2006/08/27 by Y. K. Jin, S. N. Zhang, J. F. Wu · 2 citations
Engineering · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Absorption spectroscopy #Advanced X-ray and CT Imaging #Electron and X-Ray Spectroscopy Techniques #Monte Carlo method #Photoelectric effect #Photometry (optics) #Poisson distribution #Spectral line #X-ray Spectroscopy and Fluorescence Analysis #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/508677
published as Astrophys.J.653:1566-1570,2006 · 12 pages, 4 figures, 1 table. Originally submitted on 29-03-2006, and accepted on 24-08-2006 for publication in The Astrophysical Journal
arxiv created 2006/08/27 · openalex publication_date 2006/12/13 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Hardness ratios are commonly used in X-ray photometry to roughly indicate spectral properties. They are usually defined as the ratio of counts in two different wave bands. This definition, however, is problematic when the counts are very limited. Here we instead define the hardness ratio using the λ-parameter of Poisson processes and develop an estimation method via Bayesian statistics. Our Monte Carlo simulations show the validity of our method. Based on this new definition we can estimate the hydrogen column density for the photoelectric absorption of X-ray spectra in the case of low counting statistics.