Related papers: Beyond Chandra - the X-ray Surveyor
Astronomy has been an inherently visual area of science for millenia, yet a majority of its significant discoveries take place in wavelengths beyond human vision. There are many people, including those with low or no vision, who cannot…
Highlights of interesting astrophysical discoveries are reviewed in the context of high resolution X-ray spectroscopy made possible with Chandra and XMM-Newton, and its relevance to atomic physics calculations and measurements is discussed.…
The Constellation X-ray Mission is a high throughput X-ray facility emphasizing observations at high spectral resolution (E/\Delta E \sim 300-3000), and broad energy bandpass (0.25-40 keV). Constellation-X will provide a factor of nearly…
X-rays provide one of the few bands through which we can study the epoch of reionization, when the first galaxies, black holes and stars were born. To reach the sensitivity required to image these first discrete objects in the universe…
I summarize the excitement of my role primarily in the early years of X-ray Astronomy. As a "second-generation" X-ray astronomer, I was privileged to participate in the enormous advance of the field, both technically and astrophysically,…
One of the challenges of X-ray astronomy is how to both collect large numbers of photons yet attain high angular resolution. Because X-ray telescopes utilize grazing optics, to collect more photons requires a larger acceptance angle which…
Observational studies of cluster evolution over moderate redshift ranges (to z ~ 1) are a powerful tool for constraining cosmological parameters, yet a comprehensive knowledge of the properties of these clusters has been hitherto…
The launch of the Chandra (NASA) and XMM-Newton (ESA) X-ray observatories in 1999 has revolutionized our view of the Universe, by providing astrophysical information about many classes of sources with unprecedent detail. The high throughput…
With its exquisite spatial resolution of better than 0.5 arcsecond, the Chandra observatory is uniquely capable of resolving and studying the spatial structure of extragalactic X-ray jets on scales of a few to a few hundred kilo-parsec. Our…
Chandra is detecting a significant population of normal and starburst galaxies in extremely deep X-ray exposures. For example, approximately 15% of the sources arising in the 2 Ms Chandra Deep Field-North survey are fairly normal galaxies,…
The eROSITA X-ray telescope, launched in 2019, is predicted to observe roughly 100,000 galaxy clusters. Follow-up observations of these clusters from Chandra, for example, will be needed to resolve outstanding questions about galaxy cluster…
Galaxy clusters are massive dark matter-dominated systems filled with X-ray emitting, optically thin plasma. Their large size and relative simplicity (at least as astrophysical objects go) make them a unique laboratory to measure some of…
This paper discusses the broad science case for obtaining milliarcsecond to microarcsecond astronomical imaging resolution in the soft to medium-energy X-ray band (~0.5 to ~8 keV). Astronomy across much of the electromagnetic spectrum has…
The advent of moderately high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy with Chandra and XMM promised to usher in a new age in the study of neutron stars: we thought we would study neutron stars like stars, with resolved absorption spectra revealing…
A decade of X-ray stellar observations with Chandra and XMM-Newton has led to significant advances in our understanding of the physical processes at work in hot (magnetized) plasmas in stars and their immediate environment, providing new…
AXIS is a probe-class concept under study for submission to the 2020 Decadal Survey. AXIS will extend and enhance the science of high angular resolution X-ray imaging and spectroscopy in the next decade with $\sim 0.4''$ resolution over a…
Significant advances in science inevitably occur when the state of the art in instrumentation improves. NASA's newest Great Observatory, the Chandra X-Ray Observatory (CXO) -- formally known as the Advanced X-Ray Astrophysics Facility…
AXTAR is an X-ray observatory mission concept, currently under study in the U.S., that combines very large collecting area, broadband spectral coverage, high time resolution, highly flexible scheduling, and an ability to respond promptly to…
The CHandra Extended Emission Line Region Survey (CHEERS) is an X-ray study of nearby active galactic nuclei (AGN) designed to take full advantage of Chandra's unique angular resolution by spatially resolving feedback signatures and…
(ABRIDGED) This dissertation concerns the use of CCDs for for X-ray astronomy. Part I of this thesis focuses on the calibration of the Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer (ACIS), one of the two primary focal plane instruments on the Chandra…