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In-orbit background simulation of a type-B CATCH satellite

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Abstract

The Chasing All Transients Constellation Hunters (CATCH) space mission plans to launch three types of micro-satellites (A, B, and C). The type-B CATCH satellites are dedicated to locating transients and detecting their time-dependent energy spectra. A type-B satellite is equipped with lightweight Wolter-I X-ray optics and an array of position-sensitive multi-pixel Silicon Drift Detectors. To optimize the scientific payloads for operating properly in orbit and performing the observations with high sensitivities, this work performs an in-orbit background simulation of a type-B CATCH satellite using the Geant4 toolkit. It shows that the persistent background is dominated by the cosmic X-ray diffuse background and the cosmic-ray protons. The dynamic background is also estimated considering trapped charged particles in the radiation belts and low-energy charged particles near the geomagnetic equator, which is dominated by the incident electrons outside the aperture. The simulated persistent background within the focal spot is used to estimate the observation sensitivity, i.e. 4.22 \(\times \) 10\(^{-13}\) erg cm\(^{-2}\) s\(^{-1}\) with an exposure of 10\(^{4}\) s and a Crab-like source spectrum, which can be utilized further to optimize the shielding design. The simulated in-orbit background also suggests that the magnetic diverter just underneath the optics may be unnecessary in this kind of micro-satellites, because the dynamic background induced by charged particles outside the aperture is around 3 orders of magnitude larger than that inside the aperture.

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Notes

  1. https://www.spenvis.oma.be/

  2. https://www.cxro.lbl.gov/

  3. http://physics.nist.gov/PhysRefData/FFast/html/form.html

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Acknowledgements

We would like to appreciate the CATCH collaboration. We acknowledge the support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), Grant Nos. 12122306 and 12003037, the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences XDA15016400, the CAS Pioneer Hundred Talent Program Y8291130K2. We also acknowledge the Scientific and technological innovation project of IHEP E15456U2.

Funding

We acknowledge funding support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) under grant Nos. 12122306 and 12003037, the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences XDA15016400, the CAS Pioneer Hundred Talent Program Y8291130K2, and the Scientific and technological innovation project of IHEP E15456U2.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory for Particle Astrophysics, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Jingyu Xiao, Liqiang Qi, Shuang-Nan Zhang, Lian Tao, Zhengwei Li, Juan Zhang, Xiangyang Wen, Qian-Qing Yin, Yanji Yang, Sheng Yang, Xiaojing Liu, Yiming Huang, Shujie Zhao, Xuan Zhang, Panping Li, Kang Zhao, Ruican Ma, Qingchang Zhao, Jinhui Rao & Yajun Li

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Jingyu Xiao, Shuang-Nan Zhang, Yiming Huang, Shujie Zhao, Panping Li, Kang Zhao, Ruican Ma & Qingchang Zhao

  3. Institut für Astronomie und Astrophysik, Kepler Center for Astro and Particle Physics, Eberhard Karls Universität, Sand 1, Tübingen, 72076, Germany

    Qingcui Bu

  4. Innovation Academy for Microsatellites of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200135, China

    Wen Chen, Yong Yang, Huaqiu Liu & Yibo Xu

  5. Nanchang University, Nanchang, 330031, China

    Xuan Zhang & Jinhui Rao

  6. Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing, 100044, China

    Ruijing Tang

  7. Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450001, China

    Yajun Li

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  1. Jingyu Xiao
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Contributions

Jingyu Xiao and Liqiang Qi wrote the main manuscript. Shuang-Nan Zhang, Lian Tao, and Zhengwei Li assisted with the critical revision of the article. Juan Zhang verified the analytical methods. All authors reviewed the manuscript and contributed to the development of the in-orbit background simulation of CATCH.

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Correspondence to Liqiang Qi.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Liqiang Qi and Shuang-Nan Zhang contributed equally to this work.

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Xiao, J., Qi, L., Zhang, SN. et al. In-orbit background simulation of a type-B CATCH satellite. Exp Astron 56, 477–498 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10686-023-09902-y

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