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Journal Articles Experimental Astronomy Year : 2021

The high energy Universe at ultra-high resolution: the power and promise of X-ray interferometry

Phil Uttley
  • Function : Author
Roland Den Hartog
  • Function : Author
Cosimo Bambi
  • Function : Author
Stefano Bianchi
  • Function : Author
Michal Bursa
  • Function : Author
Massimo Cappi
  • Function : Author
Piergiorgio Casella
  • Function : Author
Webster Cash
  • Function : Author
Elisa Costantini
  • Function : Author
Thomas Dauser
  • Function : Author
Maria Diaz Trigo
  • Function : Author
Keith Gendreau
  • Function : Author
Victoria Grinberg
  • Function : Author
Jan-Willem Den Herder
  • Function : Author
Adam Ingram
Erin Kara
  • Function : Author
Sera Markoff
Beatriz Mingo
  • Function : Author
Francesca Panessa
  • Function : Author
Katja Poppenhäger
  • Function : Author
Agata Różańska
  • Function : Author
Jiri Svoboda
  • Function : Author
Ralph Wijers
  • Function : Author
Richard Willingale
  • Function : Author
Jörn Wilms
  • Function : Author
Michael Wise
  • Function : Author

Abstract

We propose the development of X-ray interferometry (XRI), to reveal the Universe at high energies with ultra-high spatial resolution. With baselines which can be accommodated on a single spacecraft, XRI can reach 100 μ as resolution at 10 Å (1.2 keV) and 20 μ as at 2 Å (6 keV), enabling imaging and imaging-spectroscopy of (for example) X-ray coronae of nearby accreting supermassive black holes (SMBH) and the SMBH ‘shadow’; SMBH accretion flows and outflows; X-ray binary winds and orbits; stellar coronae within \sim 100 pc and many exoplanets which transit across them. For sufficiently luminous sources XRI will resolve sub-pc scales across the entire observable Universe, revealing accreting binary SMBHs and enabling trigonometric measurements of the Hubble constant with X-ray light echoes from quasars or explosive transients. A multi-spacecraft ‘constellation’ interferometer would resolve well below 1 μ as, enabling SMBH event horizons to be resolved in many active galaxies and the detailed study of the effects of strong field gravity on the dynamics and emission from accreting gas close to the black hole.

Dates and versions

hal-02290745 , version 1 (17-09-2019)

Identifiers

Cite

Phil Uttley, Roland Den Hartog, Cosimo Bambi, Didier Barret, Stefano Bianchi, et al.. The high energy Universe at ultra-high resolution: the power and promise of X-ray interferometry. Experimental Astronomy, 2021, 51 (3), pp.1081-1107. ⟨10.1007/s10686-021-09724-w⟩. ⟨hal-02290745⟩
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