Optimization of x-ray event screening using ground and in-orbit data for the Resolve instrument onboard the XRISM satellite

TL;DR

This paper describes the development and evaluation of an optimized event screening method for the Resolve instrument on XRISM, effectively reducing background noise to meet mission requirements using ground and in-orbit data.

Contribution

It introduces a new screening approach based on pulse shape and timing correlations, improving background reduction over previous methods for x-ray microcalorimeter data.

Findings

Background rate reduced to 1.8×10⁻³ s⁻¹ keV⁻¹ after initial screening.

Additional correlation-based screening further lowers background to 1.0×10⁻³ s⁻¹ keV⁻¹.

Method successfully meets the instrument's background requirement.

Abstract

The XRISM (X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission) satellite was successfully launched and put into a low-Earth orbit on September 6, 2023 (UT). The Resolve instrument onboard XRISM hosts an x-ray microcalorimeter detector, which was designed to achieve a high-resolution ($\leq$7 eV FWHM at 6 keV), high-throughput, and non-dispersive spectroscopy over a wide energy range. It also excels in a low background with a requirement of $< 2 \times 10^{-3}$ s$^{-1}$ keV$^{-1}$ (0.3--12.0 keV), which is equivalent to only one background event per spectral bin per 100 ks exposure. Event screening to discriminate x-ray events from background is a key to meeting the requirement. We present the result of the Resolve event screening using data sets recorded on the ground and in orbit based on the heritage of the preceding x-ray microcalorimeter missions, in particular, the Soft X-ray Spectrometer (SXS) onboard ASTRO-H. We optimize and evaluate 19 screening items of three types based on (1) the event pulse shape, (2) relative arrival times among multiple events, and (3) good time intervals. We show that the initial screening, which is applied for science data products in the performance verification phase, reduces the background rate to $1.8 \times 10^{-3}$ s$^{-1}$ keV$^{-1}$ meeting the requirement. We further evaluate the additional screening utilizing the correlation among some pulse shape properties of x-ray events and show that it further reduces the background rate particularly in the $<$2 keV band. Over 0.3--12 keV, the background rate becomes $1.0 \times 10^{-3}$ s$^{-1}$ keV$^{-1}$.