The high energy X-ray probe (HEX-P): science overview

Creators: García, Javier A.^{1, 2}; Stern, Daniel³; Madsen, Kristin¹; Smith, Miles³; Grefenstette, Brian²; Ajello, Marco⁴; Alford, Jason⁵; Annuar, Adlyka⁶; Bachetti, Matteo⁷; Baloković, Mislav^{8, 9}; Beckmann, Ricarda S.¹⁰; Bianchi, Stefano¹¹; Biccari, Daniela³; Boorman, Peter²; Brightman, Murray²; Buchner, Johannes¹²; Bulbul, Esra¹²; Chen, Chien-Ting^{13, 14}; Civano, Francesca¹; Coley, Joel^{1, 15, 16}; Connors, Riley M. T.¹⁷; Del Santo, Melania¹⁸; Gesu, Laura Di¹⁹; Draghis, Paul A.^{20, 21}; Fragile, P. Chris²²; Gúrpide, Andrés²³; Gangi, Manuele¹⁹; Gezari, Suvi²⁴; Harrison, Fiona A.²; Kammoun, Elias^{11, 25, 26}; Lanzuisi, Giorgio²⁷; Lehmer, Bret²⁸; Lohfink, Anne²⁹; Ludlam, Renee³⁰; Marchesi, Stefano^{4, 27}; Marcotulli, Lea^{8, 9}; Margutti, Raffaella³¹; Masterson, Megan²⁰; Merloni, Andrea¹²; Middleton, Matthew²³; Mori, Kaya³²; Moretti, Alberto³³; Nandra, Kirpal¹²; Perez, Kerstin³²; Pfeifle, Ryan W.^{1, 34}; Pinto, Ciro¹⁸; Piotrowska, Joanna²; Ponti, Gabriele³³; Pottschmidt, Katja^{16, 1}; Predehl, Peter¹²; Puccetti, Simonetta¹⁹; Rau, Arne¹²; Reynolds, Stephen³⁵; Santangelo, Andrea³⁶; Spiga, Daniele³³; Tomsick, John A.³¹; Torres-Albà, Núria⁴; Walton, Dominic J.³⁷; Wilkins, Daniel³⁸; Wilms, Joern³⁹; Zhang, Will¹; Zhao, Xiurui^{40, 41}; HEX-P Collaboration

1. Goddard Space Flight Center
2. California Institute of Technology
3. Jet Propulsion Lab
4. Clemson University
5. New York University Abu Dhabi
6. National University of Malaysia
7. Osservatorio Astronomico di Cagliari
8. Department of Astronomy, Yale Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, New Haven, CT, United States
9. Yale University
10. University of Cambridge
11. Roma Tre University
12. Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics
13. Universities Space Research Association
14. Marshall Space Flight Center
15. Howard University
16. University of Maryland, Baltimore
17. Villanova University
18. Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF)/Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica (IASF) Palermo, Palermo, Italy
19. Agenzia Spaziale Italiana
20. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
21. University of Michigan–Ann Arbor
22. College of Charleston
23. University of Southampton
24. Space Telescope Science Institute
25. Research Institute in Astrophysics and Planetology
26. Arcetri Astrophysical Observatory
27. Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF) – Osservatorio di Astrofisica e Scienza dello Spazio, Bologna, Italy
28. University of Arkansas at Fayetteville
29. Montana State University
30. Wayne State University
31. University of California, Berkeley
32. Columbia University
33. Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF)/Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, Merate, LC, Italy
34. Oak Ridge Associated Universities
35. North Carolina State University
36. University of Tübingen
37. University of Hertfordshire
38. Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology
39. University of Erlangen-Nuremberg
40. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
41. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

Editor:: Fornengo, Nicolao

Reviewers:: Di Mauro, Mattia; Martin-Carrillo, Antonio

Abstract

To answer NASA's call for a sensitive X-ray observatory in the 2030s, we present the High Energy X-ray Probe (HEX-P) mission concept. HEX-P is designed to provide the required capabilities to explore current scientific questions and make new discoveries with a broadband X-ray observatory that simultaneously measures sources from 0.2 to 80 keV. HEX-P's main scientific goals include: 1) understand the growth of supermassive black holes and how they drive galaxy evolution; 2) explore the lower mass populations of white dwarfs, neutron stars, and stellar-mass black holes in the nearby universe; 3) explain the physics of the mysterious corona, the luminous plasma close to the central engine of accreting compact objects that dominates cosmic X-ray emission; and 4) find the sources of the highest energy particles in the Galaxy. These goals motivate a sensitive, broadband X-ray observatory with imaging, spectroscopic, and timing capabilities, ensuring a versatile platform to serve a broad General Observer (GO) and Guest Investigator (GI) community. In this paper, we present an overview of these mission goals, which have been extensively discussed in a collection of more than a dozen papers that are part of this Research Topic volume. The proposed investigations will address key questions in all three science themes highlighted by Astro2020, including their associated priority areas. HEX-P will extend the capabilities of the most sensitive low- and high-energy X-ray satellites currently in orbit and will complement existing and planned high-energy, time-domain, and multi-messenger facilities in the next decade.

Copyright and License

© 2024 García, Stern, Madsen, Smith, Grefenstette, Ajello, Alford, Annuar, Bachetti, Baloković, Beckmann, Bianchi, Biccari, Boorman, Brightman, Buchner, Bulbul, Chen, Civano, Coley, Connors, Del Santo, Gesu, Draghis, Fragile, Gúrpide, Gangi, Gezari, Harrison, Kammoun, Lanzuisi, Lehmer, Lohfink, Ludlam, Marchesi, Marcotulli, Margutti, Masterson, Merloni, Middleton, Mori, Moretti, Nandra, Perez, Pfeifle, Pinto, Piotrowska, Ponti, Pottschmidt, Predehl, Puccetti, Rau, Reynolds, Santangelo, Spiga, Tomsick, Torres-Albà, Walton, Wilkins, Wilms, Zhang and Zhao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

Acknowledgement

The work of DSt was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with NASA. We thank the SIXTE support team for their assistance in generating spectra from simulated event files and for assistance with the documentation. We also thank Richard Barkus for his invaluable help with the art work and editing of the figures included in this paper.

Funding

The author(s) declare that financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. CP acknowledges funds by European Union - Next-Generation EU. JG and JP acknowledge support from NASA grants 80NSSC21K1567 and 80NSSC22K1120.

Contributions

JG: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. DSt: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. KrM: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. MS: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. BG: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. MA: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. JA: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. AA: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. MaB: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. MiB: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. RB: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. SB: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. DB: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. PB: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. MuB: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. JB: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. EB: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. C-TC: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. FC: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. JC: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. RC: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. MD: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. LG: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. PD: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. PF: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. AG: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. MG: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. SG: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. FH: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. EK: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. GL: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. BL: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. AL: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. RL: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. SM: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. LM: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. RM: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. MeM: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. AnM: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. MaM: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. KaM: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. AlM: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. KN: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. KeP: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. RP: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. CP: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. JP: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. GP: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. KaP: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. PP: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. SP: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. AR: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. SR: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. AS: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. DSp: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. JT: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. NT-A: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. DoW: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. DaW: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. JW: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. WZ: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. XZ: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing.

Data Availability

The raw data supporting the conclusion of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.

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