Unlocking the Capabilities of Future High-Resolution X-ray Spectroscopy Missions Through Laboratory Astrophysics

Gabriele Betancourt-Martinez (1) , Hiroki Akamatsu (2) , Didier Barret (1) , Manuel Bautista , Sven Bernitt (3) , Stefano Bianchi (4) , Dennis Bodewits (5) , Nancy Brickhouse , Gregory V. Brown (6) , Elisa Costantini (2) , Marcello Coreno , José R. Crespo López-Urrutia (7) , Renata Cumbee (8) , Megan Eckart (6) , Gary Ferland (9) , Fabrizio Fiore (10) , Michael Fogle (5) , Adam S. Foster , Javier Garcia (11) , Tom Gorczyca , Victoria Grinberg (12) , Nicolas Grosso (13) , Liyi Gu , Ming Feng Gu (14) , Matteo Guainazzi (15) , Natalie Hell (6) , Jan-Willem Den Herder (2) , Jelle Kaastra (2) , Timothy Kallman , Julia Lee , Maurice Leutenegger , Joan Marler , Dan Mccammon (16) , Shinya Nakashima , Fabrizio Nicastro , Frits Paerels (17) , François Pajot (18) , Etienne Pointecouteau (1) , Delphine Porquet (13) , F. Scott Porter (8) , Daniel Wolf Savin (17) , Makoto Sawada (8) , Chintan Shah (7) , Aurora Simionescu (2) , Monica de Simone , Chad Sosolik (19) , Phillip Stancil (20) , René Steinbrügge (21) , Hiroya Yamaguchi

1 IRAP - Institut de recherche en astrophysique et planétologie
2 SRON - SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research
3 Friedrich-Schiller-Universität = Friedrich Schiller University Jena [Jena, Germany]
4 ROMA TRE - Università degli Studi Roma Tre = Roma Tre University
5 AU - Auburn University
6 LLNL - Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
7 MPIK - Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik
8 GSFC - NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
9 UK - University of Kentucky
10 INAF - Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica
11 CALTECH - California Institute of Technology
12 Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen = Eberhard Karls University of Tuebingen
13 LAM - Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille
14 SSL - Space Sciences Laboratory [Berkeley]
15 ESA - Agence Spatiale Européenne = European Space Agency
16 University of Wisconsin-Madison
17 Columbia University [New York]
18 IAS - Institut d'astrophysique spatiale
19 Clemson University
20 University of Georgia [USA]
21 DESY - Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron [Hamburg]

Thanks to high-resolution and non-dispersive spectrometers onboard future X-ray missions such as XRISM and Athena, we are finally poised to answer important questions about the formation and evolution of galaxies and large-scale structure. However, we currently lack an adequate understanding of many atomic processes behind the spectral features we will soon observe. Large error bars on parameters as critical as transition energies and atomic cross sections can lead to unacceptable uncertainties in the calculations of e.g., elemental abundance, velocity, and temperature. Unless we address these issues, we risk limiting the full scientific potential of these missions. Laboratory astrophysics, which comprises theoretical and experimental studies of the underlying physics behind observable astrophysical processes, is therefore central to the success of these missions.

Domaines: Astrophysique [astro-ph]; Phénomènes cosmiques de haute energie [astro-ph.HE]

Gabriele Betancourt-Martinez, Hiroki Akamatsu, Didier Barret, Manuel Bautista, Sven Bernitt, et al.. Unlocking the Capabilities of Future High-Resolution X-ray Spectroscopy Missions Through Laboratory Astrophysics. 2019. ⟨hal-02107275⟩