Related papers: Beyond the X-ray background with XEUS

Grazing-incidence X-ray optics have revolutionized X-ray astrophysics. The ability to concentrate flux to a tiny detection region provides a dramatic reduction in background and a consequent very large improvement in sensitivity. The X-ray…

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…

Astronomy is by nature a visual science. The high quality imagery produced by the world's observatories can be a key to effectively engaging with the public and helping to inspire the next generation of scientists. Creating compelling…

Strong winds from massive stars are a topic of interest to a wide range of astrophysical fields. In High-Mass X-ray Binaries the presence of an accreting compact object on the one side allows to infer wind parameters from studies of the…

HEX-P will launch at a time when the sky is being routinely scanned for transient gravitational wave, electromagnetic and neutrino phenomena that will require the capabilities of a sensitive, broadband X-ray telescope for follow up studies.…

The European gamma-ray observatory INTEGRAL has found a group of hard X-ray sources which are highly absorbed, i.e., with column densities higher than about 10^{23}/cm^2. Here I give an overview of this class of INTEGRAL sources. The X-ray,…

Strong optical laser fields modify the way x rays interact with matter. This allows us to use x rays to gain deeper insight into strong-field processes. Alternatively, optical lasers may be utilized to control the propagation of x rays…

With its ability to look at bright galactic X-ray sources with sub-millisecond time resolution, the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) discovered that the X-ray emission from accreting compact stars shows quasi-periodic oscillations on the…

We report on recent progress in our theoretical understanding of X-ray binaries, which has largely been driven by new observations, and illustrate the interplay between theory and observations considering as examples intermediate-mass X-ray…

The origin of the hard (2-10 keV) X-ray background has remained mysterious for over 35 years. Most of the soft (0.5-2 keV) X-ray background has been resolved into discrete sources, which are primarily quasars; however, these sources do not…

The focus of NASA's Swift telescope has been transients and target-of-opportunity observing, resulting in many observations of ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) over the last ~20 years. For the vast majority of these observations,…

The XEUS mission incorporates two satellites: the Mirror Spacecraft with 5 m2 of collecting area at 1 keV and 2 m2 at 7 keV, and an imaging resolution of 5" HEW and the Payload Spacecraft which carries the focal plane instrumentation. XEUS…

We review feasibility studies, technological developments and astrophysical prospects for Laue lenses devoted to hard X-/gamma-ray astronomy observations.

We describe a full-field coherent imaging approach suitable for hard X-rays based on a classical (i.e. Galilean) X-ray microscope. The method combines a series of low-resolution images acquired at different transverse lens positions into a…

I present an overview of important results obtained using high-resolution very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) observations of X-ray binary systems. These results derive from both astrometric observations and resolved imaging of…

The spectrum of the hard X-ray background records the history of accretion processes integrated over the cosmic time. Several observational and theoretical evidences indicate that a significant fraction of the energy density is obscured by…

The sensitivity of astronomical X-ray detectors is limited by the instrumental background. The background is especially important when observing low surface brightness sources that are critical for many of the science cases targeted by…

I shall briefly review the observational properties of radio-emitting jets from Galactic X-ray binaries in relation with other wavebands: infrared, optical and X-ray. Special attention is paid to recent results obtained with the Spitzer…

We argue that measurements of X-ray polarization using the recently launched Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer will answer many open questions about magnetars in particular the physical state of their surfaces, whether vacuum birefringence…

High-mass X-ray binary systems are powered by the stellar wind of their donor stars. The X-ray state of Cygnus X-1 is correlated with the properties of the wind which defines the environment of mass accretion. Chandra-HETGS observations…