5.5. Rgsvprof

In SPEX, the lpro component (see Lpro: spatial broadening model) can be used to fold the spectrum with a user defined broadening profile. This is particularly useful for the analysis of extended sources with grating spectrometers, like RGS aboard XMM-Newton. The rgsvprof program creates an input file (usually called vprof.dat) for the lpro component from a MOS1 detector image.

The program will ask for the following input:

  • MOS1 detector image. In order to obtain a profile along the dispersion direction of RGS within the same field of view, the program asks for a MOS1 image of the source in detector coordinates (DETX,DETY) created by, for example, the XMM-Newton SAS task evselect. Rgsvprof does not require a particular resolution for the image, but a resolution of about 1/3 of the XMM-Newton PSF, i.e. 4^{\prime\prime}, is recommended. It is recommended to extract an image using events with energies falling in the RGS band: \sim0.3-2.0 keV.

  • Cross-dispersion selection region. If the RGS spectrum is extracted from a certain area in the cross-dispersion direction, then provide the lower and upper boundary here in arcminutes with respect to the centre of the field of view. The full RGS strip corresponds to a range between -2.5 and 2.5 arcminutes.

  • Source width in the dispersion direction. This parameter determines the boundaries of the resulting profile in wavelength space. Rgsvprof asks for the width of the source in arcmin centred on the peak of the emission. Choose this width to be somewhat larger than the actual width of the source to be sure that the brightest parts are included in the profile. A width of >10 arcmin is typically enough, but a larger width will increase the size of the vprof.dat file and increase processing times.

  • Output file name. The name of the output file (usually vprof.dat). Note that rgsvprof does not overwrite files that already exist.

Rgsvprof creates an ASCII file with two columns. The left column consists of the grid of wavelengths that the profile is based upon and the right column gives the normalised cumulative profile over this range starting with 0 and ending at 1. The profile will be centred on the peak of the emission.

Note: The cross-dispersion axis in RGS is parallel to the DETX coordinate axis in MOS1 and has the same direction. This is particularly helpful when one extracts spatial regions in the cross-dispersion direction of RGS.

Warning

This program works best for bright extended sources, where the background contribution is negligible. For sources with a low surface brightness, in principle a background subtracted image should be used. This program, however, cannot deal with negative values in the MOS1 image.

Warning

This program does not take into account vignetting and chip gaps. For offset observations or very extended sources, this may start to play a role.

5.5.1. Theory

The wavelength scale corresponding to the angular width of the source in RGS can be calculated using the dispersion equation defined in e.g. Peterson et al. (2004):

m\lambda = d ( \mathrm{cos} \beta - \mathrm{cos} \alpha ),

where m is the spectral order, \lambda the wavelength, d the grating spacing, \alpha the incidence angle of a photon, and \beta the diffracted angle. The wavelength shift \Delta\lambda due to an offset angle \Delta\theta relative to the telescope boresight can be derived by differentiating the equation above with respect to \theta = \frac{F}{L} (\alpha - \alpha_{0}), where F is the distance between the gratings (RGA) and the camera (RFC), L the focal length of the telescope, and \alpha_{0} the incidence angle corresponding to the telescope boresight. The resulting relation for \Delta\lambda is:

\Delta\lambda = \frac{dL}{mF} \mathrm{sin}(\alpha_{0}) \Delta\theta.

We then use the following numbers from den Herder et al. (2001): d is 1/645.6 mm, L is 7.5 m, F is 6.7 m, and \alpha_{0} is 1.5762^{\circ} to calculate the typical conversion factor from \Delta\theta in arcmin:

\Delta\lambda = 0.1387~\mathrm{\AA} \ \Delta\theta

Note that the value in Peterson et al. (2004) is not correct, because the factor \frac{L}{F} was not applied. The value in the above equation is used in rgsvprof to convert the spatial profile from arcminute scales to wavelength scales.