The Line Emission Mapper (LEM) probe mission concept

The Line Emission Mapper (LEM) is a Probe mission concept developed in response to NASA’s Astrophysics Probe Explorer (APEX) Announcement of Opportunity. LEM has a single science instrument composed of a large-area, wide-field X-ray optic and a microcalorimeter X-ray imaging spectrometer in the focal plane. LEM is optimized to observe low-surface-brightness diffuse X-ray emission over a 30′ equivalent diameter field of view with 1.3 and 2.5 eV spectral resolution in the 0.2−2.0 keV band. Our primary scientific objective is to map the thermal, kinetic, and elemental properties of the diffuse gas in the extended X-ray halos of galaxies, the outskirts of galaxy clusters, the filamentary structures between these clusters, the Milky Way star-formation regions, the Galactic halo, and supernova remnants in the Milky Way and Local Group. The combination of a wide-field optic with 18′′ angular resolution end-to-end and a microcalorimeter array with 1.3 eV spectral resolution in a 5′ × 5′ inner array (2.5 eV outside of that) offers unprecedented sensitivity to extended low-surface-brightness X-ray emission. This allows us to study feedback processes, gas dynamics, and metal enrichment over seven orders of magnitude in spatial scales, from parsecs to tens of megaparsecs. LEM will spend approximately 11% of its five-year prime science mission performing an All-Sky Survey, the first all-sky X-ray survey at high spectral resolution. The remainder of the five-year science mission will be divided between directed science (30%) and competed General Observer science (70%). LEM and the NewAthena/XIFU are highly complementary, with LEM’s optimization for soft X-rays, large FOV, 1.3 eV spectral resolution, and large grasp balancing the NewAthena/X-IFU’s broadband sensitivity, large effective area, and unprecedented spectral resolving power at 6 keV. In this presentation, we will provide an overview of the mission architecture, the directed science driving the mission design, and the broad scope these capabilities offer to the entire astrophysics community.

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Published
2024-08-21
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3019969
Citations
6
Primary Topic
Superconducting and THz Device Technology
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article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
1.99

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The Line Emission Mapper (LEM) probe mission concept

C. Argiroffi, Mojegan Azadi, Markus Michael Rau, Steven Ramm et al.
6 citations
Superconducting and THz Device Technology
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article

The Line Emission Mapper (LEM) probe mission concept

C. Argiroffi, Mojegan Azadi, Markus Michael Rau, Steven Ramm, Yaël Nazé, L. de la Cruz-May, Orsolya E. Kovács, Keith Martin, Chan-Gyun Kim, Ildar Khabibullin, Paul P. Plucinsky, M. Donahue, C. Pinto, John A. ZuHone, Nhut Truong, Jonathan P. Stern, V. Kashyap, Dimitra Koutroumpa, William Dunn, Daniel Castro, M. Vogelsberger, Elena Rasia, D. Porquet, Cecilia Garraffo, Marco Barbera, Joop Schaye, S. J. Wolk, Patrick Kavanagh, Kai-Wing Chan, S. R. Bandler, Janice Houston, J. M. Mïller, H. Kanner, S. Orlando, M. F. Corcoran, Amy Gall, D. Prêle, Klaus Dolag, Anna Ogorzałek, Arnab Sarkar, S. Vladutescu-Zopp, J. J. Drake, A. Simionescu, Megan E. Eckart, M S Mirakhor, Edmund Hodges‐Kluck, Renata Cumbee, J. A. Carter, D. J. Burke, Irina Zhuravleva, Dylan Nelson, Mohammadreza Ayromlou, Anil Bhardwaj, Joseph N. Burchett, D. McCammon, Ákos Bogdán, Jenna M. Cann, Ryan W. Pfeifle, Simone Lotti, E. Flaccomio, Jessica K. Werk, M. Galeazzi, J. S. Adams, Christopher Jones, S. Chen, Samuel V. Hull, Alison Nordt, Priyanka Chakraborty, L. Oskinova, Erin Boettcher, Simon Walker, Kathleen Coderre, W. B. Doriese, M. Sobolewska, G. Ponti, Sophie Veilleux, Kazuhiro Sakai, Q. D. Wang, Sarah J. Richardson, Ralph Kraft, Congyao Zhang, Jørgen H. Olsen, Gerrit Schellenberger, N. Grosso, Maurice A. Leutenegger, D. Bodewits, F. S. Porter, D. Eckert, Veronica Biffi, Maxim Markevitch, Natalie Hell, Nicholas A. Wakeham, Bradford J. Wargelin, Daniel Patnaude, Nazma Islam, M. Miceli, Scott W. Randall, E. Churazov, S. Sciortino, Kristina Monsch, Tracy C. Linn, W. Forman, S. Ettori, P. Kaaret, François Mernier, Norbert Werner, E. Osborne, Petr Janas, Lars Hernquist, M. Karovska, S.-H. Lee, Milena Valentini, S. J. Smith, James F. Steiner, S. C. McEntee, Caroline A. Kilbourne, W. W. Zhang, K. D. Küntz, Bryan Branham, Julián D. Alvarado‐Gómez, Eugenio Ursino, Manuel González, S. Mei, Richard L. Kelley, Yuichiro Ezoe, M. Sun, Kimberly A. Weaver, Yuanyuan Su, Steve DePalo, J. Hartley, F. W. Jennings, C. Feldman
article en
6 citations

Abstract

The Line Emission Mapper (LEM) is a Probe mission concept developed in response to NASA’s Astrophysics Probe Explorer (APEX) Announcement of Opportunity. LEM has a single science instrument composed of a large-area, wide-field X-ray optic and a microcalorimeter X-ray imaging spectrometer in the focal plane. LEM is optimized to observe low-surface-brightness diffuse X-ray emission over a 30′ equivalent diameter field of view with 1.3 and 2.5 eV spectral resolution in the 0.2−2.0 keV band. Our primary scientific objective is to map the thermal, kinetic, and elemental properties of the diffuse gas in the extended X-ray halos of galaxies, the outskirts of galaxy clusters, the filamentary structures between these clusters, the Milky Way star-formation regions, the Galactic halo, and supernova remnants in the Milky Way and Local Group. The combination of a wide-field optic with 18′′ angular resolution end-to-end and a microcalorimeter array with 1.3 eV spectral resolution in a 5′ × 5′ inner array (2.5 eV outside of that) offers unprecedented sensitivity to extended low-surface-brightness X-ray emission. This allows us to study feedback processes, gas dynamics, and metal enrichment over seven orders of magnitude in spatial scales, from parsecs to tens of megaparsecs. LEM will spend approximately 11% of its five-year prime science mission performing an All-Sky Survey, the first all-sky X-ray survey at high spectral resolution. The remainder of the five-year science mission will be divided between directed science (30%) and competed General Observer science (70%). LEM and the NewAthena/XIFU are highly complementary, with LEM’s optimization for soft X-rays, large FOV, 1.3 eV spectral resolution, and large grasp balancing the NewAthena/X-IFU’s broadband sensitivity, large effective area, and unprecedented spectral resolving power at 6 keV. In this presentation, we will provide an overview of the mission architecture, the directed science driving the mission design, and the broad scope these capabilities offer to the entire astrophysics community.

Physical Research Laboratory (IN), Goddard Space Flight Center (US), Heidelberg University (DE), Trieste Astronomical Observatory (IT), Leibniz Association (DE), Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian (US), Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies (DE), University of Maryland, Baltimore County (US), University of Palermo (IT)
Smithsonian Institution, U.S. Department of Energy, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Goddard Space Flight Center, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
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