With about 350 refereed papers published each year, XMM-Newton is one of the most successful scientific missions of ESA ever. The talk summarizes the status of the mission and introduces the main performance indicators, which characterize the scientific impact of the mission. The talk gives then an overview of recent research highlights, which are indicative of the main developments of current...
I will summarise Chandra’s scientific legacy during the first 20 years of operation. This includes key results across the full range of astrophysics enabled by Chandra’s unique spatial resolution, spectral resolution, broad dynamic range and longevity, as well as its’ major impact on our community. Looking forward to the next 10 years, I will summarise Chandra’s current status, and the rich...
The next generation of wide-area, sensitive X-ray surveys designed to map the hot and energetic Universe will be heralded by eROSITA (extended ROentgen Survey with an Imaging Telescope Array), the core instrument on the Russian-German Spektrum-Roentgen-Gamma (SRG) mission, successfully launched in July 2019. eROSITA will perform a deep survey of the entire X-ray sky, and will be about 30 times...
I discuss how several of the proposed models for space-time quantization predict an energy dependent speed for photons.
Although the predicted discrepancies with the general speed of light are minuscule, I discuss how it is possible to detect this intriguing signature of space-time granularity with a new concept of modular observatory for photons in the energy band from few keV to few MeV....
We present the concept of a future Japan-lead X-ray medium-class mission, FORCE (Focusing On Relativistic universe and Cosmic Evolution). FORCE is characterized by broadband (1-80 keV) X-ray imaging spectroscopy with high angular resolution (<15"). The sensitivity above 10 keV will be 10 times higher than that of any previous hard X-ray missions. FORCE will trace the cosmic formation history...
We have invented a new type of X-ray interferometers, MIXIM, which simply consists of a grating (multiple slits) and a pixel detector. This configuration provides X-ray images as multiple slit camera can do. If we employ a grating of a pitch d of 5micrometer, and opening fraction f of 0.2 separated from the detector by the distance z of 50cm, we expect the image width of 0.4’’. It suggests...
Athena (The Advanced Telescope for High Energy Astrophysics) is a next-generation X-ray observatory to address the Hot and Energetic Universe science theme, selected by ESA as the second large mission of the Cosmic Vision program. The driving science of the mission is to understand the formation and evolution of hot gas structures in the Universe, and the growth and evolution of supermassive...
X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) is the mission to resume high resolution X-ray spectroscopy with imaging once realized but unexpectedly terminated by a mishap of Hitomi. This innovative, JAXA-led international project being developed in collaboration with NASA, ESA, and other world wide partners, focuses on large scale flows of energy and matter in the universe with the...
Almost half a century will have passed since the first satellite experiment to attempt to measure the polarization of non-solar X-ray sources, the Bragg crystal polarimeter aboard the Orbiting Solar Observatory number 8, was performed. NASA’s Small Explorer Mission, the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE), which I have the privilege to be the Principal Investigator of, is scheduled for...
The Transient High-Energy Sky and Early Universe Surveyor (THESEUS) is a space mission concept currently under Phase A study by ESA as candidate M5 mission, aiming at exploiting Gamma-Ray Bursts for investigating the early Universe and at providing a substantial advancement of multi-messenger and time-domain astrophysics. Through an unprecedented combination of X-/gamma-rays monitors, and...
There is strong evidence for a link between the growth of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) and their host galaxies. Active galactic nuclei (AGN) powered by accretion onto SMBHs release a huge amount of energy in the surrounding medium in the form of radiation, winds and jets. This phenomenon also known as AGN feedback has been invoked to regulate the growth of SMBHs and their host galaxies as...
This talk will summarize the status of and prospects for future NASA X-ray astronomy missions. Although there is only one NASA X-ray astronomy mission currently under development (the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer), there are several promising candidates for selection over the next 2-3 years through NASA’s Small and mid-sized Explorer (SMEX and MIDEX) solicitations, including Arcus and...
The enhanced X-ray Timing and Polarimetry (eXTP), a large international space science mission led by China with major contributions from many European countries and other international partners, is designed to study fundamental physics under extreme conditions of density, gravity and magnetism. eXTP will carry two sets of focusing X-ray telescopes for spectroscopy (9 telescopes) and...
