DIffuse X-ray Explorer: A High-Resolution X-ray Spectroscopic Sky Surveyor on the China Space Station

• DOI: 10.1007/s10909-024-03095-0
• Publication Date: 2024-04-23T19:06:01Z
• Authors: Hai Jin; Junjie Mao; Liubiao Chen; Naihui Chen; Wei Cui; Bo Gao; Jinjin Li; Xinfeng Li; Jiejia Liu; Jia Quan; Chunyang Jiang; Guole Wang; Le Wang; Qian Wang; Sifan Wang; Aimin Xiao; Shuo Zhang
• Keywords: High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE); FOS: Physical sciences; Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics; Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena; Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM)

DIffuse X-ray Explorer (DIXE) is a proposed high-resolution X-ray spectroscopic sky surveyor on the China Space Station (CSS). DIXE will focus on studying hot baryons in the Milky Way. Galactic hot baryons like the X-ray emitting Milky Way halo and eROSITA bubbles are best observed in the sky survey mode with a large field of view. DIXE will take advantage of the orbital motion of the CSS to scan a large fraction of the sky. High-resolution X-ray spectroscopy, enabled by superconducting microcalorimeters based on the transition-edge sensor (TES) technology, will probe the physical properties (e.g., temperature, density, elemental abundances, kinematics) of the Galactic hot baryons. This will complement the high-resolution imaging data obtained with the eROSITA mission. Here we present the preliminary design of DIXE. The payload consists mainly of a detector assembly and a cryogenic cooling system. The key components of the detector assembly are a microcalorimeter array and frequency-domain multiplexing readout electronics. To provide a working temperature for the detector assembly, the cooling system consists of an adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator and a mechanical cryocooler system.<br/>12 pages, 6 figures, the full version is published by Journal of Low Temperature Physics<br/>