Vth School of Astroparticle Physics
23 - 28 May 2016
OHP, Saint Michel l'Observatoire

Physics of the Universe in X-rays

From the 1960s to the current and future generation of X-ray observatories:
successive X-ray instruments and crucial discoveries

René W. GOOSMANN
  Observatoire astronomique de Strasbourg

Course
This lecture sheds light on the history of X-ray astronomy beginning with early balloon and rocket experiments then moving on to stationary X-ray observatories in space before arriving at the current generation of X-ray satellites. During my panoramic review of X-ray telescopes I am going to point out a number of crucial discoveries that were made during the last half of a century. Opening the theme school, the lecture is meant to set the historical frame of today's and future efforts in X-ray astronomy.

Outline
  1. Early detections in the 1960s and early 1970s
  2. Long-living X-ray observatories and systematic surveys of the X-ray sky
  3. X-ray source zoology and the (most) extreme phenomena in the Universe
  4. More and more details: broad band X-ray spectroscopy and timing
  5. Where we stand today and what to expect from the future

René Goosmann is a faculty member (maître de conférences) at the University of Strasbourg, France, conducting research at the Astronomical Observatory. As a member of the High Energy Group he works at the interface between observational and theoretical astrophysics and specializes in the multi-wavelength modeling of radiative transfer in astrophysical plasmas with a specific application to the environment of accreting black holes. He has been involved in the scientific preparation of past X-ray observatory projects and currently serves on the Science Study Team of the X-ray Imaging Polarimetry Explorer (XIPE), a mission candidate in response to ESA's M4 call.

 

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