The X-ray Integral Field Unit (X-IFU) for Athena

Ravera, Laurent; Barret, D.; Herder, J. W. den; Piro, L.; Clédassou, R.; Pointecouteau, É.; Peille, Philippe; Pajot, F.; Arnaud, M.; Pigot, C.; Duband, L.; Cara, C.; Hartog, Roland H. den; Gottardi, L.; Akamatsu, Hiroki; Kuur, J. van der; Weers, Henk J. van; Plaa, J. de; Macculi, C.; Lotti, Simone; Torrioli, G.; Gatti, F.; Valenziano, L.; Barbera, Marco; Barcons, X.; Ceballos, M. T.; Fàbrega, L.; Mas-Hesse, J. M.; Page, M. J.; Guttridge, Phillip R.; Willingale, R.; Paltani, S.; Genolet, L.; Bozzo, E.; Rauw, Grégor; Renotte, Étienne; Wilms, J.; Schmid, Christian

doi:10.1117/12.2055884

Cited by 34 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…The energy resolution of the ECS for these measurements was 4.5-5.0 eV, typical for the ECS. The spectra shown here are similar in quality to a spectrum measured with the Soft X-ray Spectrometer (SXS) system onboard the Astro-H/Hitomi X-ray observatory (Takahashi et al 2010) or in the planned X-IFU instrument on Athena (Nandra et al 2014;Ravera et al 2014).…”

supporting

confidence: 60%

Laboratory Measurements of the K-Shell Transition Energies in L-Shell Ions of Si and S

Hell

Brown

Wilms

et al. 2016

ApJ

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We have measured the energies of the strongest 1s-2 ( ) = ℓ ℓ s, p transitions in He-through Ne-like silicon and sulfur ions to an accuracy of <1 eV using the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's electron beam ion traps, EBIT-I and SuperEBIT, and the NASA/GSFC EBIT Calorimeter Spectrometer (ECS). We identify and measure the energies of 18 and 21 X-ray features from silicon and sulfur, respectively. The results are compared to new Flexible Atomic Code calculations and to semi-relativistic Hartree-Fock calculations by Palmeri et al. (2008). These results will be especially useful for wind diagnostics in high-mass X-ray binaries, such as Vela X-1 and Cygnus X-1, where high-resolution spectral measurements using Chandraʼs high-energy transmission grating has made it possible to measure Doppler shifts of -100 km s 1 . The accuracy of our measurements is consistent with that needed to analyze Chandra observations, exceeding Chandraʼs -100 km s 1 limit. Hence, the results presented here not only provide benchmarks for theory, but also accurate rest energies that can be used to determine the bulk motion of material in astrophysical sources. We show the usefulness of our results by applying them to redetermine Doppler shifts from Chandra observations of Vela X-1.

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supporting

confidence: 60%

Laboratory Measurements of the K-Shell Transition Energies in L-Shell Ions of Si and S

Hell

Brown

Wilms

et al. 2016

ApJ

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“…Then, we used the XSPEC command fakeit to create fake spectra, based on the blue points in Fig. 3, considering the response files of the X-ray Integral Field Unit (X-IFU; Ravera et al 2014) which will be on board of the planned ESA mission Athena (Nandra et al 2013). We assumed exposure times of 100 ks, with no background files.…”

Section: Data Simulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Steep X-ray reflection emissivity profiles in AGN as the result of radially structured disc ionization

Kammoun

Domček

Svoboda

et al. 2019

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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X-ray observations suggest high compactness of coronae in active galactic nuclei as well as in X-ray binaries. The compactness of the source implies a strong radial dependence in the illumination of the accretion disc. This will, for any reasonable radial profile of the density, lead to a radial profile of the disc ionisation. Svoboda et al. (2012) showed on a single example that assuming a radially-structured ionisation profile of the disc can cause an artificial increase of the radial-emissivity parameter. We further investigate how the X-ray spectra are modified and quantify this effect for a wide range of parameters. Computations are carried out with the current state-of-the-art models for relativistic reflection. We simulated spectra using the response files of the micro-calorimeter X-IFU, which is planned to be on board of Athena. We assumed typical parameters for X-ray bright Seyfert-1 galaxies and considered two scenarios for the disc ionisation: 1) a radial profile for the disc ionisation, 2) a constant disc ionisation. We found that steep emissivity profiles can be indeed achieved due to the radial profile of the disc ionisation, which becomes more important for the cases where the corona is located at low heights above the black hole and this effect may be even more prominent than the geometrical effects. We also found that the cases with high inner disc ionisation, rapidly decreasing with radius, may result in an inaccurate black hole spin measurements.

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“…This is possible by adopting an anticoincidence detector called "CryoAC" enabling a primary proton's veto efficiency greater than 99.8 %, coupled to a secondary electron passive shielding enabling the reduction of this component. For a very brief review of both X-IFU and the CryoAC aspects see [2,3]. The CryoAC baseline design is based on a thin-layer (0.5 mm) Si absorber where the energy deposited by particles is sensed by Ir TES.…”

Section: From Science Goals To Technology Definition: the Need For Thmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Cryogenic AntiCoincidence Detector for the ATHENA X-IFU: Design Aspects by Geant4 Simulation and Preliminary Characterization of the New Single Pixel

et al. 2016

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The ATHENA observatory is the second large-class ESA mission, in the context of the Cosmic Vision 2015-2025, scheduled to be launched on 2028 at L2 orbit. One of the two planned focal plane instruments is the X-ray Integral Field Unit (X-IFU), which will be able to perform simultaneous high-grade energy spectroscopy and imaging over the 5 arcmin FoV by means of a kilo-pixel array of transition-edge sensor (TES) microcalorimeters, coupled to a high-quality X-ray optics. The X-IFU sensitivity is degraded by the particle background, induced by primary protons of both solar and cosmic rays' origin and secondary electrons. A Cryogenic AntiCoincidence (CryoAC) TES-based detector, located <1 mm below the TES array, will allow the mission to reach the background level that enables its scientific goals. The CryoAC is a 4-pixel detector made of Silicon absorbers sensed by Iridium TESs. We currently achieve a TRL = 3-4 at the single-pixel level. We have designed and developed two further prototypes in order to reach TRL = 4. The design of the CryoAC has been also optimized using the Geant4 simulation tool. Here we will describe some results from the Geant4 simulations performed to optimize the design and preliminary test results from the first of the two detectors, 1 cm 2 area, made of 65 Ir TESs.

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The X-ray Integral Field Unit (X-IFU) for Athena

Cited by 34 publications

References 12 publications

Laboratory Measurements of the K-Shell Transition Energies in L-Shell Ions of Si and S

Laboratory Measurements of the K-Shell Transition Energies in L-Shell Ions of Si and S

Steep X-ray reflection emissivity profiles in AGN as the result of radially structured disc ionization

The Cryogenic AntiCoincidence Detector for the ATHENA X-IFU: Design Aspects by Geant4 Simulation and Preliminary Characterization of the New Single Pixel

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