Large light X-ray optics: basic ideas and concepts

One of the main guidelines for future X-ray astronomy projects like, e.g., XEUS (ESA) and Generation-X (NASA) is to utilize grazing-incidence focusing optics with extremely large telescopes (several tens of m² at 1 keV), with a dramatic increase in collecting area of about two order of magnitude compared to the current X-ray telescopes. In order to avoid the problem of the source's confusion limit at low fluxes, the angular resolution required for these optics should be superb (a few arcsec at most). The enormous mirror dimensions together with the high imaging performances give rise to a number of manufacturing problems. It is basically impossible to realize so large mirrors from closed Wolter I shells which benefit from high mechanical stiffness. Instead the mirrors need to be formed as rectangular segments and a series of them will be assembled in a petal. Taking into account the realistic load capabilities of space launchers, to be able to put in orbit so large mirror modules the mass/geometric-area ratio of the optics should be very small. Finally, with a so large optics mass it would be very difficult to provide the electric power for an optics thermal active control, able to maintain the mirrors at the usual temperature of 20 °C. Therefore, very likely, the optics will instead operate in extreme thermal conditions, with the mirror temperature oscillating between −30 and −40 °C, that tends to exclude the epoxy replication approach (the mismatch between the CTE of the substrate and that of the resin would cause prohibitively large deformations of the mirror surface profiles). From these considerations light weight materials with high thermal–mechanical properties such as glass or ceramics become attractive to realize the mirrors of future Xray telescopes. In this paper, we will discuss a segments manufacturing method based on Borofloat^TM glass. A series of finite element analysis concerning different aspects of the production, testing and integration of the optics are also presented as well.     

X-rays from the first massive black holes

X-ray studies of high-redshift (z > 4) active galaxies have advanced substantially over the past few years, largely due to results from the new generation of X-ray observatories. As of this writing X-ray emission has been detected from nearly 60 high-redshift active galaxies. This paper reviews the observational results and their implications for models of the first massive black holes, and it discusses future prospects for the field.     

Fluid instabilities around accreting X-ray sources

Some aspects of fluid instabilities occurring in the magnetospheres of accreting neutron stars are discussed. It is pointed out that (i) in the absence of strong differential rotation, the accreting plasma should be drawn out into spiralling, sheet-like structures, resulting in efficient mixing between the two media; (ii) the Rayleigh-Taylor instability also acts to limit the X-ray luminosity in super-critical sources; and (iii) magnetic shear has a strong stabilizing influence on Kelvin-Helmholtz modes, and its presence may allow substantial amounts of material to be supported around the magnetosphere.     

Black hole accretion and X-ray spectra of QSOS

Changes in Eddington accretion ratios are thought to result in X-ray spectral index changes in Galactic binary black hole systems. Objects with higher Eddington ratios have softer X-ray spectra. Can we apply this result to much more massive black hole systems such as QSOs? If so, X-ray observations will give us valuable insight into the physics of QSOs. Among QSOs, X-ray spectral index is part of a large set of correlated optical and UV observational properties, especially optical Fe II and [O III] strengths in the Hβ region. To investigate whether this set of correlations is related to Eddington ratio, we use as probes, BALQSOs that have been suggested to be youthful super-accretors. We conducted infrared spectroscopy of the Hβ rest wavelength region for a sample of BALQSOs and compared line measurements with those for high and low redshift non-BAL QSOs. Hβ line widths and bolometric luminosity are used to calculate QSO black hole masses and Eddington ratios. Our results support the hypothesis that optical Fe II and [O III] line strengths are Eddington ratio indicators in QSO central engines. A possible explanation is that strong Fe II and weak [O III] indicate abundant cold gas that could fuel near Eddington accretion.     

The impact of large solar events on the total electron content of the ionosphere at mid latitudes

Ionospheric disturbances associated with solar activity may occur via two basic mechanisms. The first is related to the direct impact on the ionosphere of EUV photons from a flare, and the second by prompt electric field penetration into the magnetosphere during geomagnetic storms. In this paper we examine the possibility that these two mechanisms may have an impact at mid latitudes by calculating the total electron content (TEC) from GPS stations in Mexico during several large X-ray flares. We have found that indeed large, complex flares, which are well located, may affect the mid latitude ionosphere. In fact, in the solar events of July 14, 2000 and April 2001 storms, ionospheric disturbances were observed to increase up to 138 and 150 TECu, respectively, due to the influence of EUV photons. Also, during the solar events of July 2000, April 2001, Halloween 2003, January 2005 and December 2006, there are large ionospheric disturbances (up to 393 TECu in the Halloween Storms), due to prompt penetration electric field, associated with CME producing geomagnetic storm.     

Evidence of the radio-quiet hard X-ray precursor of the 13 December 2006 solar flare

We report multi-wavelength investigation of the pre-impulsive phase of the 13 December 2006 X-class solar flare. We use hard X-ray data from the anticoincidence system of spectrometer onboard INTEGRAL (ACS) jointly with soft X-ray data from the GOES-12 and Hinode satellites. Radio data are from Nobeyama and Learmonth solar observatories and from the Culgoora Solar Radio Spectrograph. The main finding of our analysis is a spiky increase of the ACS count rate accompanied by surprisingly gradual and weak growth of microwave emission and without detectable radio emission at meter and decimeter wavelengths about 10 min prior to the impulsive phase of the solar flare. At the time of this pre-flare hard X-ray burst the onset of the GOES soft X-ray event has been reported, positive derivative of the GOES soft X-ray flux started to rise and a bright spot has appeared in the images of the Hinode X-ray telescope (XRT) between the flare ribbons near the magnetic inversion line close to the sources of thermal and non-thermal hard X-ray emission observed by Reuven Ramaty High-Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI) during the flare. These facts we consider as evidences of solar origin of the increased pre-flare ACS count rate. We briefly discuss a possible cause of the pre-flare emission peculiarities.     

Constraining the mass of the black hole GX 339-4 using spectro-temporal analysis of multiple outbursts

We carried out spectro-temporal analysis of the archived data from multiple outbursts spanning over the last two decades from the black hole X-ray binary GX 339-4. In this paper, the mass of the compact object in the X-ray binary system GX 339-4 is constrained based on three indirect methods. The first method uses broadband spectral modelling with a two component flow structure of the accretion around the black hole. The broadband data are obtained from RXTE (Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer) in the range 3.0 to 150.0?keV and from Swift and NuSTAR (Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array) simultaneously in the range 0.5 to 79.0?keV. In the second method, we model the time evolution of Quasi-periodic Oscillation (QPO) frequencies, considering it to be the result of an oscillating shock that radially propagates towards or away from the compact object. The third method is based on scaling a mass dependent parameter from an empirical model of the photon index ($\mathrm{\Gamma }$) – QPO ($\nu$) correlation. We compare the results at 90 percent confidence from the three methods and summarize the mass estimate of the central object to be in the range $8.28–11.89M_{\odot }$.     

面向编队飞行的天文多普勒差分/脉冲星组合导航

太阳光较强,太阳多普勒差分导航测量精度高,但难以提供多方位速度信息。恒星星光弱,恒星多普勒差分导航测量精度低,但可提供多方位速度信息。为了提高航天器的天文自主导航能力,提出一种面向编队飞行的天文多普勒差分/脉冲星组合导航方法。利用3颗及以上的脉冲星导航是完全可观测的,但滤波周期较长,难以获得连续的导航信息。3种导航方法具有互补性,可以进行组合导航。利用扩展卡尔曼滤波器作为导航滤波器来融合天文多普勒差分和脉冲到达时间,并为编队飞行提供绝对和相对导航信息。仿真结果表明,该组合导航方法能为编队飞行提供高精度的绝对和相对导航信息。     

脉冲星导航在高精度卫星轨道修正中的应用

X射线脉冲星导航系统(XNAV,X-ray Pulsar Based Navigation)能够为航天器提供自主的定位服务,但是XNAV存在精度较差,且受航天器钟差和脉冲星时间模型误差的影响而产生近似常值偏差的缺点.分析与仿真指出,在采用XNAV单独导航时需要2颗脉冲星可达到完全观测,而采用XNAV和星间观测的组合导航时仅需要1颗脉冲星即可达到完全观测,同时组合导航能够将轨道修正的精度提高10倍以上,并将由于常值偏差造成的估计误差抑制在0.2 m以内.在现实的噪声设定下,采用标准XNAV单独进行轨道修正,仅需要两颗脉冲星即可取得50 m以内的估计精度;而采用组合导航时,在单脉冲星的导航方案下,系统的估计精度为5 m以内.分析结果表明:基于单脉冲星导航的组合导航,是一种高精度、低需求,容易实现的卫星轨道估计方案.      

NPF算法在X射线脉冲星导航中的应用研究

针对X射线脉冲星导航中航天器模型的强非线性、高阶模型不确定性等问题,提出应用非线性预测滤波(NPF)算法实时估计航天器的轨道信息。首先,建立具有模型不确定性的X射线脉冲星导航定轨指标函数,优化得到满足指标函数最小的系统模型误差值,通过降低模型不确定性的影响来提高航天器自主定轨精度。对STK生成的“火星探路者”和“金星快车”及“北斗一号”三种航天器轨道数据进行分析,仿真结果表明,该算法比EKF算法具有更高的定轨精度,能够满足深空以及近地轨道航天器的自主定轨精度指标要求。