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Highly charged ions in a new era of high resolution X‐ray astrophysics
Author(s) -
Hell Natalie,
Beiersdorfer Peter,
Brown Gregory V.,
Eckart Megan E.,
Kelley Richard L.,
Kilbourne Caroline A.,
Leutenegger Maurice A.,
Lockard Thomas E.,
Porter F. Scott,
Wilms Jörn
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
x‐ray spectrometry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.447
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1097-4539
pISSN - 0049-8246
DOI - 10.1002/xrs.3107
Subject(s) - physics , benchmark (surveying) , high resolution , astronomy , space science , spectral line , astrophysics , spectral resolution , nuclear astrophysics , resolution (logic) , remote sensing , computer science , geology , geodesy , artificial intelligence
X‐ray astronomy and ground‐based atomic physics have a long history of fruitful collaboration: Sound understanding of the underlying atomic physics is the key to reliable interpretation of the spectra from celestial sources; conversely, astronomical spectra have been used to benchmark and advance atomic physics. This interplay is about to become even more important as we enter a new era of high‐resolution X‐ray astrophysics with large effective collection area. Although high‐resolution observations with the gratings on the Chandra and XMM‐Newton observatories continue to drive new science, upcoming planned and proposed missions will open up new discovery space in the near future that is currently challenging to access: high‐resolution spectroscopy on extended sources, in the Fe K band, and on short time scales. This review summarizes open questions in these areas and the design parameters for the Hitomi, XRISM, Athena, and Arcus observatories. The expected high quality of spectra taken with these observatories puts new constraints on the accuracy of atomic reference data required to take full advantage of the diagnostic potential of these spectra.