Athena Mission Update Mike Watson University of Leicester
Topics Athena Mission introduc7on Mission status Schedule ESA study/assessment X- ray op7cs progress Poten7al UK roles
Athena in context If T 0 is launch. for XMM- Newton today = T 0 + 16 years whilst for Athena today = T 0 13 years 1990 2000 2010 2020 2030 XMM adop7on launch Athena adop7on launch
Athena The Hot and Energetic Universe ESA XEUS concept 1996 ESA + JAXA XEUS CV proposal 2007 ESA ESA + JAXA + NASA IXO concept 2008 (+ JAXA, NASA?) ATHENA concept 2011 ATHENA+ 2013 NASA Constellation-X concept 1995-6 Athena Advanced Telescope for High Energy Astrophysics 4
Evolu7on of capabili7es
L2 orbit Ariane 6 Mass < 5100 kg Power 2500 W 5+ year mission The Athena Mission Europe s Next Genera7on X- ray Observatory Willingale et al, 2013 arxiv1308.6785 Silicon Pore Optics: 2 m 2 at 1 kev 5 arcsec HEW Focal length: 12 m Sensitivity: 3 10-17 erg cm -2 s -1 X-ray Integral Field Unit (X-IFU): ΔE: 2.5 ev Field of View: 5 arcmin Operating temp: 50 mk Barret et al., 2013 arxiv:1308.6784 Wide Field Imager (WFI): ΔE: <150 ev Field of View: 40 arcmin High countrate capability Rau et al. 2013 arxiv1307.1709
The Athena X-ray Integral Field Unit (X-IFU) the 3D view of the Hot and Energetic Universe Cryogenic imaging spectrometer, based on Transition Edge Sensors, operated at 50 mk through a multi-stage cooling chain and featuring an active cryogenic background rejection subsystem European consortium led by CNES/IRAP-F Spectral resolution 2.5 ev, FoV 5 diameter Will be able to: Measure cluster gas bulk velocities and turbulence down to 20 km/s Detect weak unresolved lines from WHIM filaments (3mÅ), GRB afterglows, etc. Use emission lines (eg OVII triplet) to perform Barret et al 2013 plasma diagnostics in a variety of astrophysical environments Athena Advanced Telescope for High Energy Astrophysics 7
The Athena Wide Field Imager (WFI) A deep and wide view of the X-ray Universe Active Pixel Sensor array based on Si DEPFET technology Key performance parameters: Field of view: 40 x40 <150 ev spectral resolution, 2.3 pixel size (PSF oversampling) Count rate capability ~1 Crab Slow and fast chips deep wide field imaging and high count-rate, high time resolution European consortium led by MPE-D Rau et al 2013, arxiv1308.6785 Athena Advanced Telescope for High Energy Astrophysics 8
Athena Fundamental Science Ques8ons How does ordinary maxer assemble in large scale structures that we see today? Most of the ordinary ma0er in the Universe is locked in gas at X- ray temperatures How do black holes grow and shape the Universe? 15 % of the (luminous) energy in the Universe is from accre@on Cosmic Web Feedback Processes Black Hole Accretion
Science requirements Requirement Effective Area 2m 2 @ 1 kev (goal 2.5m 2 ) 0.25m 2 @ 6 kev (goal 0.3m 2 ) Driver Hot Baryons Black hole evolution Accretion Physics Angular Resolution 5 (goal of 3 ) Black Hole Evolution Hot Baryons Fields of view WFI: 40 diameter (goal 50 ) X-IFU: 5 x 5 (goal 7 x 7 ) Hot Baryons Black Hole Evolution Spectral resolution 150 ev @ 6 kev (WFI) 2.5 ev (X-IFU) goal 1.5 ev Black Hole Evolution Hot Baryons Count rate capability >1 Crab Accretion Physics Timing resolution 50 µs Accretion Physics TOO response 8 hours (2 hours goal) Hot Baryons 05/11/15 Athena Advanced Telescope for High Energy Astrophysics 10 10
A t h e n a : E x p l o r i n g t h e H o t a n d E n e r g e 7 c U n i v e r s e High redshift galaxy group 1000 z=7 10-1 500 10-2 vfv Normalised Counts/s/keV 1 z=1 200 10-3 10-4 0.5 0.1 Primordial stellar populations via GRB afterglow follow up 1 Energy (kev) 100 2 Black hole feedback at peak of activity in Universe 0.030 v=0.2c 0.01 z=2 Athena+ Deep Field Nandra, Barret, Barcons, Fabian, den Herder, Piro, Watson et al. 2013 arxiv 1306.2307 Normalised Counts/s/keV Normalised Counts/s/keV 0.025 0.2 0.5 1 Energy (kev) Obscured black hole in the early Universe z=8 0.020 Fe Kα 0.015 0.010 0.005 0-0.005 1.5 2.0 2.5 Energy (kev) 3.0-0.010 0.67 0.68 0.69 Energy (kev) 0.70
Overall schedule Phase 0/A/B1: 2014-2018 AO for instruments and science ground system: Q2 2016 Mission adop8on: 2020 Phase B2/C/D: 2020 2028 Launch 2028 Nominal mission 2028-2033 Extended mission 2033-2037
Assessment phase ac8vi8es Define mission architecture and s/c design completed in Phase 0 Primarily defined by CDF (Concurrent Design Facility) runs Changes wrt Athena proposal emerging (pressure points) descope of op7cs area to 1.5 m 2? best efforts ToO? moveable op@cs assembly instead of focal plane interchange mechanism Key topics for rest of Phase A SPO Mirror Modules (MM) & Mirror Assembly (MA) related technology developments The X- IFU Cryogenic Chain (CC) related technology developments Instrument Switching Mechanism (ISM) ATHENA radia@on and background modelling Op@cs and instruments need to reach TRL 5/6 by adop@on
X- ray op7cs: CDF study effec7ve area
Athena The Hot and Energetic Universe Silicon Pore Optics Athena Advanced Telescope for High Energy Astrophysics 15
X- ray op7cs Athena op7cs technology development con7nues focusing on: the angular resolu8on the environmental compa8bility and industrialisa8on for the middle, inner and outer mirror modules required X- ray test facili8es HEW 10 already achieved PSF uniform over different plates
UK contribu8ons to Athena poten7ally funded by UKSA Hardware contribu7on to Athena instruments WFI: Leicester & OU power condi7oning unit mechanical structure graded- Z shield for background reduc7on micrometeoroid impact study X- IFU: MSSL power supply unit Mission contribu7ons Athena Science Data Centre (ASDC) X- ray op7cs design & op7misa7on membership of Athena Working Groups: 60+ UK astronomers
Join one of the Athena Working Groups hxp://fs6.formsite.com/athena2028/form4/index.html