Abstract
The Advanced Telescope for High Energy Astrophysics (Athena) has been selected for ESA’s L2 mission, scheduled for launch in 2028. It will provide the necessary capabilities to achieve the ambitious goals of the science theme “The Hot and Energetic Universe.” Athena’s x-ray mirrors will be based on silicon pore optics technology with a 12-m focal length. Two complementary focal plane camera systems are foreseen, which can be moved interchangeably to the focus of the mirror system: the actively shielded micro-calorimeter spectrometer X-IFU and the wide field imager (WFI). The WFI camera will provide an unprecedented survey power through its large field of view of 40 arc min with a high count-rate capability (∼1 Crab). It permits a state-of-the-art energy resolution in the energy band of 0.1 to 15 keV during the entire mission lifetime (e.g., full width at half maximum ≤150 eV at 6 keV). This performance is accomplished by a set of depleted P-channel field effect transistor (DEPFET) active pixel sensor matrices with a pixel size well suited to the angular resolution of 5 arc sec (on-axis) of the mirror system. Each DEPFET pixel is a combined detector-amplifier structure with a MOSFET integrated onto a fully depleted 450-μm-thick silicon bulk. This manuscript will summarize the current instrument concept and design, the status of the technology development, and the envisaged baseline performance.
Highlights
The Advanced Telescope for High Energy Astrophysics (Athena) will be the large-class x-ray observatory of the European Space Agency (ESA) with a launch anticipated for 2028.1 It is designed to answer two of the most pressing questions in astrophysics about the assembly of ordinary matter into large scale structures and the growth and evolution of black holes
The Athena telescope concept comprises a single largeaperture x-ray telescope based on silicon pore optics technology.[2]
The wide field imager (WFI) will comprise the following subsystems, which are mounted to the primary structure of the instrument that provides the necessary stability: Camera head with detector array: Each of the five depleted P-channel field effect transistor (DEPFET) sensors forms together with the front-end ASICs, both integrated in the associated detector board, a separate and modular unit
Summary
The Advanced Telescope for High Energy Astrophysics (Athena) will be the large-class x-ray observatory of the European Space Agency (ESA) with a launch anticipated for 2028.1 It is designed to answer two of the most pressing questions in astrophysics about the assembly of ordinary matter into large scale structures and the growth and evolution of black holes. The Athena telescope concept comprises a single largeaperture x-ray telescope based on silicon pore optics technology.[2] The mirror system will provide effective areas of 2 and 0.25 m2 at energies of 1 and 6 keV, respectively. It will image the x-ray photons onto one of two complementary and interchangeable focal plane instruments: the x-ray integral field unit (X-IFU) and the wide field imager (WFI). The tentative schedule for the instrument development concludes the description of the WFI camera for the Athena project
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