Simulating X-ray observations of galaxy clusters with the X-ray Integral Field Unit onboard the Athena mission

Cucchetti E, Pointecouteau E, Peille P, Clerc N, Rasia E, Biffi V, Borgani S, Dolag K, Wilms J, Pajot F, Barret D (2018)

Publication Status: Published

Publication Type: Conference contribution

Publication year: 2018

Journal

Proceedings of SPIE Society of Photo-optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)

Book Volume: 10699

Article Number: UNSP 106994L

DOI: 10.1117/12.2311957

Abstract

The X-ray Integral Field Unit (X-IFU) is the cryogenic imaging spectrometer onboard the ESA L2 mission Athena. With its array of almost 3840 superconducting Transition Edge Sensors micro-calorimeters, the X-IFU will provide spatially resolved (5" over the field of view) high-resolution spectroscopy (2.5 eV FWHM up to 7 keV) in the 0.2-12 keV energy band. These transformational capabilities will allow the X-IFU to probe the Hot and Energetic Universe, and notably measure the physical properties of large-scale structures with unprecedented accuracy. Starting from numerically-simulated massive (1014 Mo) galaxy clusters at different steps of their evolution, we investigate the capabilities of the X-IFU in recovering chemical abundances, redshift and gas temperature spatial distributions across time, making use of full field-of-view End-To-End simulations of X-IFU observations. This work serve as feasibility study for the Chemical Enrichment of the Universe science objective. We show that using 100 ks observations, the X-IFU will provide an unprecedented spatially-accurate knowledge of the physics of the ICM (abundances, temperature, bulk-motion). We also demonstrate that challenges related to the data analysis of extended sources with very high-resolution spectrometers (e.g. binning, line of sight mixing, particle background) need to be thoroughly addressed to maximise the science of the instrument.

Authors with CRIS profile

Jörn Wilms Professur für Astronomie und Astrophysik

Involved external institutions

Université Fédérale de Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées FR France (FR) Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) DE Germany (DE) National Institute for Astrophysics / Istituto Nazionale Astrofisica (INAF) IT Italy (IT) National Centre for Space Studies / Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES) FR France (FR)

How to cite

APA:

Cucchetti, E., Pointecouteau, E., Peille, P., Clerc, N., Rasia, E., Biffi, V.,... Barret, D. (2018). Simulating X-ray observations of galaxy clusters with the X-ray Integral Field Unit onboard the Athena mission.

MLA:

Cucchetti, Edoardo, et al. "Simulating X-ray observations of galaxy clusters with the X-ray Integral Field Unit onboard the Athena mission." 2018.

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