In‐Flight Performance of the High Energy X‐Ray Timing Experiment on theRossi X‐Ray Timing Explorer

Abstract

The High Energy X-ray Timing Experiment (HEXTE) is one of three scientific instruments aboard the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE), which was launched on December 30, 1995. RXTE performs timing and spectral studies of bright x-ray sources to determine the physical parameters of these systems. The HEXTE consists of two independent clusters of detectors, each cluster containing four NaI(Tl)/CsI(Na) phoswich scintillation counters sharing a common 1 • FWHM field of view. The field of view of each cluster is switched on-and off-source to provide near real-time background measurements. The net open area of the eight detectors is 1600 cm 2 , and each detector covers the energy range 15−250 keV with an average energy resolution of 15.4% at 60 keV. The in-flight performance of the HEXTE is described, the light curve and spectrum of the Crab Nebula/Pulsar is given, and the 15−240 keV spectrum of the weak source, active galaxy MCG 8-11-11 is presented to demonstrate the weak source spectral capabilities of HEXTE.

A Decade in the Life of EXO 2030+375: A Multiwavelength Study of an Accreting X‐Ray Pulsar

“…This correlation was consistent with an extrapolation of that observed in EXOSAT data by Reynolds et al (1993). Evidence of a possible cyclotron feature at 36 keV was found in spectra from the High-Energy X-ray Timing Experiment (HEXTE; Rothschild et al 1998) on RXTE (Reig & Coe 1999).…”

The Third Swift Burst Alert Telescope Gamma-Ray Burst Catalog

“…The photon indices of the simple power-law model a PL are plotted in Figure 1, while the fluxes are presented in Figure 2. Results show that the photon index and the flux measured at different locations on the BAT detector plane can vary by up to ∼±5% and ∼±10%, respectively, from the canonical values of Crab photon index of −2.15 and flux of 2.11×10 −8 erg cm −2 s −1 (Jung 1989;Rothschild et al 1998). Wilson-Hodge et al (2011) suggests that the flux of the Crab Nebula can fluctuate on a timescale of months to years, with the value changes as much as ∼10% in the BAT energy range from 2008 to 2010.…”

“…Those that are related to the BAT data include (1) the Swift GRB table 11 compiled by J. D. Myers using information from Gamma-ray Coordinates Network (GCN) circulars, (2) an online GRB catalog 12 maintained by Tilan Ukwatta that contains GRBs from Swift, (3) the Swift Burst Analyser 13 maintained by Phil Evans, which includes plots of both the BAT and XRT light curves at selected energy bands (Evans et al 2009(Evans et al , 2007(Evans et al , 2010, (4) the "Swiftgrb database" 14 produced by Padgett et al, which is completed through 2012 December and includes data product for BAT and XRT, and (5) an online repository 15 generated by (Jung 1989;Rothschild et al 1998). (Jung 1989;Rothschild et al 1998). Nathaniel Butler that includes the XRT and BAT light curves, spectra, and GRB redshifts (Butler et al 2007(Butler et al , 2010. Moreover, the "GRB Online Index (GRBOX) 16 " maintained by Daniel Perley compiles a list of GRB with redshift measurements and information of follow-up observations.…”

The photon-index–time-lag correlation in black hole X-ray binaries

“…The PCA (Jahoda et al 2006) covered the energy range 2-60 keV and consisted of five identical coaligned gas-filled proportional units (PCU), giving a total collecting area of 6500 cm 2 and provided an energy resolution of 18% at 6 keV. The HEXTE (Rothschild et al 1998) was constituted of 2 clusters of 4 NaI/CsI scintillation counters each, with a total collecting area of 2 × 800 cm 2 , sensitive in the 15-250 keV band, with a nominal energy resolution of 15% at 60 keV. The ASM (Levine et al 1996) scanned about 80% of the sky every orbit, allowing monitoring on time scales of 90 minutes or longer in the energy range 1.3-12.1 keV.…”