About the measurements of the hard X-ray background

TL;DR

This paper examines the uncertainties in measuring the cosmic X-ray background with INTEGRAL, highlighting detector background variations as a key limiting factor, and finds consistency with historic HEAO-1 observations.

Contribution

It identifies the main sources of uncertainty in INTEGRAL X-ray background measurements and confirms their compatibility with previous HEAO-1 data.

Findings

Detector background variation limits measurement accuracy

INTEGRAL measurements are consistent with HEAO-1 observations

Uncertainty analysis improves understanding of X-ray background measurements

Abstract

We analyze uncertainties in the cosmic X-ray background measurements performed by the INTEGRAL observatory. We find that the most important effect limiting the accuracy of the measurements is related to the intrinsic background variation in detectors. Taking into account all of the uncertainties arising during the measurements we conclude that the X-ray background intensity obtained in the INTEGRAL observations is compatible with the historic X-ray background observations performed by the HEAO-1 satellite.