The XMM-Newton EPIC Background and the production of Background Blank Sky Event Files

Abstract

We describe in detail the nature of XMM-Newton EPIC background and its various complex components, summarising the new findings of the XMM-Newton EPIC background working group, and provide XMM-Newton background blank sky event files for use in the data analysis of diffuse and extended sources. Blank sky event file data sets are produced from the stacking of data, taken from 189 observations resulting from the Second XMM-Newton Serendipitous Source Catalogue (2XMMp) reprocessing. The data underwent several filtering steps, using a revised and improved method over previous work, which we describe in detail. We investigate several properties of the final blank sky data sets. The user is directed to the location of the final data sets. There is a final data set for each EPIC instrument-filter-mode combination.

Paper accepted by A&A 22 December 2006. 14 pages, 8 figures. Paper can also be found at http://www.star.le.ac.uk/~jac48/publications/

References in corpus (7)

• The European Photon Imaging Camera on XMM-Newton: The MOS Cameras
• The 2-8 keV cosmic X-ray background spectrum as observed with XMM-Newton
• X-ray background measurements with XMM-Newton EPIC
• XMM-Newton Observation of Solar Wind Charge Exchange Emission
• The XMM-Newton EPIC Background: Production of Background Maps and Event Files
• XMM-Newton EPIC background modeling for extended sources
• XMM-Newton Data Processing for Faint Diffuse Emission: Proton Flares, Exposure Maps and Report on EPIC MOS1 Bright CCDs Contamination

Cited by in corpus (100)

• An unidentified line in X-ray spectra of the Andromeda galaxy and Perseus galaxy cluster
• Reproducibility of Non-X-ray Background for the X-ray Imaging Spectrometer aboard Suzaku
• The first XMM-Newton slew survey catalogue: XMMSL1
• The XXL Survey: I. Scientific motivations - XMM-Newton observing plan - Follow-up observations and simulation programme
• Ultra-fast outflows in radio-loud active galactic nuclei
• Chemical enrichment in the cluster of galaxies Hydra A
• Fading hard X-ray emission from the Galactic Centre molecular cloud Sgr B2
• CLASH-X: A Comparison of Lensing and X-ray Techniques for Measuring the Mass Profiles of Galaxy Clusters
• Hot X-ray coronae around massive spiral galaxies: a unique probe of structure formation models
• XMM-Newton Detects a Hot Gaseous Halo in the Fastest Rotating Spiral Galaxy UGC 12591
• Cross-calibration of the X-ray Instruments onboard the Chandra, INTEGRAL, RXTE, Suzaku, Swift, and XMM-Newton Observatories using G21.5-0.9
• A high charge state Coronal Mass Ejection seen through solar wind charge exchange emission as detected by XMM-Newton
• A new SNR with TeV shell-type morphology: HESS J1731-347
• An Iron K Component to the Ultrafast Outflow in NGC 1313 X-1
• Cavities and shocks in the galaxy group HCG 62 as revealed by Chandra, XMM and GMRT data
• Next decade of sterile neutrino studies
• A joint spectro-imaging analysis of the XMM-Newton and HESS observations of the supernova remnant RX J1713.7-3946
• The gas density around SN 1006
• The X-ray lightcurve of Sgr A* over the past 150 years inferred from Fe-Ka line reverberation in Galactic Centre molecular clouds
• The large-scale shock in the cluster of galaxies Hydra A
• Thermal emission, shock modification, and X-ray emitting ejecta in SN 1006
• Searching for Dark Matter with X-ray Observations of Local Dwarf Galaxies
• Blasts from the Past: Supernova Shock Breakouts among X-Ray Transients in the XMM-Newton Archive
• CHANG-ES XIII: Transport processes and the magnetic fields of NGC 4666 - indication of a reversing disk magnetic field
• Ionised Emission and Absorption in a Large Sample of Ultraluminous X-ray Sources
• Fermi-LAT Observations and A Broadband Study of Supernova Remnant CTB 109
• Deep X-ray Observations of the Young High-Magnetic-Field Radio Pulsar J1119-6127 and Supernova Remnant G292.2-0.5
• Discovery of the source HESS J1356-645 associated with the young and energetic PSR J1357-6429
• Suzaku broad-band spectroscopy of RX J1347.5-1145: constraints on the extremely hot gas and non-thermal emission
• X-ray emission from the Wolf-Rayet bubble S308
• The Enrichment of the Intracluster Medium
• Chandra and XMM Observations of the Composite Supernova Remnant G327.1-1.1
• Searching for dark matter in X-rays: how to check the dark matter origin of a spectral feature
• Galaxy Clusters in the Swift/BAT era II: 10 more Clusters detected above 15 keV
• CHANG-ES XIX: Galaxy NGC 4013 -- a diffusion-dominated radio halo with plane-parallel disk and vertical halo magnetic fields
• CHANG-ES XX. High Resolution Radio Continuum Images of Edge-on Galaxies and their AGNs -- Data Release 3
• Testing the galaxy cluster mass-observable relations at z = 1 with XMM-Newton and Chandra observations of XLSSJ022403.9-041328
• The Broadband Spectral Variability of Holmberg IX X-1
• A new nearby pulsar wind nebula overlapping the RX J0852.0-4622 supernova remnant
• Deep Learning-Based Super-Resolution and De-Noising for XMM-Newton Images
• Ripping Apart at the Seams: The Network of Stripped Gas Surrounding M86
• Discovery of the VHE gamma-ray source HESS J1832-093 in the vicinity of SNR G22.7-0.2
• XMM-Newton observations of a superbubble in N 158 in the LMC
• A high velocity component to the complex absorption in IRAS 13349+2438
• XMM-Newton view of the N 206 superbubble in the Large Magellanic Cloud
• Hot gas in the Wolf-Rayet nebula NGC3199
• A Systematic Analysis of the XMM-Newton Background: II. Properties of the in-Field-Of-View Excess Component
• Monte Carlo simulations of soft proton flares: testing the physics with XMM-Newton
• Hot gas in Mach cones around Virgo Cluster spiral galaxies
• A systematic analysis of the XMM-Newton background: IV. Origin of the unfocused and focused components
• Constraining the Physical State of the Hot Gas Halos in NGC 4649 and NGC 5846
• Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA): Witnessing the assembly of the cluster Abell 1882
• X-ray Observations of Complex Temperature Structure in the Cool-core cluster Abell 85
• Geant4 simulations of soft proton scattering in X-ray optics. A tentative validation using laboratory measurements
• Intracluster medium of the merging cluster Abell 3395
• The XMM Deep survey in the CDFS V. Iron K lines from active galactic nuclei in the distant Universe
• Hot gaseous atmospheres of rotating galaxies observed with XMM-Newton
• A multi-wavelength study of the unidentified TeV gamma-ray source HESS J1626-490
• A Systematic Analysis of the XMM-Newton Background: I. Dataset and Extraction Procedures
• XMM-Newton observation of the supernova remnant Kes 78 (G32.8-0.1): Evidence for shock-cloud interaction
• Analysis of the unconcentrated background of the EPIC-pn camera on board XMM-Newton
• An XMM-Newton Study of the Bright, Nearby Supernova Remnant G296.1-0.5
• Prediction and understanding of soft proton contamination in XMM-Newton: a machine learning approach
• On the origin of the jet-like radio/X-ray morphology of G290.1-0.8
• A Chandra Study of Radial Temperature Profiles of the Intra-Cluster Medium in 50 Galaxy Clusters
• HESS J1818-154, a new composite supernova remnant discovered in TeV gamma rays and X-rays
• Tidal interaction vs. ram pressure stripping effects as seen in X-rays. Hot gas in group and cluster galaxies
• Diffuse X-ray emission from the superbubbles N 70 and N 185 in the Large Magellanic Cloud
• Hot gas in groups: NGC 5328 and the intriguing case of NGC 4756 with XMM-Newton
• Constraints on the average magnetic field strength of relic radio sources 0917+75 and 1401-33 from XMM-Newton observations
• NGC 3627: a galaxy-dwarf collision?
• Extinction and Distance to Anomalous X-ray Pulsars from X-ray Scattering Halos
• CHANG-ES XI: Circular Polarization in the Cores of Nearby Galaxies
• XMM-Newton and Chandra observations of G272.2-3.2. Evidence of stellar ejecta in the central region
• A cluster pair : A3532 and A3530
• A New Multi-Wavelength Census of Blazars
• Evidence for a merger-revived radio phoenix in MaxBCG J217.95869+13.53470
• Hot gas and magnetic arms of NGC 6946: indications for reconnection heating?
• A Chandra Study of the Image Power Spectra of 41 Cool Core and Non-Cool Core Galaxy Clusters
• Multiwavelength analysis of the X-ray spur and southeast of the Large Magellanic Cloud
• Spitzer observations of Abell 1763 - II: Constraining the nature of activity in the cluster-feeding filament with VLA and XMM-Newton data
• Maximum-likelihood detection of sources among Poissonian noise
• The Merger Dynamics of the Galaxy Cluster Abell 1775: New Insights from Chandra and XMM-Newton for a Cluster Simultaneously Hosting a WAT and a NAT Radio Sources
• Luminosity function and event rate density of XMM-Newton-selected supernova shock-breakout candidates
• Variable Hard X-ray Emission from the Candidate Accreting Black Hole in Dwarf Galaxy Henize 2-10
• Detection of a hot intergalactic medium in the spiral-only compact group SCG0018-4854
• Unveiling the origin of XMM-Newton soft proton flares: I. Design and validation of a response matrix for proton spectral analysis
• Hot gas heating via magnetic arms in spiral galaxies. The case of M 83
• X-ray Observations of Optically Selected Giant Elliptical-Dominated Galaxy Groups
• A Study of the Merger History of the Galaxy Group HCG 62 Based on X-Ray Observations and SPH Simulations
• X-ray emission from RX J1720.1+2638 and Abell 267: a comparison between a fossil and a non-fossil system
• Hot magnetic halo of NGC628 (M74)
• X-Ray Spectral Variability of Thirteen TeV High Energy Peaked Blazars with XMM-Newton
• On joint analysing XMM-NuSTAR spectra of active galactic nuclei
• Extracting the X-ray reverberation response functions from the AGN light curves using an autoencoder
• Magnetic fields and hot gas in M101
• Chandra and XMM-Newton observations of the merging cluster of galaxies PLCK G036.7+14.9
• X-Ray Spectral Variability of the TeV HBL Blazar PG 1553+113 with XMM-Newton
• An XMM-Newton Early-type Galaxy Atlas
• The origin of the unfocused XMM-Newton background, its variability and lessons learned for ATHENA