Ray tracing simulations for the wide-field x-ray telescope of the Einstein Probe mission based on Geant4 and XRTG4

Abstract

Einstein Probe (EP) is a proposed small scientific satellite dedicated to time-domain astrophysics working in the soft X-ray band. It will discover transients and monitor variable objects in 0.5-4 keV, for which it will employ a very large instantaneous field-of-view (60° × 60°), along with moderate spatial resolution (FWHM ∼ 5 arcmin). Its wide-field imaging capability will be achieved by using established technology in novel lobster-eye optics. In this paper, we present Monte-Carlo simulations for the focusing capabilities of EP’s Wide-field X-ray Telescope (WXT). The simulations are performed using Geant4 with an X-ray tracer which was developed by cosine (http://cosine.nl/) to trace X-rays. Our work is the first step toward building a comprehensive model with which the design of the X-ray optics and the ultimate sensitivity of the instrument can be optimized by simulating the X-ray tracing and radiation environment of the system, including the focal plane detector and the shielding at the same time.