The Large Observatory for X-ray Timing (LOFT)

M Feroci,W Hermsen,J Huovelin,G Baldazzi,G Di Persio,J Nevalainen,F Fuschino,P Malcovati,L Burderi,A Corongiu,D Altamirano,R Artigue,P Reig,J Isern,J Malzac,L Picolli,L Pacciani,F D’Amico,R Campana,N Lund,P Gandhi,L Kuiper,M Hernanz,C Cabanac,A Tiengo,A Papitto,A Segreto,G Bertuccio,B Winter,D De Martino,S Motta,P Soffitta,O Godet,M Falanga,I Donnarumma,M J Coe,A Smith,D Klochkov,S Brandt,M Pohl,J F Olive,A Rubini,S Chaty,A Santangelo,A Shearer,J Braga,A Goldwurm,D Götz,C Motch,S Zane,G Kanbach,M Stolarski,J Wilms,T Mineo,A Patruno,N Zampa,M Rapisarda,T Di Salvo,D Rambaud,P Guttridge,C Amoros,S Mereghetti,L Stella,S Campana,F Frontera,L A Antonelli,J J M In’T Zand,I Kreykenbohm,N Rea,F Lebrun,W Kluźniak,V Karas,C Barbieri,T Belloni,E Morelli,G Henri,R Turolla,A Pellizzoni,A Hornstrup,R Belmont,M Grassi,A Rashevsky,D Haas,P Azzarello,A Vacchi,R Wawrzaszek,S Basa,G De Paris,Y Evangelista,A Argan,G A Caliandro,P Uttley,R Hudec,M Marisaldi,T Schanz,V Neustroev,G Cusumano,I Kuvvetli,G Zampa,V Petráček,C Labanti,P Romano,G Naletto,A Possenti,P Giommi,G L Israel,F Lazzarotto,P Ferrando,S Vercellone,A Baykal,T Kennedy,L Zampieri,M Orlandini,A Zezas,L Boirin,S Dall’Osso,P Casella,V Bonvicini,D Barret,T Muñoz-Darias,C Tenzer,E Del Monte,A Drago,N Webb,A De Rosa,M A Alpar,J Chenevez,L Amati,A Martindale,D Walton,S Covino,E Bozzo,C Wilson-Hodge,M Van Der Klis,S Vaughan,A Collura,S Paltani,E Costa,P.-O Petrucci ,Primo Attinà ,Deepto Chakrabarty ,M Coleman Miller ,Desirée Della Monica Ferreira ,R P Fender ,A A Zdziarski ,Marco Barbera ,Rens Waters ,Jiří Horák ,Paul S Ray ,Phil Smith ,K S Wood ,Ünal Ertan ,Roberto Mignani ,Julian H Krolik ,M M Romanova ,Edward M Cackett ,Marek A Abramowicz ,Anna L Watts ,D O Kataria ,N D Kylafis ,Emrah Kalemci ,Kostas D Kokkotas ,Jérôme Pétri ,D F Torres ,Christian Schmid ,Thomas J Maccarone ,J Rodríguez ,Milan Burša ,Feryal Özel ,James M Lattimer ,George W Fraser ,J W Den Herder ,Pasi Hakala ,Carl Budtz-Jørgensen ,Nikolaos Stergioulas ,Seppo Korpela ,I E Papadakis ,Chris Done ,Fabio Muleri ,D A Leahy ,Marina Orio ,Michal Dovčiak ,P G Jonker ,Michele Mastropietro ,Mariano Méndez ,Ron Remillard ,Sergio Fabiani ,E Göğüş ,Dacheng Lin ,Sergio Di Cosimo ,Sharon M Morsink ,Gabriel Török ,José Luis Gálvez ,Matteo Bachetti ,T J L Courvoisier ,I M Mchardy ,Bernard F Phlips ,Dimitrios Psaltis ,Zdeněk Stuchlík ,P Orleański ,Jose M Álvarez ,Jeffrey E Mcclintock ,J Ziółkowski

doi:10.1007/s10686-011-9237-2

Abstract

High-time-resolution X-ray observations of compact objects provide direct access to strong-field gravity, to the equation of state of ultradense matter and to black hole masses and spins. A 10 m2-class instrument in combination with good spectral resolution is required to exploit the relevant diagnostics and answer two of the fundamental questions of the European Space Agency (ESA) Cosmic Vision Theme “Matter under extreme conditions”, namely: does matter orbiting close to the event horizon follow the predictions of general relativity? What is the equation of state of matter in neutron stars? The Large Observatory For X-ray Timing (LOFT), selected by ESA as one of the four Cosmic Vision M3 candidate missions to undergo an assessment phase, will revolutionise the study of collapsed objects in our galaxy and of the brightest supermassive black holes in active galactic nuclei. Thanks to an innovative design and the development of large-area monolithic silicon drift detectors, the Large Area Detector (LAD) on board LOFT will achieve an effective area of ~12 m2 (more than an order of magnitude larger than any spaceborne predecessor) in the 2–30 keV range (up to 50 keV in expanded mode), yet still fits a conventional platform and small/medium-class launcher. With this large area and a spectral resolution of <260 eV, LOFT will yield unprecedented information on strongly curved spacetimes and matter under extreme conditions of pressure and magnetic field strength.

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