Philippe Marty, Juho Schultz, Clemens Bayer, Alexander Fritz, Martin Netopil, Walter Nowotny, Michael Carr, Carlo Ferrigno, Christophe Jean, Walter Koprolin, Jesper Rasmussen, Laura Tanvuia, Ivan Valtchanov, Marcos Bavdaz, Rudolph Much, Arvind Parmar
KEYWORDS: Hard x-rays, X-rays, Space operations, Satellites, Spatial resolution, Sensors, Mirrors, Gallium arsenide, Space telescopes, Data archive systems
The latest all-sky survey in hard X-ray band was performed by the HEAO-1 satellite (13-80 keV) with an angular resolution of 24x48 arcmin. A diffuse hard X-Ray background (HXB) was detected between 3 and 50 keV. The main scientific goal of In.XS is to resolve a large fraction of this HXB into individual sources. As no distortion by Compton up-scattering is seen in the spectrum of the microwave backgroundcite{Mat94}, the hard X-ray background is believed to be mainly due to point sources. Type I Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) have softer X-ray spectra than the hard X-ray background, so other sources must be considered, like faint Type II or absorbed AGN. These could be distinguished through hard X-ray spectroscopic or hardness ratio observations. Here we present In.XS - a mission concept designed to conduct the first imaging all-sky hard X-ray (2-80 keV)survey. The angular resolution of nearly 1arcmin and good sensitivity at high-energies is provided by the latest multilayer focussing mirrors, with semiconductor-based (GaAs) arrays of detectors. We also describe the mission operations, and how the all-sky survey will be complemented by follow-up pointed observations of selected fields. The good angular resolution will allow correlations and identification with objects seen at other wavelengths. In addition, since a large fraction of the Type II AGN luminosity is emitted in the hard X-ray band, this survey will provide a large unbiased sample of the AGN population. This may provide constraints on AGN evolution through the possible observation of a turnover in deep field source statistics.
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