A High Resolution Intergalactic Explorer for the Soft X-ray/FUV
Abstract
We present a mission concept for high resolution X-ray spectroscopy with a resolving power, R~6000, (c.f. R=<1000 for Chandra, XMM-Newton). This resolution is physics-driven, since it allows the thermal widths of coronal X-ray lines to be measured, and astrophysics-driven, since 50 km/s resolves internal galaxy motions, and galaxy motions within larger structures. Such a mission could be small and have a rapid response allowing us to `X-ray the Universe' using the afterglows of Gamma-ray Bursts (GRBs) as strong background sources of X-rays, and so illuminate the `Cosmic Web'. The Cosmic Web is predicted to contain most of the normal matter (baryons) in the nearby Universe.
Cite
@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0303444,
title = {A High Resolution Intergalactic Explorer for the Soft X-ray/FUV},
author = {Martin Elvis and Fabrizio Fiore and the CWE Team},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0303444},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
Paper presented at the August 2002 SPIE meeting "Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation", Kona, Hawaii