1. Science Objectives for an X-Ray Microcalorimeter Observing the Sun
- Author
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Laming, J. Martin, Adams, J., Alexander, D., Aschwanden, M, Bailey, C., Bandler, S., Bookbinder, J., Bradshaw, S., Brickhouse, N., Chervenak, J., Christe, S., Cirtain, J., Cranmer, S., Deiker, S., DeLuca, E., Del Zanna, G., Dennis, B., Doschek, G., Eckart, M., Fludra, A., Finkbeiner, F., Grigis, P., Harrison, R., Ji, L., Kankelborg, C., Kashyap, V., Kelly, D., Kelley, R., Kilbourne, C., Klimchuk, J., Ko, Y. -K., Landi, E., Linton, M., Longcope, D., Lukin, V., Mariska, J., Martinez-Galarce, D., Mason, H., McKenzie, D., Osten, R., Peres, G., Pevtsov, A., Porter, K. Phillips F. S., Rabin, D., Rakowski, C., Raymond, J., Reale, F., Reeves, K., Sadleir, J., Savin, D., Schmelz, J., Smith, R. K., Smith, S., Stern, R., Sylwester, J., Tripathi, D., Ugarte-Urra, I., Young, P., Warren, H., and Wood, B.
- Subjects
Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics - Abstract
We present the science case for a broadband X-ray imager with high-resolution spectroscopy, including simulations of X-ray spectral diagnostics of both active regions and solar flares. This is part of a trilogy of white papers discussing science, instrument (Bandler et al. 2010), and missions (Bookbinder et al. 2010) to exploit major advances recently made in transition-edge sensor (TES) detector technology that enable resolution better than 2 eV in an array that can handle high count rates. Combined with a modest X-ray mirror, this instrument would combine arcsecondscale imaging with high-resolution spectra over a field of view sufficiently large for the study of active regions and flares, enabling a wide range of studies such as the detection of microheating in active regions, ion-resolved velocity flows, and the presence of non-thermal electrons in hot plasmas. It would also enable more direct comparisons between solar and stellar soft X-ray spectra, a waveband in which (unusually) we currently have much better stellar data than we do of the Sun., Comment: 7 pages, white paper submitted the Solar and Heliophsyics Decadal Survey
- Published
- 2010