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New Hot Paper Comments

By Kazuhisa Mitsuda

ESI Special Topics, September 2007
Citing URL - http://www.esi-topics.com/nhp/2007/september-07-KazuhisaMitsuda.html

A closer look at the work of Kazuhisa Mitsuda.Kazuhisa Mitsuda answers a few questions about this month's new hot paper in the field of Space Science. The author has also sent along images of their work.

From •>>September 2007
Field: Space Science
Article Title: The X-ray observatory Suzaku
Authors: Mitsuda, K;Bautz, M;Inoue, H;Kelley, RL;Koyama, K;Kunieda, H;Makshima, K;Ogawara, Y;Petre, R;Takahashi, T;Tsunemi, H;White, NE;Anabuki, N;Angelini, L;Arnaud, K;Awaki, H;Bamba, A;Boyce, K;Brown, GV;Chan, KW;Cottam, J;Dotanli, T;Doty, J;Ebisawa, K;Ezoe, Y;Fabian, AC;Figueroa, E;Fujimoto, R;Fukazawa, Y;Furusho, T;Furuzawa, A;Gendreau, K;Griffiths, RE;Haba, Y;Hamaguchi, K;Harrus, I;Hasinger, G;Hatsukade, I;Hayashida, K;Henry, PJ;Hiraga, JS;Holt, SS;Hornschemeier, A;Hughes, JP;Hwang, U;Ishida, M;Ishisaki, Y;Isobe, N;Itoh, M;Iyomoto, N;Kahn, SM;Kamae, T;Katagiri, H;Kataoka, J;Katayama, H;Kawai, N;Kilbourne, C;Kinugasa, K;Kissel, S;Kitamoto, S;Kohama, M;Kohmura, T;Kokubun, M;Kotani, T;Kotoku, J;Kubota, A;Madejski, GM;Maeda, Y;Makino, F;Markowitz, A;Matsumoto, C;Matsumoto, H;Matsuoka, M;Matsushita, K;McCammon, D;Mihara, T;Misaki, K;Miyata, E;Mizuno, T;Mori, K;Mori, H;Morii, M;Moseley, H;Mukai, K;Murakami, H;Murakami, T;Mushotzky, R;Nagase, F;Namiki, M;Negoro, H;Nakazawa, K;Nousek, JA;Okajima, T;Ogasaka, Y;Ohashi, T;Oshima, T;Ota, N;Ozaki, M;Ozawa, H;Parmar, AN;Pence, WD;Porter, FS;Reeves, JN;Ricker, GR;Sakurai, I;Sanders, WT;Senda, A;Serlemitsos, P;Shibata, R;Soong, Y;Smith, R;Suzuki, M;Szymkowiak, AE;Takahashi, H;Tamagawa, T;Tamura, K;Tamura, T;Tanaka, Y;Tashiro, M;Tawara, Y;Terada, Y;Terashima, Y;Tomida, H;Torii, K;Tsuboi, Y;Tsujimoto, M;Tsuru, TG;Turner, MJL;Ueda, Y;Ueno, S;Ueno, M;Uno, S;Urata, Y;Watanabe, S;Yamamoto, N;Yamaoka, K;Yamasaki, NY;Yamashita, K;Yamauchi, M;Yamauchi, S;Yaqoob, T;Yonetoku, D;Yoshida, A
Journal: PUBL ASTRON SOC JPN
Volume: 59
Issue:
Page: :S1-S7
Year: Sp. Iss. SI 2007
* Japan Aerosp Explorat Agcy, Inst Space & Astronaut Sci, Dept High Energy Astrophys, 3-1-1 Yoshinodai, Kanagawa 2298510, Japan.
* Japan Aerosp Explorat Agcy, Inst Space & Astronaut Sci, Dept High Energy Astrophys, Kanagawa 2298510, Japan.
* NASA, Goddard Space Flight Ctr, Explorat Universe Div, Greenbelt, MD 20771 USA.
* Aoyama Gakuin Univ, Dept Math & Phys, Kanagawa 2298558, Japan.
* Univ Cambridge, Inst Astron, Cambridge CB3 0HA, England.
* Carnegie Mellon Univ, Dept Phys, Pittsburgh, PA 15213 USA.
* Chuo Univ, Dept Phys, Tokyo 1128551, Japan.
* Ehime Univ, Dept Phys, Matsuyama, Ehime 7908577, Japan.
* ESTEC, Dept Space Sci, NL-2200 AG Noordwijk, Netherlands.
* Gunma Astron Observ, Gunma 3770702, Japan.
* Univ Hawaii, Astron Inst, Honolulu, HI 96822 USA.
* Hiroshima Univ, Dept Phys Sci, Higashihiroshima 7398526, Japan.
* Japan Aerosp Explorat Agcy, Inst Space & Astronaut Sci, ISS Sci Project Off, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 3058505, Japan.
* Iwate Med Univ, Fac Humanities & Social Sci, Morioka, Iwate 02085509, Japan.
* Kanazawa Univ, Dept Phys, Kanazawa, Ishikawa 9201192, Japan.
* Kobe Univ, Fac Human Dev, Kobe, Hyogo 6578501, Japan.
* Kougakuin Univ, Dept Phys, Tokyo 1920015, Japan.
* Kyoto Univ, Dept Astron, Sakyo Ku, Kyoto 6068502, Japan.
* Kyoto Univ, Dept Phys, Sakyo Ku, Kyoto 6068502, Japan.
* Univ Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, Leics, England.
* MIT, Kavli Inst Astrophys & Psace Res, Cambridge, MA 02139 USA.
* Max Planck Inst Extraterrestr, Garching, Germany.
* Miyazaki Univ, Dept Appl Phys, Miyazaki 8892192, Japan.
* Nagoya Univ, EcoTopia Sci Inst, Nagoya, Aichi 4648603, Japan.
* Nagoya Univ, Dept Astrophys, Nagoya, Aichi 4648602, Japan.
* NASA Head Quarter, Washington, DC USA.
* Nihon Fukushi Univ, Fac Social & Informat Sci, Aichi 4750012, Japan.
* Nihon Univ, Dept Phys, Tokyo 1018308, Japan.
* Noqsi Aerosp Ltd, Pine, CO 80470 USA.
* FW Olin Coll Engn, Needham, MA 02492 USA.
* Osaka Univ, Dept Earth & Space Sci, Osaka 5600043, Japan.
* Penn State Univ, University Pk, PA 16802 USA.
* RIKEN, Cosm Radiat Lab, Wako, Saitama 3510198, Japan.
* Rikkyo Univ, Dept Phys, Tokyo 1718501, Japan.
* Rutgers State Univ, Dept Phys, Piscataway, NJ 08854 USA.
* Rutgers State Univ, Dept Phys & Astron, Piscataway, NJ 08854 USA.
* Stanford Linear Accelerator Ctr, Menlo Pk, CA 94025 USA.
* Univ Tokyo, Dept Phys, Tokyo 1130033, Japan.
* Tokyo Inst Technol, Dept Phys, Meguro Ku, Tokyo 1528551, Japan.
* Tokyo Metropolitan Univ, Dept Phys, Tokyo 1920397, Japan.
* Tokyo Metropolitan Univ, Dept Phys, Tokyo 1920397, Japan.
* Tokyo Univ Sci, Dept Phys, Tokyo 1628601, Japan.
* Univ Wisconsin, Dept Phys, Madison, WI 53706 USA.
* Yale Univ, Dept Phys, New Haven, CT 06520 USA.

ST:  Why do you think your paper is highly cited?

 


“This paper describes the 'Suzaku' X-ray observatory, which provides new capabilities for many astronomers and scientific investigations.”

This paper describes the Suzaku X-ray observatory, which provides new capabilities for many astronomers and scientific investigations. Suzaku is the fifth in the series of Japanese X-ray astronomy satellites. Two years have passed since the launch. Now, new scientific results from the observatory have started to appear in scientific journals.

ST:  Does it describe a new discovery, methodology, or synthesis of knowledge?

Suzaku is very much a unique and powerful X-ray observatory. It can cover an enormous energy range simultaneously. It's like having eyes that go from the UV to the far IR. This allows us to study thermal and non-thermal phenomena within individual sources like clusters of galaxies, accreting black holes, supernova remnants, interstellar medium, and so on. So, in a sense, this paper describes a new methodology.

ST:  Would you summarize the significance of your paper in layman’s terms?

About 99.9% of atoms in the universe are hydrogen and helium. Although the heavier elements, such as carbon, oxygen, and iron, occupy only 0.1% of the total, they are essentially important for life on earth. These heavy elements produce emission and absorption lines at X-ray wavelengths.

Those spectral features observed in the energy spectra of celestial bodies are also very important for understanding the universe. For example, the gravitational potential of a black hole can be traced by the gravitational red shift of iron K emission lines. The unique feature of Suzaku is the high-sensitivity, high-energy-resolution, wide-band X-ray spectroscopy, in particular, for spatially extended X-ray sources.

ST:  How did you become involved in this research, and were there any particular problems encountered along the way?

The science payloads onboard Suzaku were developed by international collaborations of scientists in Japan and in the US. I have been involved in the project since its beginning in 1994.

About a month after the launch, the functionality of one instrument, the high-resolution X-ray spectrometer, was lost. Two remaining instruments, an X-ray telescope system consisting of X-ray focusing mirrors and X-ray CCD cameras, and a non-imaging hard X-ray detector, are working fine and producing nice scientific results.

ST:  Where do you see your research leading in the future?

About 90% of directly observable matter (=Baryonic matter, mostly atoms) of the present universe is believed to have temperatures exceeding a million degrees Kelvin. Such hot mediums can be observed directly only in X-rays. Their spatial distribution, temperatures, macroscopic motions, etc., reflect the history of the universe. However they are as yet not well observed nor well understood. This is one of the important areas which Suzaku is challenging.

The high resolution X-ray spectrometer onboard Suzaku was proved to have more than 10 times better energy resolution than that of the X-ray CCD cameras. I hope to realize observations with even more powerful instruments in the very near future.

ST:  Are there any social or political implications for your research?

I think that the general public is quite interested in astronomy and, in particular, in black holes and cosmology. Suzaku press releases have been received with considerable interest.End

Dr. Kazuhisa Mitsuda
Professor
Department of High Energy Astrophysics
Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS)
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan

A Closer Look...
A closer look... Below is an image sent in by Kazuhisa Mitsuda which correspond with the featured paper, or current research.

X-ray observatory "Suzaku" in the launch configuration (Courtesy of JAXA).
The solar paddles and the X-ray telescope's optical bench were deployed in orbit.  
  

ESI Special Topics, September 2007
Citing URL - http://www.esi-topics.com/nhp/2007/september-07-KazuhisaMitsuda.html

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