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XIPE the X-Ray Imaging Polarimetry ExplorerX-ray polarimetry, sometimes alone, and sometimes coupled to spectral and temporal variability measurements and to imaging, allows a wealth of physical phenomena in astrophysics to be studied. X-ray polarimetry investigates the acceleration process, for example, including those typical of magnetic reconnection in solar flares, but also emission in the strong magnetic fields of neutron stars and white dwarfs. It detects scattering in asymmetric structures such as accretion disks and columns, and in the so-called molecular torus and ionization cones. In addition, it allows fundamental physics in regimes of gravity and of magnetic field intensity not accessible to experiments on the Earth to be probed. Finally, models that describe fundamental interactions (e.g. quantum gravity and the extension of the Standard Model) can be tested. We describe in this paper the X-ray Imaging Polarimetry Explorer (XIPE), proposed in June 2012 to the first ESA call for a small mission with a launch in 2017. The proposal was, unfortunately, not selected. To be compliant with this schedule, we designed the payload mostly with existing items. The XIPE proposal takes advantage of the completed phase A of POLARIX for an ASI small mission program that was cancelled, but is different in many aspects: the detectors, the presence of a solar flare polarimeter and photometer and the use of a light platform derived by a mass production for a cluster of satellites. XIPE is composed of two out of the three existing JET-X telescopes with two Gas Pixel Detectors (GPD) filled with a He-DME mixture at their focus. Two additional GPDs filled with a 3-bar Ar-DME mixture always face the Sun to detect polarization from solar flares. The Minimum Detectable Polarization of a 1 mCrab source reaches 14 in the 210 keV band in 105 s for pointed observations, and 0.6 for an X10 class solar flare in the 1535 keV energy band. The imaging capability is 24 arcsec Half Energy Width (HEW) in a Field of View of 14.7 arcmin 14.7 arcmin. The spectral resolution is 20 at 6 keV and the time resolution is 8 s. The imaging capabilities of the JET-X optics and of the GPD have been demonstrated by a recent calibration campaign at PANTER X-ray test facility of the Max-Planck-Institut fr extraterrestrische Physik (MPE, Germany). XIPE takes advantage of a low-earth equatorial orbit with Malindi as down-link station and of a Mission Operation Center (MOC) at INPE (Brazil). The data policy is organized with a Core Program that comprises three months of Science Verification Phase and 25 of net observing time in the following 2 years. A competitive Guest Observer program covers the remaining 75 of the net observing time.
Document ID
20170005824
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Soffitta, Paolo
(Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziale (INAF-IAPS) Rome, Italy)
Barcons, Xavier
(Instituto de Fisica Cantabria (CSIC-UC) Santander, Spain)
Bellazzini, Ronaldo
(Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare Pisa, Italy)
Braga, Joao
(Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espacias Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil)
Costa, Enrico
(Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziale (INAF-IAPS) Rome, Italy)
Fraser, George W.
(Leicester Univ. United Kingdom)
Gburek, Szymon
(Polish Academy of Sciences Warsaw, Poland)
Huovelin, Juhani
(Helsinki Univ. Helsinki, Finland)
Matt, Giorgio
(Universita degli Studi Roma Tre Rome, Italy)
Pearce, Mark
(Royal Inst. of Tech. Stockholm, Sweden)
Poutanen, Juri
(Oulu Univ. Finland)
Reglero, Victor
(Valencia Univ. Burjassot, Spain)
Santangelo, Andrea
(Wuerzburg Univ. Germany)
Sunyaev, Rashid A.
(Max-Planck-Inst. fuer Gravitationsphysik, Albert-Einstein-Institut Golm, Germany)
Tagliaferri, Gianpiero
(Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera Merate, Italy)
Weisskopf, Martin
(NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL, United States)
Aloisio, Roberto
(Osservatorio Astrofisico Arcetri Florence, Italy)
Amato, Elena
(Osservatorio Astrofisico Arcetri Florence, Italy)
Attina, Primo
(Thales Alenia Space Turin, Italy)
Axelsson, Magnus
(Royal Inst. of Tech. Stockholm, Sweden)
Baldini, Luca
(Pisa Univ. Italy)
Basso, Stefano
(Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera Merate, Italy)
Bianchi, Stefano
(Universita degli Studi Roma Tre Rome, Italy)
Blasi, Pasquale
(Osservatorio Astrofisico Arcetri Florence, Italy)
Bregeon, Johan
(Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare Pisa, Italy)
Brez, Alessandro
(Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare Pisa, Italy)
Bucciantini, Niccolo
(Osservatorio Astrofisico Arcetri Florence, Italy)
Burderi, Luciano
(Cagliari Univ. Italy)
Burwitz, Vadim
(Max-Planck-Inst. fuer Gravitationsphysik, Albert-Einstein-Institut Golm, Germany)
Casella, Piergiorgio
(Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziale (INAF-IAPS) Rome, Italy)
Churazov, Eugene
(Max-Planck-Inst. fuer Gravitationsphysik, Albert-Einstein-Institut Golm, Germany)
Civitani, Marta
(Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera Merate, Italy)
Covino, Stefano
(Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera Merate, Italy)
Curado da Silva, Rui Miguel
(Coimbra Univ. Coimbra, Portugal)
Cusumano, Giancarlo
(Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica (INAF-IASF) Palermo, Italy)
Dadina, Mauro
(Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica (INAF-IASF) Bologna, Italy)
D'Amico, Flavio
(Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espacias Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil)
De Rosa, Alessandra
(Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziale (INAF-IAPS) Rome, Italy)
Di Cosimo, Sergio
(Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziale (INAF-IAPS) Rome, Italy)
Di Persio, Giuseppe
(Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziale (INAF-IAPS) Rome, Italy)
Di Salvo, Tiziana
(Palermo Univ. Italy)
Dovciak, Michal
(Ceskoslovenska Akademie Ved Prague, Czechoslovakia)
Elsner, Ronald
(NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL, United States)
Eyles, Chris J.
(Birmingham Univ. United Kingdom)
Fabian, Andrew C.
(Cambridge Univ. Cambridge, United Kingdom)
Fabiani, Sergio
(Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziale (INAF-IAPS) Rome, Italy)
Feng, Hua
(Tsinghua Univ. Beijing, China)
Giarrusso, Salvatore
(Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica (INAF-IASF) Palermo, Italy)
Goosmann, Rene W.
(Observatoire de Strasbourg France)
Grandi, Paola
(Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica (INAF-IASF) Bologna, Italy)
Grosso, Nicolas
(Observatoire de Strasbourg France)
Israel, Gianluca
(Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziale (INAF-IAPS) Rome, Italy)
Jackson, Miranda
(Royal Inst. of Tech. Stockholm, Sweden)
Kaaret, Phillip
(Iowa Univ. Iowa City, IA, United States)
Karas, Vladimir
(Ceskoslovenska Akademie Ved Prague, Czechoslovakia)
Kuss, Michael
(Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare Pisa, Italy)
Lai, Dong
(Cornell Univ. Ithaca, NY, United States)
La Rosa, Giovanni
(Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica (INAF-IASF) Palermo, Italy)
Larsson, Josefin
(Royal Inst. of Tech. Stockholm, Sweden)
Larsson, Stefan
(Royal Inst. of Tech. Stockholm, Sweden)
Latronico, Luca
(Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare Pisa, Italy)
Maggio, Antonio
(Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica (INAF-IASF) Palermo, Italy)
Maia, Jorge
(Coimbra Univ. Coimbra, Portugal)
Marin, Frederic
(Observatoire de Strasbourg France)
Massai, Marco Maria
(Pisa Univ. Italy)
Mineo, Teresa
(Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica (INAF-IASF) Palermo, Italy)
Minuti, Massimo
(Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare Pisa, Italy)
Moretti, Elena
(Royal Inst. of Tech. Stockholm, Sweden)
Muleri, Fabio
(Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziale (INAF-IAPS) Rome, Italy)
O'Dell, Stephen L.
(NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL, United States)
Pareschi, Giovanni
(Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera Merate, Italy)
Peres, Giovanni
(Palermo Univ. Italy)
Pesce, Melissa
(Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare Pisa, Italy)
Petrucci, Pierre-Olivier
(Institut de Planetologie et d'Asrophysique Grenoble, France)
Pinchera, Michele
(Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare Pisa, Italy)
Porquet, Delphine
(Observatoire de Strasbourg France)
Ramsey, Brian
(NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL, United States)
Rea, Nanda
(institut de Ciencies de l'Espai (Ice-CSIC) Barcelona, Spain)
Reale, Fabio
(Palermo Univ. Italy)
Rodrigo, Juana Maria
(Valencia Univ. Burjassot, Spain)
Rozanska, Agata
(Polish Academy of Sciences Warsaw, Poland)
Rubini, Alda
(Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziale (INAF-IAPS) Rome, Italy)
Rudawy, Pawel
(Wroclaw Univ. Poland)
Ryde, Felix
(Royal Inst. of Tech. Stockholm, Sweden)
Salvati, Marco
(Osservatorio Astrofisico Arcetri Florence, Italy)
Santiago, Valdivino Alexandre de , Jr.
(Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espacias Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil)
Sazonov, Sergey
(Academy of Sciences (Russia) Moscow, Russian Federation)
Sgro, Carmelo
(Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare Pisa, Italy)
Silver, Eric
(Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Cambridge, MA, United States)
Spandre, Gloria
(Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare Pisa, Italy)
Spiga, Daniele
(Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera Merate, Italy)
Stella, Luigi
(Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziale (INAF-IAPS) Rome, Italy)
Tamagawa, Toru
(Institute of Physical and Chemical Research Wako, Japan)
Tamborra, Francesco
(Universita degli Studi Roma Tre Rome, Italy)
Tavecchio, Fabrizio
(Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera Merate, Italy)
Teixeira Dias, Teresa
(Coimbra Univ. Coimbra, Portugal)
van Adelsberg, Matthew
(Georgia Inst. of Tech. Atlanta, GA, United States)
Wu, Kinwah
(Mullard Space Science Lab. Dorking, United Kingdom)
Zane, Silvia
(Mullard Space Science Lab. Dorking, United Kingdom)
Kallman, Timothy R.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Date Acquired
June 28, 2017
Publication Date
August 24, 2013
Publication Information
Publication: Experimental Astronomy - Astrophysical Instrumentation and Methods
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
Volume: 36
Issue: 3
ISSN: 0922-6435
e-ISSN: 1572-9508
Subject Category
Astrophysics
Astronomy
Report/Patent Number
GSFC-E-DAA-TN43566
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
Astronomy X-ray Polarimetry

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