The International X-ray Observatory - RFI#1

TL;DR

The International X-ray Observatory (IXO) aims to address key astrophysical questions by providing unprecedented X-ray observational capabilities, enabling detailed studies of black holes, galaxy clusters, and cosmic web structures.

Contribution

IXO introduces significantly enhanced X-ray optics and instruments, offering 20 times more collecting area and 100 times better spectroscopy than previous missions.

Findings

Enhanced ability to study black hole environments near event horizons

Mapping of large-scale cosmic structures and baryon distribution

Improved spectral imaging and timing capabilities

Abstract

The International X-ray Observatory (IXO), a joint NASA-ESA-JAXA effort, will address fundamental and timely questions in astrophysics: What happens close to a black hole? How did supermassive black holes grow? How does large scale structure form? What is the connection between these processes? To address these science questions, IXO will trace orbits close to the event horizon of black holes, measure black hole spin for several hundred active galactic nuclei (AGN), use spectroscopy to characterize outflows and the environment of AGN during their peak activity, search for supermassive black holes out to redshift z = 10, map bulk motions and turbulence in galaxy clusters, find the missing baryons in the cosmic web using background quasars, and observe the process of cosmic feedback where black holes inject energy on galactic and intergalactic scales. IXO will employ optics with 20 times more collecting area at 1 keV than any previous X-ray observatory. Focal plane instruments will deliver a 100-fold increase in effective area for high-resolution spectroscopy, deep spectral imaging over a wide field of view, unprecedented polarimetric sensitivity, microsecond spectroscopic timing, and high count rate capability. The improvement of IXO relative to current X-ray missions is equivalent to a transition from the 200 inch Palomar telescope to a 22m telescope while at the same time shifting from spectral band imaging to an integral field spectrograph.