The Cryogenic AntiCoincidence detector for ATHENA X-IFU: a scientific assessment of the observational capabilities in the hard X-ray band

Abstract

ATHENA is a large X-ray observatory, planned to be launched by ESA in 2028 towards an L2 orbit. One of the two instruments of the payload is the X-IFU: a cryogenic spectrometer based on a large array of TES microcalorimeters, able to perform integral field spectrography in the 0.2-12 keV band (2.5 eV FWHM at 6 keV). The X-IFU sensitivity is highly degraded by the particle background expected in the L2 orbit, which is induced by primary protons of both galactic and solar origin, and mostly by secondary electrons. To reduce the particle background level and enable the mission science goals, the instrument incorporates a Cryogenic AntiCoincidence detector (CryoAC). It is a 4 pixel TES based detector, placed <1 mm below the main array. In this paper we report a scientific assessment of the CryoAC observational capabilities in the hard X-ray band (E>10 keV). The aim of the study has been to understand if the present detector design can be improved in order to enlarge the X-IFU scientific capability on an energy band wider than the TES array. This is beyond the CryoAC baseline, being this instrument aimed to operate as anticoincidence particle detector and not conceived to perform X-ray observations.

arXiv commentAccepted for publication on Experimental Astronomy

References in corpus (7)

• The Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) Mission
• The Hot and Energetic Universe: A White Paper presenting the science theme motivating the Athena+ mission
• The Athena X-ray Integral Field Unit (X-IFU)
• INTEGRAL hard X-ray spectra of the cosmic X-ray background and Galactic ridge emission
• In-orbit background of X-ray microcalorimeters and its effects on observations
• The particle background of the X-IFU instrument
• Contribution of the electron-phonon interaction to Lindhard energy partition at low energy in Ge and Si detectors for astroparticle physics applications

Cited by in corpus (4)

• The particle background of the X-IFU instrument
• The Demonstration Model of the ATHENA X-IFU Cryogenic AntiCoincidence Detector
• The TES-based Cryogenic AntiCoincidence Detector (CryoAC) of ATHENA X-IFU: a large area silicon microcalorimeter for background particles detection
• Reproducibility and monitoring of the instrumental particle background for the X-Ray Integral Field Unit