Highlights and Discoveries from the Chandra X-Ray Observatory1
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Highlights and Discoveries from the Chandra X-ray Observatory1 H Tananbaum1, M C Weisskopf2, W Tucker1, B Wilkes1 and P Edmonds1 1Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138. 2 NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center, ZP12, 320 Sparkman Drive, Huntsville, AL 35805. Abstract. Within 40 years of the detection of the first extrasolar X-ray source in 1962, NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory has achieved an increase in sensitivity of 10 orders of magnitude, comparable to the gain in going from naked-eye observations to the most powerful optical telescopes over the past 400 years. Chandra is unique in its capabilities for producing sub-arcsecond X-ray images with 100-200 eV energy resolution for energies in the range 0.08<E<10 keV, locating X-ray sources to high precision, detecting extremely faint sources, and obtaining high resolution spectra of selected cosmic phenomena. The extended Chandra mission provides a long observing baseline with stable and well-calibrated instruments, enabling temporal studies over time-scales from milliseconds to years. In this report we present a selection of highlights that illustrate how observations using Chandra, sometimes alone, but often in conjunction with other telescopes, have deepened, and in some instances revolutionized, our understanding of topics as diverse as protoplanetary nebulae; massive stars; supernova explosions; pulsar wind nebulae; the superfluid interior of neutron stars; accretion flows around black holes; the growth of supermassive black holes and their role in the regulation of star formation and growth of galaxies; impacts of collisions, mergers, and feedback on growth and evolution of groups and clusters of galaxies; and properties of dark matter and dark energy. 1 This is an author-created, un-copyedited version of an article published in Reports on Progress in Physics. IOP Publishing Ltd is not responsible for any errors or omissions in this version of the manuscript or any version derived from it. The Version of Record is available online at 10.1088/0034-4885/77/6/066902 1 Table of Contents 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 4 2 Overview and Status of the Chandra X-ray Observatory ..................................................................... 8 3 Stars and Solar System Objects .......................................................................................................... 11 3.1 Stars ............................................................................................................................................... 11 3.1.1 Stellar Winds ........................................................................................................................... 11 3.1.2 Stellar Mass ............................................................................................................................ 12 3.1.3 Young Star Clusters ................................................................................................................. 13 3.1.4 Planetary Nebula .................................................................................................................... 15 3.2 Stellar X-rays and Exoplanets ........................................................................................................ 16 3.3 Solar System Objects ..................................................................................................................... 17 4 Supernova Remnants, Neutron Stars, & Black Holes ......................................................................... 18 4.1 Supernovae and Supernova Remnants ......................................................................................... 18 4.1.1 Type Ia SNR. ............................................................................................................................ 19 4.1.2 Remnants of Core Collapse Supernovae ................................................................................ 21 4.2 Cosmic Ray Acceleration in SN Shock Waves ................................................................................ 24 4.3 Pulsar Wind Nebulae ..................................................................................................................... 25 4.4 Magnetars ...................................................................................................................................... 28 4.5 The Equation of State of Ultradense Matter ................................................................................. 28 4.6 X-ray Binary Systems ..................................................................................................................... 29 4.7 Microquasars ................................................................................................................................. 30 4.8 Ultraluminous X-ray Sources (ULX)................................................................................................ 31 5 Supermassive Black Holes (Active Galactic Nuclei) .......................................................................... 32 5.1 The Structure of the Nuclear Regions of Active Galaxies .............................................................. 33 5.1.1 The X-ray Source. .................................................................................................................... 33 5.1.2 Outflows/Winds. ..................................................................................................................... 34 5.1.3 Accretion Flow. ....................................................................................................................... 34 5.2 X-ray Surveys, Population Studies, and the Cosmic X-ray Background ......................................... 36 5.2.1 X-ray Surveys .......................................................................................................................... 36 5.2.2 Population Studies .................................................................................................................. 37 5.2.3 The Obscured AGN Population and the Cosmic X-ray Background ........................................ 37 5.3 Jets and Extended Radio Structure ................................................................................................ 38 5.4 Growth of SMBH and Host Galaxies .............................................................................................. 40 6 Galaxies, Groups, and Clusters ........................................................................................................... 43 6.1 Normal and Starburst Galaxies ...................................................................................................... 43 6.1.1 Point Sources in Normal Galaxies. .......................................................................................... 43 6.1.2 Hot Gas in Elliptical and Star-Burst Galaxies. ......................................................................... 44 6.2 AGN Feedback in Galaxies and Clusters ........................................................................................ 46 6.2.1 Feedback in Early-Type Galaxies and Groups. ........................................................................ 48 6.2.2 Feedback in Clusters of Galaxies. ........................................................................................... 48 6.2.3 Enrichment of the Intracluster Medium. ................................................................................ 50 6.3 Growth and Evolution of Groups and Clusters of Galaxies ........................................................... 50 7 Large-Scale Structure, Dark Matter, Dark Energy & Cosmology ...................................................... 54 7.1 Missing Baryons and Intergalactic Medium .................................................................................. 54 7.2 Large-Scale Structure ..................................................................................................................... 55 7.3 Dark Matter ................................................................................................................................... 56 2 7.4 Dark Energy and Constraining Cosmological Parameters ............................................................. 57 7.4.1 Testing General Relativity (GR) ............................................................................................... 60 7.4.2 Tests of the ΛCDM Cosmological Model ................................................................................ 61 8 Chandra’s Continuing Science Impact ............................................................................................... 63 9 Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................................... 63 10 List of Acronyms in the Text .............................................................................................................. 64 3 1 Introduction Earth’s atmosphere is an efficient absorber of X-rays, so the observation of cosmic X-rays had to await the dawning of the space age. The first hint that cosmic X-rays exist came in 1949 [1], when radiation detectors aboard rockets were briefly carried above the atmosphere where they detected X-rays coming from the Sun. It took more than a decade before a greatly improved detector discovered X-rays coming from sources beyond the solar system in 1962 [2].