The Athena space X-ray Observatory and the astrophysics of hot plasma

Abstract

The properties (temperature, density, chemical composition, velocity) of hot astrophysical plasma and the physical processes affecting them (heating/cooling, turbulence, shocks, acceleration) can be probed by high resolution X-ray spectroscopy, to be complemented by high spatial resolution imaging. The paper presents a status of the ESA's Advanced Telescope for High Energy Astrophysics (Athena) mission, particularly focusing on the science performance of its two focal plane instruments for the studies of extended X-ray sources: the Wide Field Imager (WFI) and the X-ray Integral Field Unit (X-IFU). This paper then provides a brief summary of the breakthroughs expected with Athena on the astrophysics of hot plasma, building on the vast heritage of the discoveries and revolutionary results obtained by Chandra and XMM-Newton in this field. As of November 12th, 2019, Athena successfully concluded its feasibility study, and has since then moved into the definition phase, with a launch date scheduled in the early 2030s.

12 pages, 9 figures, Proceedings of the XMM-Newton 2019 science workshop "Astrophysics of hot plasma in extended X -ray sources", accepted for publication in Astronomische Nachrichten

References in corpus (10)

• The Quiescent Intracluster Medium in the Core of the Perseus Cluster
• The galaxy cluster mass scale and its impact on cosmological constraints from the cluster population
• The Galactic Centre Chimney
• The Athena X-ray Integral Field Unit (X-IFU)
• Solar abundance ratios of the iron-peak elements in the Perseus Cluster
• Constraining Gas Motions in the Intra-Cluster Medium
• Physical properties of the X-ray gas as a dynamical diagnosis for galaxy clusters
• XMM-Newton RGS spectroscopy of the M31 bulge. I: Evidences for a past AGN half a million years ago
• Unlocking the Capabilities of Future High-Resolution X-ray Spectroscopy Missions Through Laboratory Astrophysics
• Probing Macro-Scale Gas Motions and Turbulence in Diffuse Cosmic Plasmas

Cited by in corpus (54)

• Feedback from Active Galactic Nuclei in Galaxy Groups
• The NewAthena mission concept in the context of the next decade of X-ray astronomy
• Evolution of gas disc-embedded intermediate mass ratio inspirals in the LISA band
• A Review of X-ray Microcalorimeters Based on Superconducting Transition Edge Sensors for Astrophysics and Particle Physics
• Fermi and eRosita bubbles as relics of the past activity of the Galactic black hole
• On the cosmic evolution of AGN obscuration and the X-ray luminosity function: XMM-Newton and Chandra spectral analysis of the 31.3 deg${}^2$ Stripe 82X
• Spectroscopic observations of PHz G237.01+42.50: A galaxy protocluster at z=2.16 in the Cosmos field
• The soft excess of the NLS1 galaxy Mrk 359 studied with an XMM-Newton-NuSTAR monitoring campaign
• A Supernova Candidate at z=0.092 in XMM-Newton Archival Data
• The Chemical Evolution of Galaxy Clusters: Dissecting the Iron Mass Budget of the Intracluster Medium
• Stability of Cool Cores During Galaxy Cluster Growth: A Joint $Chandra$/SPT Analysis of 67 Galaxy Clusters Along a Common Evolutionary Track Spanning 9 Gyr
• High Aspect Ratio Transition Edge Sensors for X-ray Spectrometry
• Near L-Edge Single and Multiple Photoionization of Doubly Charged Iron Ions
• ATHENA X-IFU Demonstration Model: First joint operation of the main TES Array and its Cryogenic AntiCoincidence Detector (CryoAC)
• Investigating the turbulent hot gas in X-COP galaxy clusters
• The chameleon on the branches: spectral state transition and dips in NGC 247 ULX-1
• Observing the onset of the accretion wake in Vela X-1
• Spectral and polarization properties of reflected X-ray emission from black-hole accretion discs for a distant observer: the lamp-post model
• High resolution X-ray spectroscopy of V4641 Sgr during its 2020 outburst
• Performance and uniformity of a kilo-pixel array of Ti/Au transition-edge sensor microcalorimeters
• X-ray signature of antistars in the Galaxy
• Mitigation of the Magnetic Field Susceptibility of Transition Edge Sensors using a Superconducting Groundplane
• Tracing the 10${}^7$K Warm-Hot Intergalactic Medium with UV absorption lines
• Impact of the absorber coupling design for Transition Edge Sensor X-ray Calorimeters
• Absorption-based Circumgalactic Medium Line Emission Estimates
• X-ray emission of massive stars and their winds
• The Relative Supernovae Contribution to the Chemical Enrichment History of Abell 1837
• On measuring the Hubble constant with X-ray reverberation mapping of active galactic nuclei
• Vibrationally Resolved Inner-Shell Photoexcitation of the Molecular Anion C${}_2^{-}$
• BASS. XLIX. Characterization of highly luminous and obscured AGNs: local X-ray and [NeV]$\lambda$3426 emission in comparison with the high-redshift Universe
• The Hot Interstellar Medium
• Effects of the Hubble Parameter on the Cosmic Growth of the First Quasars
• A search for the missing baryons with X--ray absorption lines towards the blazar 1ES 1553+113
• Physics Beyond the Standard Model with Future X-ray Observatories: Projected Constraints on Very-Light Axion-Like Particles with $Athena$ and $AXIS$
• X-ray cluster cosmology
• Near K-Edge Photoionization and Photoabsorption of Singly, Doubly, and Triply Charged Silicon Ions
• The warm-hot intergalactic medium in inter-cluster filaments -- A forecast for HUBS observations based on eRASS1 superclusters
• A Novel Machine Learning Approach to Disentangle Multi-Temperature Regions in Galaxy Clusters
• Cosmological Simulation of Galaxy Groups and Clusters-II: Studying Different Modes of Feedback through X-ray Observations
• PITSZI: Probing Intra-cluster medium Turbulence with Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Imaging -- Application to the triple merging cluster MACS J0717.5+3745
• X-Ray Redshifts of Obscured Chandra Source Catalog AGN
• Evidence for AGN-Regulated Cooling in Clusters at $z\sim 1.4$: A Multi-Wavelength View of SPT-CL J0607-4448
• Propagation of weak shocks in cool-core galaxy clusters in two-temperature magnetohydrodynamics with anisotropic thermal conduction
• Identifying interesting planetary systems for future X-ray observations
• The THESEUS space mission: science goals, requirements and mission concept
• Core to Cosmic Edge: SIMBA-C's New Take on Abundance Profiles in the Intragroup Medium at z = 0
• The AIDA-TNG project: dark matter profiles and concentrations in alternative dark matter models
• The Athena X-ray Integral Field Unit: a consolidated design for the system requirement review of the preliminary definition phase
• Opening up New Parameter Space for Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter
• Impact of the large-scale cosmic web on the X-ray emitting circumgalactic medium
• Outflows from starburst galaxies with various driving mechanisms and their X-ray properties
• Probing extreme black-hole outflows on short timescales via high spectral-resolution X-ray imagers
• A test of MOND and Emergent Gravity with SMACS J0723.3-7327 using eROSITA observations
• The Scaling Relation between Galaxy Luminosity and WHIM Density from EAGLE Simulations with application to SDSS data