Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences (Jan 2024)
The high energy X-ray probe (HEX-P): probing the physics of the X-ray corona in active galactic nuclei
- Elias Kammoun,
- Elias Kammoun,
- Elias Kammoun,
- Anne M. Lohfink,
- Megan Masterson,
- Dan R. Wilkins,
- Xiurui Zhao,
- Mislav Balokovic,
- Mislav Balokovic,
- Peter G. Boorman,
- Riley Connors,
- Paolo Coppi,
- Andrew Fabian,
- Javier A. García,
- Javier A. García,
- Kristin K. Madsen,
- Nicole Rodriguez Cavero,
- Navin Sridhar,
- Navin Sridhar,
- Daniel Stern,
- John Tomsick,
- Thomas Wevers,
- Thomas Wevers,
- Dominic J. Walton,
- Stefano Bianchi,
- Johannes Buchner,
- Francesca M. Civano,
- Giorgio Lanzuisi,
- Labani Mallick,
- Labani Mallick,
- Labani Mallick,
- Giorgio Matt,
- Andrea Merloni,
- Emanuele Nardini,
- Joanna M. Piotrowska,
- Claudio Ricci,
- Claudio Ricci,
- Ka-Wah Wong,
- Abderahmen Zoghbi,
- Abderahmen Zoghbi,
- Abderahmen Zoghbi
Affiliations
- Elias Kammoun
- Roma Tre University, Rome, Italy
- Elias Kammoun
- UMR5277 Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (IRAP), Toulouse, France
- Elias Kammoun
- Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri (INAF), Florence, Tuscany, Italy
- Anne M. Lohfink
- Department of Physics, College of Letters and Science, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, United States
- Megan Masterson
- MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, School of Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, United States
- Dan R. Wilkins
- Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States
- Xiurui Zhao
- Center for Astrophysics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, United States
- Mislav Balokovic
- Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Yale University, New Haven, CT, United States
- Mislav Balokovic
- Department of Physics, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Yale University, New Haven, CT, United States
- Peter G. Boorman
- 0California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, United States
- Riley Connors
- 1Department of Astrophysics and Planetary Science, Villanova University, Villanova, PA, United States
- Paolo Coppi
- 2Department of Astronomy, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Yale University, New Haven, CT, United States
- Andrew Fabian
- 3Institute of Astronomy, Faculty of Physics and Chemistry, School of Physical Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England, United Kingdom
- Javier A. García
- 0California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, United States
- Javier A. García
- 4X-ray Astrophysics Laboratory, Goddard Space Flight Center, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Greenbelt, MD, United States
- Kristin K. Madsen
- 4X-ray Astrophysics Laboratory, Goddard Space Flight Center, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Greenbelt, MD, United States
- Nicole Rodriguez Cavero
- 5Department of Physics, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, United States
- Navin Sridhar
- 0California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, United States
- Navin Sridhar
- 6Department of Astronomy, Columbia University, New York, NY, United States
- Daniel Stern
- 7NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), La Cañada Flintridge, CA, United States
- John Tomsick
- 8Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, United States
- Thomas Wevers
- Roma Tre University, Rome, Italy
- Thomas Wevers
- Department of Physics, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Yale University, New Haven, CT, United States
- Dominic J. Walton
- 0Centre for Astrophysics Research, School of Physics Astronomy and Mathematics, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, United Kingdom
- Stefano Bianchi
- Roma Tre University, Rome, Italy
- Johannes Buchner
- 1Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Garching, Germany
- Francesca M. Civano
- 4X-ray Astrophysics Laboratory, Goddard Space Flight Center, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Greenbelt, MD, United States
- Giorgio Lanzuisi
- 2Osservatorio di Astrofisica e Scienza dello Spazio di Bologna (INAF), Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
- Labani Mallick
- 0California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, United States
- Labani Mallick
- 3University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada
- Labani Mallick
- 4Department of Physics, Faculty of Arts and Science, Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Giorgio Matt
- Roma Tre University, Rome, Italy
- Andrea Merloni
- 1Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Garching, Germany
- Emanuele Nardini
- Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri (INAF), Florence, Tuscany, Italy
- Joanna M. Piotrowska
- 0California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, United States
- Claudio Ricci
- 5Diego Portales University, Santiago, Chile
- Claudio Ricci
- 6The Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, School of Physics, Faculty of Science, Peking University, Beijing, China
- Ka-Wah Wong
- 7SUNY Brockport, Brockport, NY, United States
- Abderahmen Zoghbi
- 8Department of Astronomy, College of Computer, Mathematical and Natural Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, College Park, MD, United States
- Abderahmen Zoghbi
- 9Goddard Space Flight Center, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Greenbelt, MD, United States
- Abderahmen Zoghbi
- 0Center for Research and Exploration in Space Science and Technology, University of Maryland, College Park, Greenbelt, MD, United States
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3389/fspas.2023.1308056
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 10
Abstract
The hard X-ray emission in active galactic nuclei (AGN) and black hole X-ray binaries is thought to be produced by a hot cloud of electrons referred to as the corona. This emission, commonly described by a power law with a high-energy cutoff, is suggestive of Comptonization by thermal electrons. While several hypotheses have been proposed to explain the origin, geometry, and composition of the corona, we still lack a clear understanding of this fundamental component. NuSTAR has been playing a key role improving our knowledge of X-ray coronæ thanks to its unprecedented sensitivity above 10 keV. However, these constraints are limited to bright, nearby sources. The High Energy X-ray Probe (HEX-P) is a probe-class mission concept combining high spatial resolution X-ray imaging and broad spectral coverage (0.2–80 keV) with a sensitivity superior to current facilities. In this paper, we highlight the major role that HEX-P will play in further advancing our insights of X-ray coronæ notably in AGN. We demonstrate how HEX-P will measure key properties and track the temporal evolution of coronæ in unobscured AGN. This will allow us to determine their electron distribution and test the dominant emission mechanisms. Furthermore, we show how HEX-P will accurately estimate the coronal properties of obscured AGN in the local Universe, helping address fundamental questions about AGN unification. In addition, HEX-P will characterize coronæ in a large sample of luminous quasars at cosmological redshifts for the first time and track the evolution of coronæ in transient systems in real time. We also demonstrate how HEX-P will enable estimating the coronal geometry using spectral-timing techniques. HEX-P will thus be essential to understand the evolution and growth of black holes over a broad range of mass, distance, and luminosity, and will help uncover the black holes’ role in shaping the Universe.
Keywords
