These files are suitable for the preperation of proposals, and reflect the best understanding of the XRT-I/XIS as of early November, 2005.

There are three units of XIS with a frontside illuminated (FI) CCD, and one unit (XIS-1) with a backside illuminated (BI) CCD. We provide an RMF and an ARF for XIS-1, and those for XIS-2, which is representative of the XIS units with an FI CCD. The ARF files include the transmission of the thermal shield and the XRT-I effective area, for a point source observed at the XRT optical axis. The XIS RMF includes the transmission of the optical blocking filter (OBF) and the quantum efficiency of the CCD.

• XIS RMF:
  • ae_xi1_20051103.rmf (XIS-1: the BI unit) and
  • ae_xi2_20051102.rmf (XIS-2: an FI unit)

• XRT-I/XIS ARF:
  • ae_xi1_onaxis_20050916.arf (XIS-1: the BI unit) and
  • ae_xi2_onaxis_20050916.arf (XIS-2: an FI unit)
  These ARF files are for a point source observed on-axis; the effective area is for the Au-coated XRT-I integrated over a circular region with a 6 mm (4.34 arcmin) radius.

• XIS blank sky background files (Added 2005 December 15)
  • ae_xi1_back.pha (XIS-1: the BI unit) and
  • ae_xi2_back.pha (XIS-2: an FI unit)
  These spectra have been extracted from the North Ecliptic Pole observation for a 6mm (4.34 arcmin) radius extraction region at the center of the detector. They are therefore suitable for simulations using the arf files above. Night Earth data are available separately, which may provide additional information ragarding the feasibility of extended source observations.

Please make sure to use the matching pair.

These matrices will also be made available via WebSpec shortly.