The Large Area Detector of LOFT: the Large Observatory for X-ray Timing

S. Zane , D. Walton (1) , T. Kennedy , M. Feroci , J. -W. Den Herder , M. Ahangarianabhari , A. Argan , P. Azzarello , G. Baldazzi , M. Barbera , D. Barret , G. Bertuccio , P. Bodin , E. Bozzo , L. Bradley (1) , F. Cadoux , Ph. Cais (2) , R. Campana , J. Coker (1) , A. Cros (3) , E. del Monte , A. de Rosa , S. Di Cosimo , I. Donnarumma , Y. Evangelista , Y. Favre , C. Feldman , G. Fraser , F. Fuschino , M. Grassi , M. R. Hailey , R. Hudec , C. Labanti , D. Macera , P. Malcovati , M. Marisaldi , A. Martindale , T. Mineo , F. Muleri , M. Nowak , M. Orlandini , L. Pacciani , E. Perinati , V. Petracek , M. Pohl , A. Rachevski , P. Smith , A. Santangelo , J. -Y. Seyler (4) , C. Schmid , P. Soffitta , S. Suchy , C. Tenzer , P. Uttley , A. Vacchi , G. Zampa , N. Zampa , J. Wilms , B. Winter

1 MSSL - Mullard Space Science Laboratory
2 FORMATION STELLAIRE 2014
3 IDES - Interactions et dynamique des environnements de surface
4 CNES - Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse]

LOFT (Large Observatory for X-ray Timing) is one of the five candidates that were considered by ESA as an M3 mission (with launch in 2022-2024) and has been studied during an extensive assessment phase. It is specifically designed to perform fast X-ray timing and probe the status of the matter near black holes and neutron stars. Its pointed instrument is the Large Area Detector (LAD), a 10 m 2 -class instrument operating in the 2-30keV range, which holds the capability to revolutionise studies of variability from X-ray sources on the millisecond time scales. The LAD instrument has now completed the assessment phase but was not down-selected for launch. However, during the assessment, most of the trade-offs have been closed leading to a robust and well documented design that will be re- proposed in future ESA calls. In this talk, we will summarize the characteristics of the LAD design and give an overview of the expectations for the instrument capabilities.

Domaines: Instrumentation et méthodes pour l'astrophysique [astro-ph.IM]; Instrumentation et méthodes pour l'astrophysique [astro-ph.IM]

S. Zane, D. Walton, T. Kennedy, M. Feroci, J. -W. Den Herder, et al.. The Large Area Detector of LOFT: the Large Observatory for X-ray Timing. Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2014: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray, 2014, Montreal, Canada. ⟨10.1117/12.2054654⟩. ⟨hal-01061592⟩