The High Energy X-ray Probe: Resolved X-ray Populations in Extragalactic Environments

TL;DR

The High Energy X-ray Probe (HEX-P) will revolutionize galaxy science by providing high-resolution, broad-spectrum X-ray imaging, enabling detailed studies of X-ray sources and their roles in galaxy evolution across diverse environments.

Contribution

This paper demonstrates HEX-P's capabilities through simulations, highlighting its potential to advance understanding of X-ray binary populations and high-energy processes in galaxies.

Findings

HEX-P can detect X-ray emissions from ~800 galaxies.

It will constrain inverse Compton emission in starburst galaxies.

It will clarify contributions of X-ray sources to interstellar and intergalactic media.

Abstract

We construct simulated galaxy data sets based on the High Energy X-ray Probe (HEX-P) mission concept to demonstrate the significant advances in galaxy science that will be yielded by the HEX-P observatory. The combination of high spatial resolution imaging ($<$20 arcsec FWHM), broad spectral coverage (0.2-80 keV), and sensitivity superior to current facilities (e.g., XMM-Newton and NuSTAR) will enable HEX-P to detect hard (4-25 keV) X-ray emission from resolved point-source populations within $\sim$800 galaxies and integrated emission from $\sim$6000 galaxies out to 100 Mpc. These galaxies cover wide ranges of galaxy types (e.g., normal, starburst, and passive galaxies) and properties (e.g., metallicities and star-formation histories). In such galaxies, HEX-P will: (1) provide unique information about X-ray binary populations, including accretor demographics (black hole and neutron stars), distributions of accretion states and state transition cadences; (2) place order-of-magnitude more stringent constraints on inverse Compton emission associated with particle acceleration in starburst environments; and (3) put into clear context the contributions from X-ray emitting populations to both ionizing the surrounding interstellar medium in low-metallicity galaxies and heating the intergalactic medium in the $z > 8$ Universe.