2009/10/25 by Masaru Matsuoka, Kazuyoshi Kawasaki, Shiro Ueno +29 · 17 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #Particle Detector Development and Performance
paper · pdf · doi:10.1093/pasj/61.5.999
Abstract The Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image (MAXI) mission is the first astronomical payload to be installed on the Japanese Experiment Module — Exposed Facility (JEM-EF or Kibo-EF) on the International Space Station. It has two types of X-ray slit cameras with wide FOVs and two kinds of X-ray detectors consisting of gas proportional counters covering the energy range of 2 to 30 keV and X-ray CCDs covering the energy range of 0.5 to 12 keV. MAXI will be more powerful than any previous X-ray All Sky Monitor payloads, being able to monitor hundreds of Active Galactic Nuclei. A realistic simulation under optimal observation conditions suggests that MAXI will provide all-sky images of X-ray sources of ∼ 20 mCrab (∼ 7 × 10-10 erg cm-2 s-1 in the energy band of 2–30 keV) from observations during one ISS orbit (90 min), ∼ 4.5 mCrab for one day, and ∼ 2 mCrab for one week. The final detectability of MAXI could be ∼ 0.2 mCrab for two years, which is comparable to the source confusion limit of the MAXI field of view (FOV). The MAXI objectives are: (1) to alert the community to X-ray novae and transient X-ray sources, (2) to monitor long-term variabilities of X-ray sources, (3) to stimulate multi-wavelength observations of variable objects, (4) to create unbiased X-ray source cataloges, and (5) to observe diffuse cosmic X-ray emissions, especially with better energy resolution for soft X-rays down to 0.5 keV.