.5.2.1 Imaging with OM
    • 3.5.3 OM operating modes and filters configuration
      • 3.5.3.1 OM operating modes
      • 3.5.3.2 OM default configurations
      • 3.5.3.3 Integration time for exposures
      • 3.5.3.4 Filter choice
      • 3.5.3.5 Practical use of OM. Some examples
    • 3.5.4 Optical/UV point spread function of the OM and tracking
    • 3.5.5 OM optical elements
      • 3.5.5.1 OM filter bandpasses
      • 3.5.5.2 OM grisms
    • 3.5.6 OM sensitivity and detection limits
    • 3.5.7 OM Field Acquisition
    • 3.5.8 OM distortion
    • 3.5.9 OM brightness and dose limits
    • 3.5.10 OM specific proposal submission information
      • 3.5.10.1 Choice of Science User Defined non-default windows
  • 3.6 XMM-Newton support instruments
    • 3.6.1 EPIC Radiation Monitor Subsystem (ERMS)
    • 3.6.2 Attitude & Orbit Control Subsystem (AOCS)
  • 3.7 Comparison with other X-ray satellites
    • 3.7.1 A comparison of XMM-Newton vs. Chandra
      • 3.7.1.1 Effective area for dispersive spectroscopy
      • 3.7.1.2 Non-dispersive spectroscopy: an example
      • 3.7.1.3 XMM-Newton EPIC vs. Chandra ACIS-I pile-up comparison
  
  
• 4 Observing with XMM-Newton
  • 4.1 XMM-Newton orbit
  • 4.2 XMM-Newton observing constraints
    • 4.2.1 Radiation belts
    • 4.2.2 Bright source avoidance
    • 4.2.3 Celestial constraints
    • 4.2.4 Position angle constraints
    • 4.2.5 Raster observing mode
    • 4.2.6 Dithering mode
    • 4.2.7 Tracking mode
  • 4.3 Sky visibility during the XMM-Newton mission
  • 4.4 Position angle determination for XMM-Newton observations
  • 4.5 XMM-Newton observation overheads
    • 4.5.1 Operational overheads
    • 4.5.2 Instrument and setup overheads
    • 4.5.3 Special science exposures
  • 4.6 Instrument alignment
  • 4.7 Absolute and relative pointing accuracy
  • 4.8 Points of concern
  • 4.9 XMM-Newton slew observations
  
  
• 5 Proposal Submission and Optimisation
• 6 Analysing XMM-Newton data
  • 6.1 XMM-Newton analysis software - the Science Analysis Subsystem (SAS)
    • 6.1.1 XMM-Newton data: the Observation/Slew Data Files (ODF/SDF)
    • 6.1.2 The Science Analysis System (SAS)
    • 6.1.3 XMM-Newton data: the Processing Pipeline Subsystem (pipeline) products (PPS)
  • 6.2 XMM-Newton Calibration data
  • 6.3 The XMM-Newton data distribution
  • 6.4 The XMM-Newton Science Archive (XSA)
  • 6.5 The XMM-Newton Slew Survey Catalogue
  
  
• 7 Documentation
• A. XMM-Newton Science Simulator (SciSim)
  • A..1 SciSim - a brief general introduction
  • A..2 SciSim Graphical User Interface
    • A..2.1 SciSim configuration GUI
  • A..3 SciSim components
    • A..3.1 CSim - The Cosmic Simulator
      • A..3.1.1 The SPSim GUI
      • A..3.1.2 The GSim GUI
    • A..3.2 MSim - The Mirror Simulator
    • A..3.3 ESim - The EPIC Simulator
    • A..3.4 RSim - The RGS Simulator
    • A..3.5 OSim - The OM Simulator
  • A..4 SciSim tools
  • A..5 SciSim performance issues
  
  
• B. XMM-Newton Survey Science Centre (SSC)
  • B..1 Pipeline processing of XMM-Newton science data
  • B..2 Science analysis software development
  • B..3 The XMM-Newton Serendipitous Source Catalogues
    • B..3.1 2XMM
  
  
• C. XMM-Newton Routine Calibration Program