EXIST's Gamma-Ray Burst Sensitivity
Abstract
We use semianalytic techniques to evaluate the burst sensitivity of designs for the EXIST hard X-ray survey mission. Applying these techniques to the mission design proposed for the Beyond Einstein program, we find that with its very large field of view and faint gamma-ray burst detection threshold, EXIST will detect and localize approximately two bursts per day, a large fraction of which may be at high redshift. We estimate that EXIST's maximum sensitivity will be ~4 times greater than that of Swift's Burst Alert Telescope. Bursts will be localized to better than 40'' at threshold, with a burst position as good as a few arcseconds for strong bursts. EXIST's combination of three different detector systems will provide spectra from 3 keV to more than 10 MeV. Thus, EXIST will enable a major leap in the understanding of bursts, their evolution, environment, and utility as cosmological probes.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- February 2008
- DOI:
- 10.1086/524883
- arXiv:
- arXiv:0710.4602
- Bibcode:
- 2008ApJ...673.1225B
- Keywords:
-
- gamma rays: bursts;
- Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- 25 pages, 10 figures, accepted by ApJ