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Session 44 - New Light on Supernova Remnants.
Display session, Wednesday, June 11
South Main Hall,
The Space Physics Group and the Space Science and Engineering Center of the University of Wisconsin have designed and built a pair of novel detectors, the Diffuse X-ray Spectrometer (DXS), for the spectroscopic study of the diffuse X-ray background. Each detector consists of a one foot by two foot, curved lead stearate crystal panel that reflects X-ray photons according Bragg's law into a large position-sensing proportional counter. The detectors, collecting X-ray photons between 42 Åand 83 Åwith \Delta\lambda (FWHM) \sim2.5 Åwere exposed to the X-ray background for about 40,000 seconds on Space Shuttle flight STS 54 in 1993. We present the DXS spectra and demonstrate the accuracy of the wavelength scale (0.3 Åflat-field response (corrected to better than 3%), absolute flux calibrations (\sim10%), and detailed agreement of the spectral shape of the instrument response to three mono-energetic input sources. The quality and accuracy of the in-flight spectra and response functions are more than adequate to place serious constraints on theories concerning the origin and nature of the diffuse X-ray background. Fits to several current models will be shown.
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: jpmorgen@dxs.ssec.wisc.edu
