ART-XC: a medium-energy X-ray telescope system for the Spectrum-R-Gamma mission

摘要

The ART-XC instrument is an X-ray grazing-incidence telescope system in an ABRIXAS-type optical configuration optimized for the survey observational mode of the Spectrum-RG astrophysical mission which is scheduled to be launched in 2011. ART-XC has two units, each equipped with four identical X-ray multi-shell mirror modules. The optical axes of the individual mirror modules are not parallel but are separated by several degrees to permit the four modules to share a single CCD focal plane detector, 1/4 of the area each. The 450-micron-thick pnCCD (similar to the adjacent eROSITA telescope detector) will allow the detection of X-ray photons up to 15 keV. The field of view of the individual mirror module is about 18×18 arcminutes~2 and the sensitivity of the ART-XC system for 4 years of survey will be better than 10~(-12) erg s~(-1) cm~(-2) over the 4-12 keV energy band. This will allow the ART-XC instrument to discover several thousands new AGNs.