HEXIT-SAT: a mission concept for X-ray grazing incidence telescopes from 0.5 to 70 keV

Abstract

While the energy density of the Cosmic X-ray Background (CXB) provides a statistical estimate of the super massive black hole (SMBH) growth and mass density in the Universe, the lack, so far, of focusing instrument in the 20-60 keV (where the CXB energy density peaks), frustrates our effort to obtain a comprehensive picture of the SMBH evolutionary properties. HEXIT-SAT (High Energy X-ray Imaging Telescope SATellite) is a mission concept capable of exploring the hard X-ray sky with focusing/imaging instrumentation, to obtain an unbiased census of accreting SMBH up to the redshifts where galaxy formation peaks, and on extremely wide luminosity ranges. This will represent a leap forward comparable to that achieved in the soft X-rays by the Einstein Observatory in the late 70'. In addition to accreting SMBH, and very much like the Einstein Observatory, this mission would also have the capabilities of investigating almost any type of the celestial X-ray sources. HEXIT-SAT is based on high throughput (>400 cm2 @ 30 keV; >1200 cm2 @ 1 keV), high quality (15 arcsec Half Power Diameter) multi-layer optics, coupled with focal plane detectors with high efficiency in the full 0.5-70keV range. Building on the BeppoSAX experience, a low-Earth, equatorial orbit, will assure a low and stable particle background, and thus an extremely good sensitivity for faint hard X-ray sources. At the flux limits of 1/10 microCrab (10-30 keV) and 1/3 microCrab (20-40 keV) (reachable in one Msec observation) we should detect ~100 and ~40 sources in the 15 arcmin FWHM Field of View respectively, thus resolving >80% and ~65% of the CXB where its energy density peaks.