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

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

doi:10.1007/s10686-021-09724-w

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

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

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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 ∼ 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.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1081-1107
Number of pages	27
Journal	Experimental Astronomy
Volume	51
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s10686-021-09724-w
Publication status	Published - Jun 2021

Keywords

Instrumentation
Interferometry
X-ray astronomy

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Uttley, P., Hartog, R. D., Bambi, C., Barret, D., Bianchi, S., Bursa, M., Cappi, M., Casella, P., Cash, W., Costantini, E., Dauser, T., Trigo, M. D., Gendreau, K., Grinberg, V., Herder, J. W. D., Ingram, A., Kara, E., Markoff, S., Mingo, B., ... Wise, M. (2021). The high energy Universe at ultra-high resolution: the power and promise of X-ray interferometry. Experimental Astronomy, 51(3), 1081-1107. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10686-021-09724-w

@article{c970a5fe85204bf0af18219f4ec556a9,

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

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 {\AA} (1.2 keV) and 20 μ as at 2 {\AA} (6 keV), enabling imaging and imaging-spectroscopy of (for example) X-ray coronae of nearby accreting supermassive black holes (SMBH) and the SMBH {\textquoteleft}shadow{\textquoteright}; SMBH accretion flows and outflows; X-ray binary winds and orbits; stellar coronae within ∼ 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 {\textquoteleft}constellation{\textquoteright} 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.",

keywords = "Instrumentation, Interferometry, X-ray astronomy",

author = "Phil Uttley and Hartog, {Roland den} and Cosimo Bambi and Didier Barret and Stefano Bianchi and Michal Bursa and Massimo Cappi and Piergiorgio Casella and Webster Cash and Elisa Costantini and Thomas Dauser and Trigo, {Maria Diaz} and Keith Gendreau and Victoria Grinberg and Herder, {Jan Willem den} and Adam Ingram and Erin Kara and Sera Markoff and Beatriz Mingo and Francesca Panessa and Katja Poppenh{\"a}ger and Agata R{\'o}{\.z}a{\'n}ska and Jiri Svoboda and Ralph Wijers and Richard Willingale and J{\"o}rn Wilms and Michael Wise",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021, The Author(s).",

year = "2021",

month = jun,

doi = "10.1007/s10686-021-09724-w",

language = "English",

volume = "51",

pages = "1081--1107",

journal = "Experimental Astronomy",

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Uttley, P, Hartog, RD, Bambi, C, Barret, D, Bianchi, S, Bursa, M, Cappi, M, Casella, P, Cash, W, Costantini, E, Dauser, T, Trigo, MD, Gendreau, K, Grinberg, V, Herder, JWD, Ingram, A, Kara, E, Markoff, S, Mingo, B, Panessa, F, Poppenhäger, K, Różańska, A, Svoboda, J, Wijers, R, Willingale, R, Wilms, J & Wise, M 2021, 'The high energy Universe at ultra-high resolution: the power and promise of X-ray interferometry', Experimental Astronomy, vol. 51, no. 3, pp. 1081-1107. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10686-021-09724-w

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AU - Uttley, Phil

AU - Hartog, Roland den

AU - Bambi, Cosimo

AU - Barret, Didier

AU - Bianchi, Stefano

AU - Bursa, Michal

AU - Cappi, Massimo

AU - Casella, Piergiorgio

AU - Cash, Webster

AU - Costantini, Elisa

AU - Dauser, Thomas

AU - Trigo, Maria Diaz

AU - Gendreau, Keith

AU - Grinberg, Victoria

AU - Herder, Jan Willem den

AU - Ingram, Adam

AU - Kara, Erin

AU - Markoff, Sera

AU - Mingo, Beatriz

AU - Panessa, Francesca

AU - Poppenhäger, Katja

AU - Różańska, Agata

AU - Svoboda, Jiri

AU - Wijers, Ralph

AU - Willingale, Richard

AU - Wilms, Jörn

AU - Wise, Michael

PY - 2021/6

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N2 - 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 ∼ 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.

AB - 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 ∼ 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.

KW - Instrumentation

KW - Interferometry

KW - X-ray astronomy

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DO - 10.1007/s10686-021-09724-w

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SP - 1081

EP - 1107

JO - Experimental Astronomy

JF - Experimental Astronomy

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ER -

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

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