The Athena X-ray Integral Field Unit (X-IFU)

  • F. Pajot
  • D. Barret
  • T. Lam-Trong
  • J.-W. den Herder
  • L. Piro
  • M. Cappi
  • J. Huovelin
  • R. Kelley
  • J. M. Mas-Hesse
  • K. Mitsuda
  • S. Paltani
  • G. Rauw
  • A. Rozanska
  • J. Wilms
  • M. Barbera
  • F. Douchin
  • H. Geoffray
  • R. den Hartog
  • C. Kilbourne
  • M. Le Du
  • C. Macculi
  • J.-M. Mesnager
  • P. Peille
Article
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Abstract

The X-ray Integral Field Unit (X-IFU) of the Advanced Telescope for High-ENergy Astrophysics (Athena) large-scale mission of ESA will provide spatially resolved high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy from 0.2 to 12 keV, with 5\(^{\prime \prime }\) pixels over a field of view of 5 arc minute equivalent diameter and a spectral resolution of 2.5 eV (FWHM) up to 7 keV. The core scientific objectives of Athena drive the main performance parameters of the X-IFU. We present the current reference configuration of the X-IFU, and the key issues driving the design of the instrument.

Keywords

X-ray astronomy Imaging spectroscopy Microcalorimeter 
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Notes

Acknowledgements

The X-IFU will be provided by an international consortium led by France, The Netherlands and Italy, with further ESA member state contributions from Belgium, Finland, Germany, Poland, Spain, Switzerland and two partners from outside Europe (the USA and Japan). The research leading to the results on thermal filters and non-X-ray background has received funding from European Unions Horizon 2020 Program under the AHEAD Project (Grant Agreement No. 654215). A. Rozanska was supported by Polish National Science Center Grants Nos. 2015/17/B/ST9/03422, 2015/18/M/ST9/00541.

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2018

Authors and Affiliations

  • F. Pajot
    • 1
  • D. Barret
    • 1
  • T. Lam-Trong
    • 2
  • J.-W. den Herder
    • 3
  • L. Piro
    • 4
  • M. Cappi
    • 5
  • J. Huovelin
    • 6
  • R. Kelley
    • 7
  • J. M. Mas-Hesse
    • 8
  • K. Mitsuda
    • 9
  • S. Paltani
    • 10
  • G. Rauw
    • 11
  • A. Rozanska
    • 12
  • J. Wilms
    • 13
  • M. Barbera
    • 14
    • 15
  • F. Douchin
    • 2
  • H. Geoffray
    • 2
  • R. den Hartog
    • 3
  • C. Kilbourne
    • 7
  • M. Le Du
    • 2
  • C. Macculi
    • 4
  • J.-M. Mesnager
    • 2
  • P. Peille
    • 2
  1. 1.IRAP CNRSUniversité Paul SabatierToulouse Cedex 4France
  2. 2.CNESToulouse Cedex 9France
  3. 3.SRONUtrechtThe Netherlands
  4. 4.INAF/IAPSRomeItaly
  5. 5.INAF-IASFBolognaItaly
  6. 6.Division of Geophysics and Astronomy, Department of PhysicsUniversity of HelsinkiHelsinkiFinland
  7. 7.NASA/Goddard Space Flight CenterGreenbeltUSA
  8. 8.Centro de Astrobiología, CSIC/INTATorrejón de ArdozSpain
  9. 9.Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS)Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)Chuo-kuJapan
  10. 10.Department of AstronomyUniversity of GenevaVersoixSwitzerland
  11. 11.Institute for Astrophysics and GeophysicsUniversity of LiègeLiègeBelgium
  12. 12.Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical CentrePolish Academy of SciencesWarsawPoland
  13. 13.ECAPUniversity of Erlangen-NürembergBambergGermany
  14. 14.Dipartimento di Fisica e ChimicaUniversità degli Studi di PalermoPalermoItaly
  15. 15.INAF/Osservatorio Astronomico di Palermo G.S. VaianaPalermoItaly

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