Overview of the Advanced X-ray Imaging Satellite (AXIS)

Reynolds, Christopher S; Kara, Erin A; Mushotzky, Richard F; Ptak, Andrew; Koss, Michael J; Williams, Brian J; Allen, Steven W; Bauer, Franz E; Bautz, Marshall; Bodaghee, Arash; Burdge, Kevin B; Cappelluti, Nico; Cenko, Brad; Chartas, George; Chan, Kai-Wing; Corrales, Lía; Daylan, Tansu; Falcone, Abraham D; Foord, Adi; Grant, Catherine E; Habouzit, Mélanie; Haggard, Daryl; Herrmann, Sven; Hodges-Kluck, Edmund; Kargaltsev, Oleg; King, George W; Kounkel, Marina; Lopez, Laura A; Marchesi, Stefano; Mcdonald, Michael; Meyer, Eileen; Miller, Eric D; Nynka, Melania; Okajima, Takashi; Pacucci, Fabio; Russell, Helen R; Safi-Harb, Samar; Stassun, Keivan G; Trindade, Anna; Dd, Falcão; Walker, Stephen A; Wilms, Joern; Yukita, Mihoko; Zhang, William W

Abstract

The Advanced X-ray Imaging Satellite (AXIS) is a Probe-class concept that will build on the legacy of the Chandra X-ray Observatory by providing low-background, arcsecond-resolution imaging in the 0.3-10 keV band across a 450 arcminute 2 field of view, with an order of magnitude improvement in sensitivity. AXIS utilizes breakthroughs in the construction of lightweight segmented X-ray optics using single-crystal silicon, and developments in the fabrication of large-format, small-pixel, high readout rate CCD detectors with good spectral resolution, allowing a robust and cost-effective design. Further, AXIS will be responsive to target-of-opportunity alerts and, with onboard transient detection, will be a powerful facility for studying the time-varying X-ray universe, following on from the legacy of the Neil Gehrels (Swift) X-ray observatory that revolutionized studies of the transient X-ray Universe. In this paper, we present an overview of AXIS, highlighting the prime science objectives driving the AXIS concept and how the observatory design will achieve these objectives.

Citation

Reynolds, C. S., Kara, E. A., Mushotzky, R. F., Ptak, A., Koss, M. J., Williams, B. J., Allen, S. W., Bauer, F. E., Bautz, M., Bodaghee, A., Burdge, K. B., Cappelluti, N., Cenko, B., Chartas, G., Chan, K.-W., Corrales, L., Daylan, T., Falcone, A. D., Foord, A., Grant, C. E., …Zhang, W. W. (2023, August). Overview of the Advanced X-ray Imaging Satellite (AXIS). Presented at SPIE Optical Engineering + Applications, 2023, San Diego, USA

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (published)
• Conference Name: SPIE Optical Engineering + Applications, 2023
• Start Date: Aug 20, 2023
• End Date: Aug 25, 2023
• Acceptance Date: Oct 1, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Oct 5, 2023
• Publication Date: Oct 5, 2023
• Deposit Date: Jul 3, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 8, 2024
• Journal: Poceedings of SPIE-The International Society for Optical Engineering
• Print ISSN: 0277-786X
• Electronic ISSN: 1996-756X
• Publisher: Society of Photo-optical Instrumentation Engineers
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 12678
• Book Title: UV, X-Ray, and Gamma-Ray Space Instrumentation for Astronomy XXIII
• ISBN: 9781510665705
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2677468
• Keywords: X-ray astronomy; X-ray optics; X-ray detectors; APEX Probe missions
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/36869532
• Publisher URL: https://www.spiedigitallibrary.org/conference-proceedings-of-spie/12678/2677468/Overview-of-the-advanced-x-ray-imaging-satellite-AXIS/10.1117/12.2677468.short