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

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, Poppenhaeger K, Rozanska A, Svoboda J, Wijers R, Willingale R, Wilms J, Wise M (2021)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2021

Journal

DOI: 10.1007/s10686-021-09724-w

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.

Authors with CRIS profile

Involved external institutions

University of Amsterdam Netherlands (NL) Netherlands Institute for Space Research / Stichting Ruimteonderzoek Nederland (SRON) Netherlands (NL) Fudan University / 复旦大学 China (CN) National Center for Scientific Research / Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) France (FR) Università degli Studi Roma Tre Italy (IT) Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (ASCR) / Akademie věd České republiky (AVČR) Czech Republic (CZ) National Institute for Astrophysics / Istituto Nazionale Astrofisica (INAF) Italy (IT) University of Colorado System United States (USA) (US) European Southern Observatory (ESO) Germany (DE) National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) United States (USA) (US) Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen Germany (DE) University of Oxford United Kingdom (GB) Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) United States (USA) (US) Open University (OU) United Kingdom (GB) Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam / Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam Germany (DE) Polska Akademia Nauk (PAN) / Polish Academy of Sciences Poland (PL) University of Leicester United Kingdom (GB)

How to cite

APA:

Uttley, P., Hartog, R.D., Bambi, C., Barret, D., Bianchi, S., Bursa, M.,... Wise, M. (2021). The high energy Universe at ultra-high resolution: the power and promise of X-ray interferometry. Experimental Astronomy. https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10686-021-09724-w

MLA:

Uttley, Phil, et al. "The high energy Universe at ultra-high resolution: the power and promise of X-ray interferometry." Experimental Astronomy (2021).

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