The Soft X-ray Imager (SXI) on-board the THESEUS mission

We summarize in this contribution the capabilities, design status, and the en- abling technologies of the Soft X-ray Imager (SXI) planned to be on-board the THESEUS mission. We describe its central role in making THESEUS a powerful machine to probe the physical conditions of the early Universe (close to the reionization era) and to explore the time-domain Universe

The Infra-Red Telescope on board the THESEUS mission

The Infra-Red Telescope (IRT) on board the Transient High Energy Sky and Early Universe Surveyor (THESEUS) ESA M5 candidate mission will play a key role in identifying and characterizing moderate to high redshift Gamma-Ray Bursts afterglows. The IRT is the enabling instrument on board THESEUS for measuring autonomously the redshift of the several hundreds of GRBs detected per year by the Soft X-ray Imager (SXI) and the X- and Gamma-Ray Imaging Spectrometer (XGIS), and thus allowing the big ground based telescopes to be triggered on a redshift pre-selected sample, and finally fulfilling the cosmological goals of the mission. The IRT will be composed by a primary mirror of 0.7 m of diameter coupled to a single camera in a Cassegrain design. It will work in the 0.7-1.8 {\mu}m wavelength range, and will provide a 10x10 arc min imaging field of view with sub-arc second localization capabilities, and, at the same time, a 5x5 arc min field of view with moderate (R up to ~500) spectroscopic capabilities. Its sensitivity, mainly limited by the satellite jitter, is adapted to detect all the GRBs, localized by the SXI/XGIS, and to acquire spectra for the majority of them

Accessing the population of high-redshift Gamma Ray Bursts

Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) are a powerful probe of the high-redshift Universe. We present a tool to estimate the detection rate of high-z GRBs by a generic detector with defined energy band and sensitivity. We base this on a population model that reproduces the observed properties of GRBs detected by Swift, Fermi and CGRO in the hard X-ray and γ-ray bands. We provide the expected cumulative distributions of the flux and fluence of simulated GRBs in different energy bands. We show that scintillator detectors, operating at relatively high energies (e.g. tens of keV to the MeV), can detect only the most luminous GRBs at high redshifts due to the link between the peak spectral energy and the luminosity (Epeak–Liso) of GRBs. We show that the best strategy for catching the largest number of high-z bursts is to go softer (e.g. in the soft X-ray band) but with a very high sensitivity. For instance, an imaging soft X-ray detector operating in the 0.2–5 keV energy band reaching a sensitivity, corresponding to a fluence, of ∼10−8 erg cm−2 is expected to detect ≈40 GRBs yr−1 sr−1 at z ≥ 5 (≈3 GRBs yr−1 sr−1 at z ≥ 10). Once high-z GRBs are detected the principal issue is to secure their redshift. To this aim we estimate their NIR afterglow flux at relatively early times and evaluate the effectiveness of following them up and construct usable samples of events with any forthcoming GRB mission dedicated to explore the high-z Universe

Optical and near-infrared observations of the GRB020405 afterglow

We report on photometric, spectroscopic and polarimetric monitoring of the optical and near-infrared (NIR) afterglow of GRB020405. Ground-based optical observations, performed with 8 different telescopes, started about 1 day after the high-energy prompt event and spanned a period of ~10 days; the addition of archival HST data extended the coverage up to ~150 days after the GRB. We report the first detection of the afterglow in NIR bands. The detection of Balmer and oxygen emission lines in the optical spectrum of the host galaxy indicates that the GRB is located at redshift z =0.691. Fe II and Mg II absorption systems are detected at z= 0.691 and at z = 0.472 in the afterglow optical spectrum. The latter system is likely caused by absorbing clouds in the galaxy complex located ~2 '' southwest of the GRB020405 host. Hence, for the first time, the galaxy responsible for an intervening absorption line system in the spectrum of a GRB afterglow is spectroscopically identified. Optical and NIR photometry of the afterglow indicates that, between 1 and 10 days after the GRB, the decay in all bands is consistent with a single power law of index $\alpha = 1.54\pm 0.06$. The late-epoch VLT J-band and HST optical points lie above the extrapolation of this power law, so that a plateau (or "bump") is apparent in the VRIJ light curves at 10-20 days after the GRB. The light curves at epochs later than day ~20 after the GRB are consistent with a power-law decay with index $\alpha' = 1.85\pm 0.15$. While other authors have proposed to reproduce the bump with the template of the supernova (SN) 1998bw, considered the prototypical "hypernova", we suggest that it can also be modeled with a SN having the same temporal profile as the other proposed hypernova SN2002ap, but 1.3 mag brighter at peak, and located at the GRB redshift. Alternatively, a shock re-energization may be responsible for the rebrightening. A single polarimetric R-band measurement shows that the afterglow is polarized, with $P = 1.5\pm 0.4$% and polarization angle $\theta = 172^{\circ}\pm 8^{\circ}$. Broad-band optical-NIR spectral flux distributions show, in the first days after the GRB, a change of slope across the J band which we interpret as due to the presence of the electron cooling frequency $\nu_{\rm c}$. The analysis of the multiwavelength spectrum within the standard fireball model suggests that a population of relativistic electrons with index $p \sim 2.7$ produces the optical-NIR emission via synchrotron radiation in an adiabatically expanding blastwave, with negligible host galaxy extinction, and the X-rays via Inverse Compton scattering off lower-frequency afterglow photons

THESEUS: a key space mission for Multi-Messenger Astrophysics

The recent discovery of the electromagnetic counterpart of the gravitational wave source GW170817, has demonstrated the huge informative power of multi-messenger observations. During the next decade the nascent field of multi-messenger astronomy will mature significantly. In 2030s, third generation gravitational wave detectors will be roughly ten times more sensitive than the current ones. At the same time, neutrino detectors currently upgrading to multi km^3 telescopes, will include a 10 km^3 facility in the Southern hemisphere that is expected to be operational during the thirties. In this review, we describe the most promising high frequency gravitational wave and neutrino sources that will be detected in the next two decades. In this context, we show the important role of the Transient High Energy Sky and Early Universe Surveyor (THESEUS), a mission concept proposed to ESA by a large international collaboration in response to the call for the Cosmic Vision Programme M5 missions. THESEUS aims at providing a substantial advancement in early Universe science as well as playing a fundamental role in multi-messenger and time-domain astorphysics. It will operate in strong sinergy with future gravitational wave and neutrino detectors as well as major ground- and space-based telescopes. This review is an extension of the THESEUS white paper (Amati et al., 2017), in light of the discovery of GW170817/GRB170817A that was announced on October 16th, 2017

The THESEUS space mission concept: science case, design and expected performances

THESEUS is a space mission concept aimed at exploiting Gamma-Ray Bursts for investigating the early Universe and at providing a substantial advancement of multi-messenger and time-domain astrophysics. These goals will be achieved through a unique combination of instruments allowing GRB and X-ray transient detection over a broad field of view (more than 1sr) with 0.5–1 arcmin localization, an energy band extending from several MeV down to 0.3 keV and high sensitivity to transient sources in the soft X-ray domain, as well as on-board prompt (few minutes) follow-up with a 0.7 m class IR telescope with both imaging and spectroscopic capabilities. THESEUS will be perfectly suited for addressing the main open issues in cosmology such as, e.g., star formation rate and metallicity evolution of the inter-stellar and intra-galactic medium up to redshift ∼10, signatures of Pop III stars, sources and physics of re-ionization, and the faint end of the galaxy luminosity function. In addition, it will provide unprecedented capability to monitor the X-ray variable sky, thus detecting, localizing, and identifying the electromagnetic counterparts to sources of gravitational radiation, which may be routinely detected in the late ’20s/early ’30s by next generation facilities like aLIGO/ aVirgo, eLISA, KAGRA, and Einstein Telescope. THESEUS will also provide powerful synergies with the next generation of multi-wavelength observatories (e.g., LSST, ELT, SKA, CTA, ATHENA)