0000000000134340
AUTHOR
Stefano Basso
Cavezzo, the first Italian meteorite recovered by the PRISMA fireball network. Orbit, trajectory, and strewn-field
ABSTRACT Two meteorite pieces have been recovered in Italy, near the town of Cavezzo (Modena), on 2020 January 4th. The associated fireball was observed on the evening of New Year’s Day 2020 by eight all-sky cameras of the PRISMA fireball network, a partner of FRIPON. The computed trajectory had an inclination angle of approximately 68° and a velocity at infinity of 12.8 km s−1. Together with the relatively low terminal height, estimated as 21.5 km, those values were indicating the significant possibility of a meteorite dropping event, as additionally confirmed by the non-zero residual total mass. The strewn-field was computed taking into account the presence of two bright light flashes, re…
Axion search with BabyIAXO in view of IAXO
Axions are a natural consequence of the Peccei-Quinn mechanism, the most compelling solution to the strong-CP problem. Similar axion-like particles (ALPs) also appear in a number of possible extensions of the Standard Model, notably in string theories. Both axions and ALPs are very well motivated candidates for Dark Matter, and in addition, they would be copiously produced at the sun's core. A relevant effort during the last decade has been the CAST experiment at CERN, the most sensitive axion helioscope to-date. The International Axion Observatory (IAXO) is a large-scale 4th generation helioscope. As its primary physics goal, IAXO will look for solar axions or ALPs with a signal to backgro…
The mirror module design for the cryogenic x-ray imaging spectrometer on-board ORIGIN
ORIGIN is a medium size high-energy mission concept submitted to ESA in response to the Cosmic Vision call issued on July 2010. The mission will investigate the evolution of the Universe by performing soft X-ray high resolution spectroscopic measurements of metals formed in different astrophysical environments, from the first population III stars at z > 7 to the present large scale structures. The main instrument on-board ORIGIN will be a large format array of TES X-ray micro-calorimeters covering a FOV of 30' at the focal plane of a grazing incidence optical module with a focal length of 2.5 m and an angular resolution of 30'' HEW at 1 keV. We present the optical module design which is bas…
Active shape correction of a thin glass/plastic x-ray mirror
Optics for future X-ray telescopes will be characterized by very large aperture and focal length, and will be made of lightweight materials like glass or plastic in order to keep the total mass within acceptable limits. Optics based on thin slumped glass foils are currently in use in the NuSTAR telescope and are being developed at various institutes like INAF/OAB, aiming at improving the angular resolution to a few arcsec HEW. Another possibility would be the use of thin plastic foils, being developed at SAO and the Palermo University. Even if relevant progresses in the achieved angular resolution were recently made, a viable possibility to further improve the mirror figure would be the app…
Realization and drive tests of active thin glass x-ray mirrors
A technique to obtain lightweight and high-resolution focusing mirror segments for large aperture X-ray telescopes is the hot slumping of thin glass foils. In this approach, already successfully experimented to manufacture the optics of the NuSTAR X-ray telescope, thin glasses are formed at high temperature onto a precisely figured mould. The formed glass foils are subsequently stacked onto a stiff backplane with a common axis and focus to form an XOU (X-ray Optical Unit), to be later integrated in the telescope optic structure. In this process, the low thickness of the glass foils guarantees a low specific mass and a very low obstruction of the effective area. However, thin glasses are sub…
Manufacturing an active X-ray mirror prototype in thin glass
Adjustable mirrors equipped with piezo actuators are commonly used at synchrotron and free-electron laser (FEL) beamlines, in order to optimize their focusing properties and sometimes to shape the intensity distribution of the focal spot with the desired profile. Unlike them, X-ray mirrors for astronomy are much thinner in order to enable nesting and reduce the areal mass, and the application of piezo actuators acting normally to the surface appears much more difficult. There remains the possibility to correct the deformations using thin patches that exert a tangential strain on the rear side of the mirror: some research groups are already at work on this approach. The technique reported he…
The enhanced X-ray Timing and Polarimetry mission—eXTP
In this paper we present the enhanced X-ray Timing and Polarimetry mission - eXTP. eXTP is a space science mission designed to study fundamental physics under extreme conditions of density, gravity and magnetism. The mission aims at determining the equation of state of matter at supra-nuclear density, measuring effects of QED, and understanding the dynamics of matter in strong-field gravity. In addition to investigating fundamental physics, eXTP will be a very powerful observatory for astrophysics that will provide observations of unprecedented quality on a variety of galactic and extragalactic objects. In particular, its wide field monitoring capabilities will be highly instrumental to det…
Manufacturing and testing a thin glass mirror shell with piezoelectric active control
Optics for future X-ray telescopes will be characterized by very large aperture and focal length, and will be made of lightweight materials like glass or silicon in order to keep the total mass within acceptable limits. Optical modules based on thin slumped glass foils are being developed at various institutes, aiming at improving the angular resolution to a few arcsec HEW. Thin mirrors are prone to deform, so they require a careful integration to avoid deformations and even correct forming errors. On the other hand, this offers the opportunity to actively correct the residual deformation: a viable possibility to improve the mirror figure is the application of piezoelectric actuators onto t…
Electrical connections and driving electronics for piezo-actuated x-ray thin glass optics
Use of thin glass modular optics is a technology currently under study to build light, low cost, large area X-ray telescopes for high energy astrophysics space missions. The angular resolution of such telescopes is limited by local deviations from the ideal shape of the mirrors. One possible strategy to improve it consists in actively correcting the mirror profile by gluing thin ceramic piezo-electric actuators on the back of the glasses. A large number of actuators, however, requires several electrical connections to drive them with the different needed voltages. We have developed a process for depositing conductive paths directly on the back of non-planar thin foil mirrors by means of a p…