204 research outputs found
AXTAR: Mission Design Concept
The Advanced X-ray Timing Array (AXTAR) is a mission concept for X-ray timing
of compact objects that combines very large collecting area, broadband spectral
coverage, high time resolution, highly flexible scheduling, and an ability to
respond promptly to time-critical targets of opportunity. It is optimized for
submillisecond timing of bright Galactic X-ray sources in order to study
phenomena at the natural time scales of neutron star surfaces and black hole
event horizons, thus probing the physics of ultradense matter, strongly curved
spacetimes, and intense magnetic fields. AXTAR's main instrument, the Large
Area Timing Array (LATA) is a collimated instrument with 2-50 keV coverage and
over 3 square meters effective area. The LATA is made up of an array of
supermodules that house 2-mm thick silicon pixel detectors. AXTAR will provide
a significant improvement in effective area (a factor of 7 at 4 keV and a
factor of 36 at 30 keV) over the RXTE PCA. AXTAR will also carry a sensitive
Sky Monitor (SM) that acts as a trigger for pointed observations of X-ray
transients in addition to providing high duty cycle monitoring of the X-ray
sky. We review the science goals and technical concept for AXTAR and present
results from a preliminary mission design study.Comment: 19 pages, 10 figures, to be published in Space Telescopes and
Instrumentation 2010: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray, Proceedings of SPIE Volume
773
The Advanced Compton Telescope
The Advanced Compton Telescope (ACT), the next major step in gamma-ray astronomy, will probe the fires where chemical elements are formed by enabling high-resolution spectroscopy of nuclear emission from supernova explosions. During the past two years, our collaboration has been undertaking a NASA mission concept study for ACT. This study was designed to (1) transform the key scientific objectives into specific instrument requirements, (2) to identify the most promising technologies to meet those requirements, and (3) to design a viable mission concept for this instrument. We present the results of this study, including scientific goals and expected performance, mission design, and technology recommendations
Gamma-Ray Spectral States of Galactic Black Hole Candidates
OSSE has observed seven transient black hole candidates: GRO J0422+32,
GX339-4, GRS 1716-249, GRS 1009-45, 4U 1543-47, GRO J1655-40, and GRS 1915+105.
Two gamma-ray spectral states are evident and, based on a limited number of
contemporaneous X-ray and gamma-ray observations, these states appear to be
correlated with X-ray states. The former three objects show hard spectra below
100 keV (photon number indices Gamma < 2) that are exponentially cut off with
folding energy ~100 keV, a spectral form that is consistent with thermal
Comptonization. This "breaking gamma-ray state" is the high-energy extension of
the X-ray low, hard state. In this state, the majority of the luminosity is
above the X-ray band, carried by photons of energy ~100 keV. The latter four
objects exhibit a "power-law gamma-ray state" with a relatively soft spectral
index (Gamma ~ 2.5-3) and no evidence for a spectral break. For GRO J1655-40,
the lower limit on the break energy is 690 keV. GRS 1716-249 exhibits both
spectral states, with the power-law state having significantly lower gamma-ray
luminosity. The power-law gamma-ray state is associated with the presence of a
strong ultrasoft X-ray excess (kT ~ 1 keV), the signature of the X-ray high,
soft (or perhaps very high) state. The physical process responsible for the
unbroken power law is not well understood, although the spectra are consistent
with bulk-motion Comptonization in the convergent accretion flow.Comment: 27 pages, 3 figures, uses aaspp.sty and psfig.st
SPI/INTEGRAL observation of the Cygnus region
We present the analysis of the first observations of the Cygnus region by the
SPI spectrometer onboard the Integral Gamma Ray Observatory, encompassing
600 ks of data. Three sources namely Cyg X-1, Cyg X-3 and EXO 2030+375
were clearly detected. Our data illustrate the temporal variability of Cyg X-1
in the energy range from 20 keV to 300 keV. The spectral analysis shows a
remarkable stability of the Cyg X-1 spectra when averaged over one day
timescale. The other goal of these observations is SPI inflight calibration and
performance verification. The latest objective has been achieved as
demonstrated by the results presented in this paper.Comment: 6 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in A&A (special
INTEGRAL volume
STROBE-X: X-ray Timing & Spectroscopy on Dynamical Timescales from Milliseconds to Years
We describe a probe-class mission concept that provides an unprecedented view of the X-ray sky, performing timing and 0.2-30 keV spectroscopy over timescales from microseconds to years. The Spectroscopic Time-Resolving Observatory for Broadband Energy X-rays (STROBE-X) has three key science drivers: (1) measuring the spin distribution of accreting black holes, (2) understanding the equation of state of dense matter, and (3) exploring the properties of the precursors and electromagnetic counterparts of gravitational wave sources. To perform these science investigations, STROBE-X comprises three primary instruments. The first uses an array of lightweight optics (3-m focal length) that concentrate incident photons onto solid state detectors with CCD-level (85-130 eV) energy resolution, 100 ns time resolution, and low background rates to cover the 0.2-12 keV band. This technology is scaled up from NICER, with enhanced optics to take advantage of the longer focal length of STROBE-X. The second uses large-area collimated silicon drift detectors, developed for ESA's LOFT, to cover the 2-30 keV band. These two instruments each provide an order of magnitude improvement in effective area compared with its predecessor (NICER and RXTE, respectively). Finally, a sensitive sky monitor triggers pointed observations, provides high duty cycle, high time resolution, high spectral resolution monitoring of the X-ray sky with ~20 times the sensitivity of the RXTE ASM, and enables multi-wavelength and multi-messenger studies on a continuous, rather than scanning basis. The STROBE-X mission concept is a rapidly repointable observatory in low-Earth orbit, similar to RXTE or Swift, and will be presented to the 2020 Astrophysics Decadal Survey for consideration as a probe-class mission
A Cartel Analysis of the German Labor Institutions and its Implications for Labor Market Reforms
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