Wide field x-ray telescope a moderate class mission

• Main Authors: Murray, Stephen S. (Author), Giacconi, R. (Author), Ptak, A. (Author), Rosati, P. (Author), Weisskopf, M. (Author), Borgani, S. (Author), Jones, C. (Author), Parseschi, G. (Author), Tozzi, P. (Author), Gilli, R. (Author), Campana, S. (Author), Paolillo, M. (Author), Tagliaferri, G. (Author), Bautz, Marshall W. (Contributor), Vikhlinin, A. (Author), Hickox, R. C. (Author), Forman, W. R. (Author)
• Other Authors: MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research (Contributor), Bautz, Mark W. (Contributor)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: SPIE (Society of Photo-optical Instrumentation Engineers), 2011-07-20T20:51:52Z.
• Subjects: Article
• Online Access: Get fulltext

Sensitive surveys of the X-ray universe have been limited to small areas of the sky due to the intrinsically small field of view of Wolter-I X-ray optics, whose angular resolution degrades with the square of the off axis angle. High angular resolution is needed to achieve a low background per source, minimize source confusion, and distinguish point from extended objects. WFXT consists of three co-aligned wide field X-ray telescopes with a 1° [1 degree] field of view and a≲ 10" [10 inches] (goal of 5" [5 inches]) angular resolution (HEW) over the full field. Total effective area at 1 keV will be > 5000 cm2 [cm superscript 2]. WFXT will perform three surveys that will cover most of the extragalactic sky to 100-1000 times the sensitivity of the ROSAT All Sky Survey, ≳ 2000 deg2 [deg superscript 2] to deep Chandra or XMM-Newton sensitivity, and ≳ 100 deg2 [deg superscript 2] to the deepest Chandra sensitivity. WFXT will generate a legacy X-ray data set of ≳ 5 x 105 [10 superscript 5] clusters and groups of galaxies to z ~ 2, also characterizing the physics of the intracluster gas for a significant fraction of them, thus providing an unprecedented data set for cosmological applications; it will detect > 107 [10 superscript 7] AGN to z > 6, again obtaining spectra for a substantial fraction; it will detect > 105 [10 superscript 5] normal/starburst galaxies; and it will detect and characterize star formation regions across the Galaxy. WFXT is the only X-ray survey mission that will match, in area and sensitivity, the next generation of wide-area optical, IR and radio surveys. http://wfxt.pha.jhu.edu