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Proceedings Paper

The design of the wide field monitor for the LOFT mission
Author(s): S. Brandt; M. Hernanz; L. Alvarez; A. Argan; B. Artigues; P. Azzarello; D. Barret; E. Bozzo; C. Budtz-Jørgensen; R. Campana; A. Cros; E. del Monte; I. Donnarumma; Y. Evangelista; M. Feroci; J. L. Galvez Sanchez; D. Götz; F. Hansen; J. W. den Herder; R. Hudec; J. Huovelin; D. Karelin; S. Korpela; N. Lund; M. Michalska; P. Olsen; P. Orleanski; S. Pedersen; M. Pohl; A. Rachevski; A. Santangelo; S. Schanne; C. Schmid; S. Suchy; C. Tenzer; A. Vacchi; D. Walton; J. Wilms; G. Zampa; N. Zampa; J. in't Zand; S. Zane; A. Zdziarski; F. Zwart
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Paper Abstract

LOFT (Large Observatory For x-ray Timing) is one of the ESA M3 missions selected within the Cosmic Vision program in 2011 to carry out an assessment phase study and compete for a launch opportunity in 2022-2024. The phase-A studies of all M3 missions were completed at the end of 2013. LOFT is designed to carry on-board two instruments with sensitivity in the 2-50 keV range: a 10 m2 class Large Area Detector (LAD) with a <1° collimated FoV and a wide field monitor (WFM) making use of coded masks and providing an instantaneous coverage of more than 1/3 of the sky. The prime goal of the WFM will be to detect transient sources to be observed by the LAD. However, thanks to its unique combination of a wide field of view (FoV) and energy resolution (better than 500 eV), the WFM will be also an excellent monitoring instrument to study the long term variability of many classes of X-ray sources. The WFM consists of 10 independent and identical coded mask cameras arranged in 5 pairs to provide the desired sky coverage. We provide here an overview of the instrument design, configuration, and capabilities of the LOFT WFM. The compact and modular design of the WFM could easily make the instrument concept adaptable for other missions.

Paper Details

Date Published: 31 July 2014
PDF: 20 pages
Proc. SPIE 9144, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2014: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray, 91442V (31 July 2014); doi: 10.1117/12.2055885
Show Author Affiliations
S. Brandt, DTU Space (Denmark)
M. Hernanz, Institut d'Estudis Espacials de Catalunya, CSIC (Spain)
L. Alvarez, Institut d'Estudis Espacials de Catalunya, CSIC (Spain)
A. Argan, INAF - Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali (Italy)
INFN (Italy)
B. Artigues, Institut d’Estudis Espacials de Catalunya, CSIC (Spain)
P. Azzarello, ISDC Data Ctr. for Astrophysics, Univ. de Genève (Switzerland)
D. Barret, Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (France)
E. Bozzo, ISDC Data Ctr. for Astrophysics, Univ. de Genève (Switzerland)
C. Budtz-Jørgensen, DTU Space (Denmark)
R. Campana, INAF - Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali (Italy)
INFN (Italy)
A. Cros, Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (France)
E. del Monte, INAF - Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali (Italy)
INFN (Italy)
I. Donnarumma, INAF - Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali (Italy)
INFN (Italy)
Y. Evangelista, INAF - Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali (Italy)
INFN (Italy)
M. Feroci, INAF - Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali (Italy)
INFN (Italy)
J. L. Galvez Sanchez, Institut d'Estudis Espacials de Catalunya, CSIC (Spain)
D. Götz, CEA Saclay (France)
F. Hansen, DTU Space (Denmark)
J. W. den Herder, SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research (Netherlands)
R. Hudec, Astronomical Institute of the ASCR, v.v.i. (Czech Republic)
J. Huovelin, Univ. of Helsinki (Finland)
D. Karelin, Institut d'Estudis Espacials de Catalunya, CSIC (Spain)
S. Korpela, Univ. of Helsinki (Finland)
N. Lund, DTU Space (Denmark)
M. Michalska, Space Research Ctr. (Poland)
P. Olsen, DTU Space (Denmark)
P. Orleanski, Space Research Ctr. (Poland)
S. Pedersen, DTU Space (Denmark)
M. Pohl, Univ. de Genève (Switzerland)
A. Rachevski, INFN (Italy)
A. Santangelo, Institut für Astronomie und Astrophysik Tübingen, Eberhard Karls Univ. Tübingen (Germany)
S. Schanne, CEA Saclay (France)
C. Schmid, Friedrich-Alexander-Univ. Erlangen-Nürnberg (Germany)
Erlangen Ctr. of Astroparticle Physics (Germany)
S. Suchy, Institut für Astronomie und Astrophysik Tübingen, Eberhard Karls Univ. Tübingen (Germany)
C. Tenzer, Institut für Astronomie und Astrophysik Tübingen, Eberhard Karls Univ. Tübingen (Germany)
A. Vacchi, INFN (Italy)
D. Walton, Mullard Space Science Lab. (United Kingdom)
J. Wilms, Friedrich-Alexander-Univ. Erlangen-Nürnberg (Germany)
Erlangen Ctr. of Astroparticle Physics (Germany)
G. Zampa, INFN (Italy)
N. Zampa, INFN (Italy)
J. in't Zand, SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research (Netherlands)
S. Zane, Mullard Space Science Lab. (United Kingdom)
A. Zdziarski, Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Ctr. (Poland)
F. Zwart, SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research (Netherlands)


Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9144:
Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2014: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray
Tadayuki Takahashi; Jan-Willem A. den Herder; Mark Bautz, Editor(s)

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