Coronal Temperature Diagnostic Capability of the Hinode/X-Ray Telescope Based on Self-Consistent Calibration

TL;DR

This paper presents a self-consistent calibration of the Hinode/XRT's temperature response, enabling precise coronal temperature diagnostics from less than 1 MK to over 10 MK, accounting for on-orbit contamination effects.

Contribution

The paper introduces a new calibration method for XRT's temperature response, enhancing its diagnostic accuracy across a wide temperature range.

Findings

Calibration improves temperature measurement accuracy

On-orbit contamination effects are effectively modeled

XRT can now reliably diagnose a broad temperature spectrum

Abstract

The X-Ray Telescope (XRT) onboard the Hinode satellite is an X-ray imager that observes the solar corona with unprecedentedly high angular resolution (consistent with its 1" pixel size). XRT has nine X-ray analysis filters with different temperature responses. One of the most significant scientific features of this telescope is its capability of diagnosing coronal temperatures from less than 1 MK to more than 10 MK, which has never been accomplished before. To make full use of this capability, accurate calibration of the coronal temperature response of XRT is indispensable and is presented in this article. The effect of on-orbit contamination is also taken into account in the calibration. On the basis of our calibration results, we review the coronal-temperature-diagnostic capability of XRT.