The enhanced x-ray timing and polarimetry mission (eXTP) is a flagship observatory for x-ray timing, spectroscopy and polarimetry developed by an international consortium. Thanks to its very large collecting area, good spectral resolution and unprecedented polarimetry capabilities, eXTP will explore the properties of matter and the propagation of light in the most extreme conditions found in the universe. eXTP will, in addition, be a powerful x-ray observatory. The mission will continuously monitor the x-ray sky, and will enable multi-wavelength and multi-messenger studies. The mission is currently in phase B, which will be completed in the middle of 2022.
The Einstein Probe (EP) is an X-ray astronomical mission mainly devoting to time-domain astronomy. There are two main scientific payloads onboard EP, the Wide Field X-ray Telescope (WXT) based on the lobster eye optics and the Follow-up X-ray Telescope (FXT). FXT contains two Wolter-1 mirrors with a pnCCD detector on each focus. The total effective area is about 600 cm2 and the energy range is 0.3-10 keV. The pnCCD detector cooled by a pulse tube cooler enables high-resolution spectroscopy and imaging combined with excellent time resolution. It will also have several working modes with time resolution ranging from tens of microseconds to 50 milliseconds. Currently, the FXT is in its qualification model phase. The mirror assemblies (STM and TCM) as well as the pnCCD EM module have been manufactured and tested.
The Spectroscopy Focusing Array (SFA) onboard the enhanced X-ray Timing and Polarimetry (eXTP) observatory consists of 9 modules, each comprising a Wolter type I telescope with a field of view (FOV) around 16 arcminutes and a focal plane silicon drift detector (SDD) with 19 hexagonal pixels. Due to the large size of each individual SDD pixel (each pixel corresponds to an area of ∼ 3.6 arcminutes in diameter) and the limited pixel number, SFA can not obtain a real image of the observed region like many other X-ray imaging telescopes. Thus, contamination from nearby bright sources needs to be considered when we study the properties of the target source. We simulate such contaminations using the SIXTE simulator. In this paper we present the results by taking observations of the millisecond pulsar PSR J0437–4715 as an example, and discuss the cases for contamination on background or target source respectively.
S. N. Zhang, M. Feroci, A. Santangelo, Y. W. Dong, H. Feng, F. J. Lu, K. Nandra, Z. S. Wang, S. Zhang, E. Bozzo, S. Brandt, A. De Rosa, L. J. Gou, M. Hernanz, M. van der Klis, X. D. Li, Y. Liu, P. Orleanski, G. Pareschi, M. Pohl, J. Poutanen, J. L. Qu, S. Schanne, L. Stella, P. Uttley, A. Watts, R. Xu, W. F. Yu, J. J. M. in ’t Zand, S. Zane, L. Alvarez, L. Amati, L. Baldini, C. Bambi, S. Basso, S. Bhattacharyya, R. Bellazzini, T. Belloni, P. Bellutti, S. Bianchi, A. Brez, M. Bursa, V. Burwitz, C. Budtz-Jørgensen, I. Caiazzo, R. Campana, X. L. Cao, P. Casella, C. Y. Chen, L. Chen, T. Chen, Y. Chen, M. Civitani, F. Coti Zelati, W. Cui, Z. G. Dai, E. Del Monte, D. de Martino, S. Di Cosimo, S. Diebold, M. Dovciak, I. Donnarumma, V. Doroshenko, P. Esposito, Y. Evangelista, Y. Favre, P. Friedrich, F. Fuschino, J. Galvez, Z. Gao, M. Ge, O. Gevin, D. Goetz, D. Han, J. Heyl, J. Horak, W. Hu, F. Huang, Q. S. Huang, R. Hudec, D. Huppenkothen, G. L. Israel, A. Ingram, V. Karas, D. Karelin, P. Jenke, L. Ji, S. Korpela, D. Kunneriath, C. Labanti, G. Li, X. Li, Z. S. Li, E. W. Liang, O. Limousin, L. Lin, Z. X. Ling, H. B. Liu, H. Liu, Z. Liu, B. Lu, N. Lund, D. Lai, B. Luo, T. Luo, B. Ma, S. Mahmoodifar, M. Marisaldi, A. Martindale, N. Meidinger, Y. P. Men, M. Michalska, R. Mignani, M. Minuti, S. Motta, F. Muleri, J. Neilsen, M. Orlandini, A. T. Pan, A. Patruno, E. Perinati, A. Picciotto, C. Piemonte, M. Pinchera, A. Rachevski, M. Rapisarda, N. Rea, E. M. Rossi, A. Rubini, G. Sala, X. W. Shu, C. Sgro, Z. X. Shen, P. Soffitta, L. Song, G. Spandre, G. Stratta, T. Strohmayer, L. Sun, J. Svoboda, G. Tagliaferri, C. Tenzer, T. Hong, R. Taverna, G. Torok, R. Turolla, S. Vacchi, J. Wang, D. Walton, K. Wang, J. F. Wang, R. J. Wang, Y. Wang, S. Weng, J. Wilms, B. Winter, X. Wu, S. L. Xiong, Y. Xu, Y. Xue, Z. Yan, S. Yang, X. Yang, Y. J. Yang, F. Yuan, W. Yuan, Y. F. Yuan, G. Zampa, N. Zampa, A. Zdziarski, C. Zhang, C. L. Zhang, L. Zhang, X. Zhang, Z. Zhang, W. Zhang, S. Zheng, P. Zhou, X. Zhou
eXTP is a science mission designed to study the state of matter under extreme conditions of density, gravity and magnetism. Primary goals are the determination of the equation of state of matter at supra-nuclear density, the measurement of QED effects in highly magnetized star, and the study of accretion in the strong-field regime of gravity. Primary targets include isolated and binary neutron stars, strong magnetic field systems like magnetars, and stellar-mass and supermassive black holes. The mission carries a unique and unprecedented suite of state-of-the-art scientific instruments enabling for the first time ever the simultaneous spectral-timing-polarimetry studies of cosmic sources in the energy range from 0.5-30 keV (and beyond). Key elements of the payload are: the Spectroscopic Focusing Array (SFA) - a set of 11 X-ray optics for a total effective area of ∼0.9 m2 and 0.6 m2 at 2 keV and 6 keV respectively, equipped with Silicon Drift Detectors offering <180 eV spectral resolution; the Large Area Detector (LAD) - a deployable set of 640 Silicon Drift Detectors, for a total effective area of ∼3.4 m2, between 6 and 10 keV, and spectral resolution better than 250 eV; the Polarimetry Focusing Array (PFA) – a set of 2 X-ray telescope, for a total effective area of 250 cm2 at 2 keV, equipped with imaging gas pixel photoelectric polarimeters; the Wide Field Monitor (WFM) - a set of 3 coded mask wide field units, equipped with position-sensitive Silicon Drift Detectors, each covering a 90 degrees x 90 degrees field of view. The eXTP international consortium includes major institutions of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Universities in China, as well as major institutions in several European countries and the United States. The predecessor of eXTP, the XTP mission concept, has been selected and funded as one of the so-called background missions in the Strategic Priority Space Science Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences since 2011. The strong European participation has significantly enhanced the scientific capabilities of eXTP. The planned launch date of the mission is earlier than 2025.
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