Dear Suzaku Users,

Having incorporated the latest calibration results, Suzaku XIS team has developed the XIS RMF generator ftool "xisrmfgen", which considers secular degradation of the XIS energy resolution to calculate time-dependent XIS response. Xisrmfgen is currently being tested on multiple platforms by Suzaku GOF at NASA/GSFC.

Responding to strong demands of the early release and considering its scientific merits, Suzaku team has decided to make a beta-release of xisrmfgen (only executable on limited platforms) to interested Suzaku users, in particular to those planning to present early results at the December Suzaku conference in Kyoto. Until xisrmfgen is released in the official ftools package from NASA/GSFC, please obtain the beta-version from here:

• xisrmfgen-2006-10-26.tar.gz (10MB)

Also, please find that new XIS calibration files have been released in the HEASARC CALDB on Nov 2, 2006 taking into account the latest calibration. Please obtain these latest CALDB files from NASA/GSFC to use xisrmfgen. In particular, the following XIS calibration files are essential to calculate precise XIS responses using xisrmfgen (NEW), xissimarfgen, xiscontamicalc and xissim (in HEAsoft 6.1.1):

• ae_xi[0-3]_contami_20061016.fits
• ae_xi[0-3]_makepi_20060823.fits
• ae_xi[0-3]_quanteff_20060825.fits
• ae_xi[0-3]_rmfparam_20061024.fits

Here are some explanation of the improvements of the new calibration files/responses.

• xisrmfgen can produce time-dependent XIS RMF taking account of secular change of the detector responses, particularly spectral resolution, in combination with ae_xi[0-3]_rmfparam_20061024.fits. However, the "Spaced-row Charge Injection (SCI)" observations which started in Sep 2006 are not taken care of, yet.
• The depletion layer thickness of XIS0 has been revised (78.8 -> 68 um) in ae_xi0_quanteff_20060825.fits, reflecting in-orbit calibration with Crab nebula to make the spectral index consistent among sensors.
• The optical blocking filter contamination files, ae_xi[0-3]_contami_20061016.fits, have been significantly improved to take into account the secular change of the contamination during the AO-1 period.
• Consequently, xissimarfgen (in HEAsoft 6.1.1) can produce ARFs taking account of time-dependent contamination using the new contamination files. Similarly, xiscontamicalc can calculate the precise amount of contamination, and xissim can incorporate the contamination in the ray-tracing simulation.