No Arabic abstract
The SRG observatory, equipped with the X-ray telescopes Mikhail Pavlinsky ART-XC and eROSITA, was launched by Roscosmos to the L2 point on July 13, 2019. The launch was carried out from Baikonur by a Proton-M rocket with a DM-03 upper stage. The German telescope eROSITA was installed on SRG under agreement between Roskosmos and DLR. In December 2019, SRG started to scan the celestial sphere in order to obtain X-ray maps of the entire sky in several energy bands (from 0.3 to 8 keV, eROSITA, and from 4 to 30 keV, ART-XC). By mid-December 2020, the second full-sky scan had been completed. Over 4 years, 8 independent maps of the sky will be obtained. Their sum will reveal more than three million quasars and over one hundred thousand galaxy clusters and groups. The availability of 8 sky maps will enable monitoring of long-term variability (every six months) of a huge number of extragalactic and Galactic X-ray sources, including hundreds of thousands of stars. Rotation of the satellite around the axis directed toward the Sun with a period of 4 hours makes it possible to track faster variability of bright X-ray sources. The chosen scanning strategy leads to the formation of deep survey zones near both ecliptic poles. We present sky maps obtained by the telescopes aboard SRG during the first scan of the sky and a number of results of deep observations performed during the flight to L2, demonstrating the capabilities of the Observatory in imaging, spectroscopy and timing. In December 2023 the Observatory will switch for at least two years to observations of the most interesting sources in the sky in triaxial orientation mode and deep scanning of selected fields with an area of up to 150 sq. deg. These modes of operation were tested during the Performance Verification phase. Every day, SRG data are dumped onto the largest antennae of the Russian Deep Space Network in Bear Lakes and near Ussuriysk.
eROSITA (extended ROentgen Survey with an Imaging Telescope Array) is the primary instrument on the Spectrum-Roentgen-Gamma (SRG) mission, which was successfully launched on July 13, 2019, from the Baikonour cosmodrome. After the commissioning of the instrument and a subsequent calibration and performance verification phase, eROSITA started a survey of the entire sky on December 13, 2019. By the end of 2023, eight complete scans of the celestial sphere will have been performed, each lasting six months. At the end of this program, the eROSITA all-sky survey in the soft X-ray band (0.2--2.3,keV) will be about 25 times more sensitive than the ROSAT All-Sky Survey, while in the hard band (2.3--8,keV) it will provide the first ever true imaging survey of the sky. The eROSITA design driving science is the detection of large samples of galaxy clusters up to redshifts $z>1$ in order to study the large-scale structure of the universe and test cosmological models including Dark Energy. In addition, eROSITA is expected to yield a sample of a few million AGNs, including obscured objects, revolutionizing our view of the evolution of supermassive black holes. The survey will also provide new insights into a wide range of astrophysical phenomena, including X-ray binaries, active stars, and diffuse emission within the Galaxy. Results from early observations, some of which are presented here, confirm that the performance of the instrument is able to fulfil its scientific promise. With this paper, we aim to give a concise description of the instrument, its performance as measured on ground, its operation in space, and also the first results from in-orbit measurements.
ART-XC (Astronomical Roentgen Telescope - X-ray Concentrator) is the hard X-ray instrument with grazing incidence imaging optics on board the Spektr-Roentgen-Gamma (SRG) observatory. The SRG observatory is the flagship astrophysical mission of the Russian Federal Space Program, which was successively launched into orbit around the second Lagrangian point (L2) of the Earth-Sun system with a Proton rocket from the Baikonur cosmodrome on 13 July 2019. The ART-XC telescope will provide the first ever true imaging all-sky survey performed with grazing incidence optics in the 4-30 keV energy band and will obtain the deepest and sharpest map of the sky in the energy range of 4-12 keV. Observations performed during the early calibration and performance verification phase as well as during the on-going all-sky survey that started on 12 Dec. 2019 have demonstrated that the in-flight characteristics of the ART-XC telescope are very close to expectations based on the results of ground calibrations. Upon completion of its 4-year all-sky survey, ART-XC is expected to detect ~5000 sources (~3000 active galactic nuclei, including heavily obscured ones, several hundred clusters of galaxies, ~1000 cataclysmic variables and other Galactic sources), and to provide a high-quality map of the Galactic background emission in the 4-12 keV energy band. ART-XC is also well suited for discovering transient X-ray sources. In this paper, we describe the telescope, results of its ground calibrations, major aspects of the mission, the in-flight performance of ART-XC and first scientific results.
X-ray polarimetry promises to give qualitatively new information about high-energy sources. Examples of interesting source classes are binary black hole systems, rotation and accretion powered neutron stars, Microquasars, Active Galactic Nuclei and Gamma-Ray Bursts. Furthermore, X-ray polarimetry affords the possibility for testing fundamental physics, e.g. to observe signatures of light bending in the strong gravitational field of a black hole, to detect third order Quantum Electrodynamic effects in the magnetosphere of Magnetars, and to perform sensitive tests of Lorentz Invariance. In this paper we discuss scientific drivers of hard (>10 keV) X-ray polarimetry emphasizing how observations in the hard band can complement observations at lower energies (0.1 - 10 keV). Subsequently, we describe four different technical realizations of hard X-ray polarimeters suitable for small to medium sized space borne missions, and study their performance in the signal-dominated case based on Monte Carlo simulations. We end with confronting the instrument requirements for accomplishing the science goals with the capabilities of the four polarimeters.
PAMELA is a satellite borne experiment designed to study with great accuracy cosmic rays of galactic, solar, and trapped nature in a wide energy range (protons: 80 MeV-700 GeV, electrons 50 MeV-400 GeV). Main objective is the study of the antimatter component: antiprotons (80 MeV-190 GeV), positrons (50 MeV-270 GeV) and search for antimatter with a precision of the order of $10^{-8}$). The experiment, housed on board the Russian Resurs-DK1 satellite, was launched on June, 15 2006 in a $350times 600 km$ orbit with an inclination of 70 degrees. The detector is composed of a series of scintillator counters arranged at the extremities of a permanent magnet spectrometer to provide charge, Time-of-Flight and rigidity information. Lepton/hadron identification is performed by a Silicon-Tungsten calorimeter and a Neutron detector placed at the bottom of the device. An Anticounter system is used offline to reject false triggers coming from the satellite. In self-trigger mode the Calorimeter, the neutron detector and a shower tail catcher are capable of an independent measure of the lepton component up to 2 TeV. In this work we describe the experiment, its scientific objectives and the performance in its first two years of operation. Data on protons of trapped, secondary and galactic nature - as well as measurements of the December 13 2006 Solar Particle Event - are provided.
We outline scientific objectives for monitoring X-ray sources and transients with wide-angle, coded mask cameras. It is now possible to instantaneously view half of the sky over long time intervals, gaining access to events of extraordinary interest. Solid state detectors can raise the quality of data products for bright sources to levels associated with pointed instruments. There are diverse ways to advance high energy astrophysics and quantitative applications for general relativity.