The Wide Field Imager for the Athena X-ray Observatory
Abstract
The Wide Field Imager (WFI) is one of the two scientific instruments of the Athena mission concept proposed for ESA's next large X-ray Observatory. The instrument will make optimal use of the grasp provided by the Athena mirror system, by combining a sensitive 40' diameter field of view DEPFET detector with an excellent spectral resolution and a pixel size properly sampling the angular resolution of 5" on-axis (half energy width). This synthesis makes the WFI a very powerful survey instrument, exceeding existing facilities by up to a factor of 100 in survey power. This will allow, e.g., to observe the earliest low-luminosity AGNs in the Universe, unraveling the seeds and growth mechanism of AGN at high-redshift. In addition, the WFI will provide unprecedented high-time resolution and high count rate capabilities for the observation of bright sources with low pile-up and high efficiency. I will present the instrument concept, the status of the hardware development, and highlight the breakthrough scientific capabilities of the instrument.
- Publication:
-
40th COSPAR Scientific Assembly
- Pub Date:
- 2014
- Bibcode:
- 2014cosp...40E2707R