Abstract
LOFT (the Large Observatory for X-ray Timing), is a mission concept that was considered by ESA as a candidate for an M3 mission and has been studied during an extended > 2-years long assessment phase.The mission was specifically designed to perform fast X-ray timing and probe the status of the matter near black holes and neutron stars. The LOFT scientific payload is composed of a Large Area Detector (LAD) and a Wide Field Monitor (WFM). The LAD is a 10 m2-class pointed instrument with ∼ 15 times the collecting area of the largest past timing missions (as the Rossi XTE) over the 2-30 keV range (30-80 keV expanded), combined with CCD-class spectral resolution, which holds the capability to revolutionise studies of X-ray variability down to the millisecond time scales.Its ground-breaking characteristic is a mass per unit surface in the range of ∼ 10 kg/m2, enabling an effective area of ∼ 10 m2 (at 10 keV) at a reasonable weight. The development of such large but light experiment, with low mass and power per unit area, is now made possible by the recent advancements in the field of large-area silicon drift detectors and capillary-plate X-ray collimators.Although the LOFT mission has not been down-selected for launch in the M3 ESA programme (with launch in 2022-2024), during the assessment phase most ofthe trade off have been closed leading to a robust and well documenteddesign which will be re-proposed in the future ESA calls. In this paper, we will summarize the characteristics of the LAD instrument and brieflydescribe the status of the detectors design.
Highlights
The LOFT mission concept (Large Observatory For x-ray Timing, Feroci et al 2011) was submitted on December 2010 in response to the M3 call issued by the European Space Agency (ESA) within the framework of the Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 programme
LOFT is designed to exploit the diagnostics of rapid X-ray flux and spectral variability that directly probe the motion of matter down to distances very close to black holes and neutron stars, as well as the physical state of ultradense matter
The science objectives briefly summarized in the previous section and quantified in the scientific requirements as equation of state (EOS) and SFG will be addressed by a scientific payload composed of the Large Area Detector (LAD) and Wide Field Monitor (WFM) instruments
Summary
The LOFT mission concept (Large Observatory For x-ray Timing, Feroci et al 2011) was submitted on December 2010 in response to the M3 call issued by the European Space Agency (ESA) within the framework of the Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 programme. The scientific payload of the LOFT mission includes two experiments: the Large Area Detector (LAD, Zane et al 2012) and the Wide Field Monitor (WFM, Brandt et al 2012). The WFM operates in the same energy range as the LAD, providing information about source status (flux variability and energy spectrum), as well as arc-minute positioning. With such wide angle sky monitoring, the WFM will provide longterm histories of the target sources, serving to facilitate both the LAD observations and a series of wider science goals. More detailed descriptions of the LAD and WFM instruments may be found in Zane et al 2012 and Brandt et al 2012, respectively
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