IACHEC Working Groups
The scope of these working groups is to define standard procedures for the calibration of high-energy instrumentation in specific areas, such as: methodology, definition of calibration targets and requirements for future missions.
Particular emphasis is addressed to the definition of a set of "high-energy standard candles", which can be used as reference for the calibration of past, present and future X-ray instruments. Each type of standard candle is intended to optimally address a specific parameter sub-space in the energy or timing domain. In this framework, the scope of these working groups is
- to agree on a "standard spectral model" for each of the high-energy standard candle
- to maintain a database of cross-calibration results on the high-energy standard candles
- to maintain a database of standard candle spectral data, through which any high-energy astronomers will be able to reproduce and gain confidence on the results produced by the IACHEC Working Groups
The currently active Working Groups are:
- CCD issues (Chair: Catherine
Grant).
It aims to provide a forum for cross-mission discussion and comparison of
CCD-specific modeling and calibration issues, lessons learned, and best
practices.
Current members:: A.Beardmore (Swift/XRT), R.Edgar (Chandra/ACIS), E.Miller (Suzaku/XIS), P.Plucinsky (Chandra/ACIS), S.Sembay (XMM-Newton/EPIC-MOS), M.Smith (XMM-Newton/EPIC-pn), M.Sugizaki (MAXI), M.Tsujimoto (Suzaku/XIS). - Clusters (Chair: Jukka
Nevalainen). It aims at a systematic comparison of cluster temperatures
measured by Chandra and XMM-Newton, with a possible extension of this
comparison to Suzaku in the nearby future.
Current members: A.Beardmore (Swift/XRT), M.Bonamente, U.Briel (XMM-Newton/EPIC-pn), L.David (Chandra), C.Grant (Chandra/ACIS), H.Matsumoto (Suzaku/XIS), E.Miller (Suzaku/XIS), A.Read (XMM-Newton/EPIC-MOS), S.Snowden (XMM-Newton/EPIC-MOS), M.Stuhlinger (XMM-Newton/EPIC), C.Tenzer (XMM-Newton/EPIC-pn). - Effective area
(Chairs: Manabu Ishida
and Hermann Marshall). It
aims at the analysis of the Chandra, Suzaku and XMM-Newton
cross-calibration campaign data on PKS2155-304 collected so far.
Current members: A.Beardmore (Swift/XRT), K.Jahoda (RXTE/PCA), J.P.Roques (Integral/SPI), M.Stuhlinger (XMM-Newton/EPIC), M.Tsujimoto (Suzaku/XIS), E.Thompson (Fermi). - High Resolution (Chair: Andy
Pollock). It aims at a
complete census of emission lines in the RGS and LETG spectrum of Capella.
Current members: V.Burwitz (XMM-Newton/EPIC-pn), T.Gaetz (Chandra/HRMA), K.Hamaguchi (Suzaku/XIS and Suzaku/XRT), J.Kaastra (XMM-Newton/RGS). - Isolated Neutron Stars (Chair: Frank Haberl). It aims at the cross-calibration analysis of the RXJ1854.5-3754 spectra
Current members: A.Beardmore (Swift/XRT), V.Burwitz (XMM-Newton/EPIC-pn), J.Cottam (XMM-Newton/RGS), C.de Vries (XMM-Newton/RGS), T.Dotani (Suzaku), E.Miller (Suzaku/XIS), S.Sembay (XMM-Newton/EPIC-MOS). - Non-Thermal SNR (Chair: Masahiro Tsujimoto). It aims at the cross-calibration analysis of G21.5-0.9 (mainly below 10 keV) and of the Crab (mainly above 10 keV) spectra.
Current members: A.Beardmore (Swift/XRT), G.Cusumano (Suzaku/XRT), L.David (Chandra), M.Guainazzi (XMM-Newton/EPIC-pn), J.Kaastra (Chandra/LETG, XMM-Newton/RGS), M.Ishida (Suzaku), K.Jahoda (RXTE/PCA), E,Jourdain (Integral/SPI), Y.Maeda (Chandra), A.Read (XMM-Newton/EPIC-MOS), R.Rothschild (RXTE/HEXTE), T.Sakamoto (Swift/BAT). - Thermal SNR (Chair:
Paul Plucinsky):
analysis of 1E0102.2-7219 (preliminary results available as
a SPIE paper)
Current members: A.Beardmore (Swift/XRT), D.Dewey (Chandra/HETG), J.di Pasquale (Chandra/ACIS), O.Godet (XMM-Newton/EPIC-MOS), F.Haberl (XMM-Newton/EPIC-pn), H.Marshall (Chandra/HETG), E.Miller (Suzaku/XIS), A.Pollock (XMM-Newton/RGS), S.Sembay (XMM-Newton/EPIC-MOS), R.Smith (atomic physics). - White Dwarfs (Chair: Vadim
Burwitz). It aims at comparing atmospheric models in conjunction with
analysis of high-resolution data.
Current members: J.Drake (Chandra), F.Haberl (XMM-Newton/EPIC-pn), J.Kaastra (Chandra/LETG and XMM-Newton/RGS), H.Marshall (Chandra/HETG), N.Schultz (Chandra/HETG).
The Chairs of the Working Groups meet periodically via teleconference to review the status of their activities. Informal notes from these meetings follow:
- WGs Chairs Meeting #6, February 26, 2010.
- WGs Chairs Meeting #5, January 25, 2010.
- WGs Chairs Meeting #4, December 3, 2009.
- WGs Chairs Meeting #3, February 6, 2009.
- WGs Chairs Meeting #2, January 16, 2009.
- WGs Chairs Meeting #1, November 7, 2008.