Physics – Optics
Scientific paper
May 2003
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2003head....7.4907p&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, HEAD meeting #7, #49.07; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 35, p.866
Physics
Optics
Scientific paper
The brightest and most common x-ray sources in the sky, measured by their peak flux, are fast x-ray transients (FXTs). These events, with timescales from seconds to hours, have been seen from the first days of x-ray astronomy. Because they occur at unpredictable locations, they are difficult to observe with narrow-field instruments. Only a few hundred have been detected, although their all-sky rate is in the tens of thousands per year (Arefiev et al. 2003). It is no surprise that observations with a heterogeneous set of instruments have suggested different sources for FXTs, including flare stars, compact objects, extragalactic sources, and X-ray emission from GRBs (e.g. Pye and McHardy 1983; Ambruster and Wood 1986; Castro-Tirado et al. 1999). The heterogeneous data to date make it clear that some, but not all, FXTs are related to gamma-ray bursts. The understanding of FXTs could be greatly strengthened by a large, homogenous data set taken with a single wide-field, sensitive instrument, clarifying our understanding of the FXT phenomenon in the same way that the BATSE data set clarified the observational picture for gamma-ray bursts. The proposed ESA/NASA LOBSTER mission will provide the needed instrument. Wide-field x-ray optics, based on the optical design of the crustacean eye, will enable the most sensitive x-ray monitor ever. LOBSTER will be able to detect FXTs at a rate of about 5000 per year1, determine their flux and directional statistics, and report their locations in real time for multiwavelength follow-up. With these data, we will determine the qualitative contribution of the several possible sources of FXTs, study the physics of their counterparts, and, not least, open the door to the discovery of unknown physical sources of FXTs.
Arefiev Vadim
Borozdin Konstantin
Fraser Geoff
Priedhorsky William
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