The soft x-ray imager on THESEUS: the transient high energy survey and early universe surveyor

Paul O'Brien; Ian Hutchinson; Hannah Lerman; Charlotte Feldman; Melissa McHugh; Alexander Lodge; Richard Willingale; Andy Beardmore; Roisin Speight; Paul Drumm

doi:10.1117/12.2561301

13 December 2020 The soft x-ray imager on THESEUS: the transient high energy survey and early universe surveyor

Paul O'Brien, Ian Hutchinson, Hannah Lerman, Charlotte Feldman, Melissa McHugh, Alexander Lodge, Richard Willingale, Andy Beardmore, Roisin Speight, Paul Drumm

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 11444, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2020: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray; 114442L (2020) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2561301
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2020, Online Only

Abstract

We are entering a new era for high energy astrophysics with the use of new technology to increase our ability to both survey and monitor the sky. The Soft X-ray Imager (SXI) instrument on the THESEUS mission will revolutionize transient astronomy by using wide-field focusing optics to increase the sensitivity to fast transients by several orders of magnitude. The THESEUS mission is under Phase A study by ESA for its M5 opportunity. THESEUS will carry two large area monitors utilizing Lobster-eye (the SXI instrument) and coded-mask (the XGIS instrument) technologies, and an opticalIR telescope to provide source redshifts using multi-band imaging and spectroscopy. The SXI will operate in the soft (0.3- 5 keV) X-ray band, and consists of two identical modules, each comprising 64 Micro Pore Optics and 8 large-format CMOS detectors. It will image a total field of view of 0.5 steradian instantaneously while providing arcminute localization accuracy. During the mission, the SXI will find many hundreds of transients per year, facilitating an exploration of the earliest phase of star formation and comes at a time when multi-messenger astronomy has begun to provide a new window on the universe. THESEUS will also provide key targets for other observing facilities, such as Athena and 30m class ground-based telescopes.

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Paul O'Brien, Ian Hutchinson, Hannah Lerman, Charlotte Feldman, Melissa McHugh, Alexander Lodge, Richard Willingale, Andy Beardmore, Roisin Speight, and Paul Drumm "The soft x-ray imager on THESEUS: the transient high energy survey and early universe surveyor", Proc. SPIE 11444, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2020: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray, 114442L (13 December 2020); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2561301

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