The Large Observatory for x-ray timing
Author(s)
Chakrabarty, Deepto; Homan, Jeroen; Nowak, Michael A.; Remillard, Ronald Alan; Weinberg, Nevin N.; Neilsen, Joseph M. G.; ... Show more Show less
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The Large Observatory For x-ray Timing (LOFT) was studied within ESA M3 Cosmic Vision framework and participated in the final downselection for a launch slot in 2022-2024. Thanks to the unprecedented combination of effective area and spectral resolution of its main instrument, LOFT will study the behaviour of matter under extreme conditions, such as the strong gravitational field in the innermost regions of accretion flows close to black holes and neutron stars, and the supranuclear densities in the interior of neutron stars. The science payload is based on a Large Area Detector (LAD, 10 m[superscript 2] effective area, 2-30 keV, 240 eV spectral resolution, 1° collimated field of view) and a Wide Field Monitor (WFM, 2-50 keV, 4 steradian field of view, 1 arcmin source location accuracy, 300 eV spectral resolution). The WFM is equipped with an on-board system for bright events (e.g. GRB) localization. The trigger time and position of these events are broadcast to the ground within 30 s from discovery. In this paper we present the status of the mission at the end of its Phase A study.
Date issued
2014-07Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics; MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space ResearchJournal
Proceedings of SPIE--the International Society for Optical Engineering
Publisher
SPIE
Citation
Feroci, M., J. W. den Herder, E. Bozzo, D. Barret, S. Brandt, M. Hernanz, M. van der Klis, et al. “The Large Observatory for x-Ray Timing.” Edited by Tadayuki Takahashi, Jan-Willem A. den Herder, and Mark Bautz. Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2014: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray (July 24, 2014). © 2014 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)
Version: Final published version
ISSN
0277-786X