LECX: a cubesat experiment to detect and localize cosmic explosions in hard X rays


Abstract in English

With the advent of the nanosat/cubesat revolution, new opportunities have appeared to develop and launch small ($sim$ts 1000 cm$^3$), low-cost ($sim$ts US$ 1M) experiments in space in very short timeframes ($sim$ 2ts years). In the field of high-energy astrophysics, in particular, it is a considerable challenge to design instruments with compelling science and competitive capabilities that can fit in very small satellite buses such as a cubesat platform, and operate them with very limited resources. Here we describe a hard X-ray (30--200ts keV) experiment, LECX (Localizador de Explos~oes Cosmicas de Raios X -- Locator of X-Ray Cosmic Explosions), that is capable of detecting and localizing within a few degrees events like Gamma-Ray Bursts and other explosive phenomena in a 2U-cubesat platform, at a rate of $sim${bf 5 events year$^{-1}$.} In the current gravitational wave era of astronomy, a constellation or swarm of small spacecraft carrying instruments such as LECX can be a very cost-effective way to search for electromagnetic counterparts of gravitational wave events produced by the coalescence of compact objects.

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