The Dynamic X-ray Sky of the Local Universe

📝 Abstract

Over the next decade, we can expect time domain astronomy to flourish at optical and radio wavelengths. In parallel with these efforts, a dedicated transient “machine” operating at higher energies (X-ray band through soft gamma-rays) is required to reveal the unique subset of events with variable emission predominantly visible above 100 eV. Here we focus on the transient phase space never yet sampled due to the lack of a sensitive, wide-field and triggering facility dedicated exclusively to catching high energy transients and enabling rapid coordinated multi-wavelength follow-up. We first describe the advancements in our understanding of known X-ray transients that can only be enabled through such a facility and then focus on the classes of transients theoretically predicted to be out of reach of current detection capabilities. Finally there is the exciting opportunity of revealing new classes of X-ray transients and unveiling their nature through coordinated follow-up observations at longer wavelengths.

💡 Analysis

Over the next decade, we can expect time domain astronomy to flourish at optical and radio wavelengths. In parallel with these efforts, a dedicated transient “machine” operating at higher energies (X-ray band through soft gamma-rays) is required to reveal the unique subset of events with variable emission predominantly visible above 100 eV. Here we focus on the transient phase space never yet sampled due to the lack of a sensitive, wide-field and triggering facility dedicated exclusively to catching high energy transients and enabling rapid coordinated multi-wavelength follow-up. We first describe the advancements in our understanding of known X-ray transients that can only be enabled through such a facility and then focus on the classes of transients theoretically predicted to be out of reach of current detection capabilities. Finally there is the exciting opportunity of revealing new classes of X-ray transients and unveiling their nature through coordinated follow-up observations at longer wavelengths.

📄 Content

The Dynamic X-ray Sky of the Local Universe A White Paper Submitted to the Decadal Survey Committee Contributors: Alicia M. Soderberg (Harvard/CfA), Jonathan E. Grindlay (Harvard/CfA), Joshua S. Bloom (UC Berkeley), Suvi Gezari (Johns Hopkins), Anthony L. Piro (UC Berkeley), Tomaso Belloni (INAF-Brera), Jifeng Liu (Harvard/CfA), Ada Paizis (INAF-Milan), Edo Berger (Harvard/CfA), Paolo Coppi (Yale), Nobu Kawai (Tokyo Inst. Tech.), Neil Gehrels (GSFC), Brian Metzger (UC Berkeley), Branden Allen (Harvard/ CfA), Didier Barret (CESR-Toulouse), Angela Bazzano (IASF-Rome), Giovanni Bignami (IASF-Milan), Patrizia Caraveo (IASF-Milan), Stephane Corbel (U. Paris Diderot, CEA Saclay), Andrea De Luca (INAF-Milan), Jeremy Drake (Harvard/CfA), Pepi Fabbiano (SAO), Mark Finger (USRA), Marco Feroci (INAF-Rome), Dieter Hartmann (Clemson), JaeSub Hong (Harvard/CfA), Garrett Jernigan (UC Berkeley), Philip Kaaret (U. Iowa), Chryssa Kouveliotou (MSFC), Alexander Kutyrev (GSFC), Avi Loeb (Harvard/CfA), Giovanni Pareschi (INAF-Brera), Gerry Skinner (GSFC), Rosanne Di Stefano (Harvard/ CfA), Gianpiero Tagliaferri (INAF-OABrera), Pietro Ubertini (IASF-Rome), Michiel van der Klis (U. Amsterdam), Colleen A. Wilson-Hodge (MSFC) Science Frontier Panel: Stars and Stellar Evolution (SSE) Facilities: EXIST, LSST, SKA pathfinders, E-VLA Key Goals:

1. Exploiting a novel technique to pinpoint supernovae at the moment of explosion, revealing the progenitor properties and explosion mechanisms of supernovae and sub-energetic gamma-ray bursts and their utility as beacons for coincident neutrino and gravitational wave searches.
2. Closing in on magnetic field generation in stars, from determining the habitability of planets orbiting coronally active stars to revealing the extreme physics underlying magnetar giant flares.
3. Pinpointing accreting black holes of stellar and (possibly) intermediate mass based on their transient outbursts, and uncovering quiescent super massive black holes by their tidal disruption of field stars.
4. Exploring new phase space of the Transient Universe at X-ray wavelengths, in parallel with complementary time domain efforts at longer wavelengths. Enabling in depth studies of known transients, first detections of predicted X-ray phenomena, and exploring the looming class of unknown X-ray transients. Abstract Over the next decade, we can expect time domain astronomy to flourish at optical and radio wavelengths. In parallel with these efforts, a dedicated transient “machine” operating at higher energies (X-ray band through soft gamma-rays) is required to reveal the unique subset of events with variable emission predominantly visible above 100 eV. Here we focus on the transient phase space never yet sampled due to the lack of a sensitive, wide-field and triggering facility dedicated exclusively to catching high energy transients and enabling rapid coordinated multi-wavelength follow-up. We first describe the advancements in our understanding of known X-ray transients that can only be enabled through such a facility and then focus on the classes of transients theoretically predicted to be out of reach of current detection capabilities. Finally there is the exciting opportunity of revealing new classes of X- ray transients and unveiling their nature through coordinated follow-up observations at longer wavelengths. Motivation The local Universe (within a few hundred Mpc) is teeming with transient astronomical phenomena, a distinct subset of which are only identifiable by their high energy emission. Over the past two decades we have made the preliminary steps in mapping the population and demographics of local X-ray transients, enabled by the capabilities of past (CGRO, Einstein, ROSAT, BeppoSAX, HETE-2) and current (RXTE, Integral, Chandra, XMM, Swift) missions. We now know that the bulk of local X-ray transients can be traced to accreting compact objects including stellar mass black holes (BHs), neutron stars (NSs), and white dwarfs (WDs).
   More intriguingly, these missions have also revealed a growing sample of rare and exotic X-ray transients in the local Universe, whose nature and driving emission mechanisms remain largely unknown. Chief among these are the newly discovered class of sub-luminous gamma- ray bursts that volumetrically outnumber both the classical long-duration GRBs and short-hard bursts by a factor of ten [1]. However, their weak prompt emission (L ~ 1046 erg/s; roughly 106 times lower than cosmological GRBs) currently limits their detectability to within 200 Mpc and leaves open the question of their progenitors in the context of other cosmic explosions. Packing a similar X-ray punch are the handful of Giant Flares detected to date from Soft Gamma-ray Repeaters (SGRs), widely attributed to 10-100 TeraGauss NSs (“magnetars”) but whose magnetic field production and duty cycle remain poorly understood [2,3].
   Also blazing brighter than the Eddington luminosity,

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