A combination of microchannel plate optics and a 32x32 pixel microcalorimeter would allow the successor to the Rossi XTE to explore new domains of spectroscopic timing in a MIDEX class mission. With ~10 times the area and ~100 times the spectral resolution of the PCA (and 10 times that of silicon detectors) such a mission would be able to explore redshifts and plasma conditions in weak line features over a wide range of celestial sources. This would allow several tests of basic physics, both QED/QCD and GR.
@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0403554,
title = {Extreme Physics via X-rays from Black Holes and `Neutron' Stars},
author = {Martin Elvis},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0403554},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
3 pages, 0 figures; for procedings of the `2nd International Conference on Particle and Fundamental Physics in Space'