0000000000785807
AUTHOR
R Hudec
OMC: An Optical Monitoring Camera for INTEGRAL
The INTEGRAL payload has been designed to study simultaneously gamma-ray sources in a wide field of view over many decades in energy (around 2 eV + 4 keV − 20 MeV) and thus make a major contribution to short time-scale high-energy astrophysics. The OMC will observe the optical emission from the prime targets of the gamma-ray instruments with the support of the x-ray monitor. This capability will provide invaluable diagnostic information on the nature and the physics of the sources over a broad wavelength range. The main scientific objectives will be: (1) to monitor the optical emission from the sources observed by the gamma- and x-ray instruments, measuring the time and intensity structure …
The LOFT mission concept: a status update
The Large Observatory For x-ray Timing (LOFT) is a mission concept which was proposed to ESA as M3 and M4 candidate in the framework of the Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 program. Thanks to the unprecedented combination of effective area and spectral resolution of its main instrument and the uniquely large field of view of its wide field monitor, LOFT will be able to study the behaviour of matter in extreme conditions such as the strong gravitational field in the innermost regions close to black holes and neutron stars and the supra-nuclear densities in the interiors of neutron stars. The science payload is based on a Large Area Detector (LAD, >8m2 effective area, 2-30 keV, 240 eV spectral resolut…