The Microchannel X-ray Telescope for the Gamma-Ray Burst mission SVOM

TL;DR

The Microchannel X-ray Telescope (MXT) on the SVOM mission is a compact, lightweight instrument designed to detect and localize gamma-ray burst afterglows with high sensitivity and accuracy.

Contribution

This paper introduces the MXT, a novel lightweight X-ray telescope utilizing micro-channel plates and a pnCCD, optimized for rapid GRB afterglow detection on the SVOM mission.

Findings

Effective area of about 50 cm²

Point spread function better than 3.7 arcmin

Can localize GRB afterglows within 60 arcsec in 5 minutes

Abstract

We present the Microchannel X-ray Telescope, a new light and compact focussing telescope that will be flying on the Sino-French SVOM mission dedicated to Gamma-Ray Burst science. The MXT design is based on the coupling of square pore micro-channel plates with a low noise pnCCD. MXT will provide an effective area of about 50 cmsq, and its point spread function is expected to be better than 3.7 arc min (FWHM) on axis. The estimated sensitivity is adequate to detect all the afterglows of the SVOM GRBs, and to localize them to better then 60 arc sec after five minutes of observation.