Wide Field X-ray Telescope: a moderate class mission

Stephen S. Murray; R. Giacconi; A. Ptak; P. Rosati; M. Weisskopf; S. Borgani; C. Jones; G. Pareschi; P. Tozzi; R. Gilli; S. Campana; M. Paolillo; G. Tagliaferri; M. Bautz; A. Vikhlinin; R. Hickox; W. Forman

doi:10.1117/12.856921

29 July 2010 Wide Field X-ray Telescope: a moderate class mission

Stephen S. Murray, R. Giacconi, A. Ptak, P. Rosati, M. Weisskopf, S. Borgani, C. Jones, G. Pareschi, P. Tozzi, R. Gilli, S. Campana, M. Paolillo, G. Tagliaferri, M. Bautz, A. Vikhlinin, R. Hickox, W. Forman

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 7732, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2010: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray; 77321W (2010) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.856921
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2010, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

Sensitive surveys of the X-ray universe have been limited to small areas of the sky due to the intrinsically small field of view of Wolter-I X-ray optics, whose angular resolution degrades with the square of the off axis angle. High angular resolution is needed to achieve a low background per source, minimize source confusion, and distinguish point from extended objects. WFXT consists of three co-aligned wide field X-ray telescopes with a 1° field of view and a≲ 10" (goal of 5") angular resolution (HEW) over the full field. Total effective area at 1 keV will be > 5000 cm². WFXT will perform three surveys that will cover most of the extragalactic sky to 100-1000 times the sensitivity of the ROSAT All Sky Survey, ≳ 2000 deg² to deep Chandra or XMM-Newton sensitivity, and ≳ 100 deg² to the deepest Chandra sensitivity. WFXT will generate a legacy X-ray data set of ≳ 5 x 10⁵ clusters and groups of galaxies to z ~ 2, also characterizing the physics of the intracluster gas for a significant fraction of them, thus providing an unprecedented data set for cosmological applications; it will detect > 10⁷ AGN to z > 6, again obtaining spectra for a substantial fraction; it will detect > 10⁵ normal/starburst galaxies; and it will detect and characterize star formation regions across the Galaxy. WFXT is the only X-ray survey mission that will match, in area and sensitivity, the next generation of wide-area optical, IR and radio surveys. http://wfxt.pha.jhu.edu

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Stephen S. Murray, R. Giacconi, A. Ptak, P. Rosati, M. Weisskopf, S. Borgani, C. Jones, G. Pareschi, P. Tozzi, R. Gilli, S. Campana, M. Paolillo, G. Tagliaferri, M. Bautz, A. Vikhlinin, R. Hickox, and W. Forman "Wide Field X-ray Telescope: a moderate class mission", Proc. SPIE 7732, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2010: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray, 77321W (29 July 2010); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.856921

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