Related papers: A fast X-ray timing capability on XEUS

This white paper highlights compact object and fundamental physics science opportunities afforded by high-throughput broadband (0.1-60 keV) X-ray polarization observations. X-ray polarimetry gives new observables with geometric information…

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…

AXTAR is a NASA MIDEX 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…

The X-ray emission from accreting black-holes and neutron stars features strong variability on sub-second time scales, with very complex and broad phenomenology. From high-frequency quasi-periodic oscillations to rapidly changing X-ray…

High-time-resolution X-ray observations of compact objects provide direct access to strong field gravity, black hole masses and spins, and the equation of state of ultra-dense matter. LOFT, the large observatory for X-ray timing, is…

We review the state of the art for measuring the X-ray polarization of neutron stars. We discuss how valuable precision measurements of the degree and position angle of polarization as a function of energy and, where relevant, of pulse…

GRAVITAS is an X-ray observatory, designed and optimised to address the ESA Cosmic Vision theme of "Matter under extreme conditions". It was submitted as a response to the call for M3 mission proposals. The concept centres around an X-ray…

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…

There exists considerable interest in dark matter candidates that can reduce cosmological structure at sub-galactic scales through a suppression of the power spectrum of primordial perturbations as well as have a primordial velocity…

Strong gravitational lensing of time variable sources such as quasars and supernovae creates observable time delays between the multiple images. Time delays can provide a powerful cosmographic probe through the "time delay distance"…

X-ray observatories contribute fundamental advances in Solar System studies by probing Sun-object interactions, developing planet and satellite surface composition maps, probing global magnetospheric dynamics, and tracking astrochemical…

The hard X-ray emission from magnetars and other isolated neutron stars remains under-explored. An instrument with higher sensitivity to hard X-rays is critical to understanding the physics of neutron star magnetospheres and also the…

In recent years there appeared a need for astronomical observations timed with sub-millisecond accuracy. These include e.g. timing stellar occultations by small, sub-km or fast Near Earth Asteroids, but also tracking artificial satellites…

A great deal of emphasis on timing in the RXTE era has been on pushing toward higher and higher frequency phenomena, particularly kHz QPOs. However, the large areas of the RXTE pointed instruments provide another capability which is key for…

THESEUS is one of the three missions selected by ESA as fifth medium class mission (M5) candidates in its Cosmic Vision science program, currently under assessment in a phase A study with a planned launch date in 2032. THESEUS is designed…

X-ray imaging is widely employed in clinical medicine, industrial inspection, and various scientific research fields. Unfortunately, most currently used X-ray two-dimensional (2D) detectors suffer from a fundamental trade-off between the…

We review the polarization properties of X-ray emission from highly magnetized neutron stars, focusing on emission from the stellar surfaces. We discuss how x-ray polarization can be used to constrain neutron star magnetic field and…

Accreting neutron stars (NSs) represent a unique laboratory for probing the physics of accretion in the presence of strong magnetic fields ($B\gtrsim 10^8$ G). Additionally, the matter inside the NS itself exists in an ultra-dense, cold…

We review X-ray properties of the Supergiant Fast X-ray Transients following from their observations with INTEGRAL and show that a compact object in these systems is a neutron star with strong magnetic field accreting from the stellar wind…

The Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) mission is the first focusing X-ray telescope in the hard X-ray (3-79 keV) band. Among the phenomena that can be studied in this energy band, some require high time resolution and…