Study of Lobster and Kirkpatrick-Baez Designs for a Small Mission dedicated to Gravitational Wave Transient Localization

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Rankin, John, Campana, Sergio, Pareschi, Giovanni, Spiga, Daniele, Basso, Stefano, Civitani, Marta Maria, Conconi, Paolo, Cotroneo, Vincenzo
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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_version_ 1866909827263889408
author Rankin, John
Campana, Sergio
Pareschi, Giovanni
Spiga, Daniele
Basso, Stefano
Civitani, Marta Maria
Conconi, Paolo
Cotroneo, Vincenzo
author_facet Rankin, John
Campana, Sergio
Pareschi, Giovanni
Spiga, Daniele
Basso, Stefano
Civitani, Marta Maria
Conconi, Paolo
Cotroneo, Vincenzo
contents The localization of X-ray counterparts to gravitational wave events requires a telescope with accurate localization capability in a field of view comparable to the region constrained by the gravitational wave detectors. In the context of a small, dedicated, mission, we investigate which optical design could satisfy this capability. We compare the possible optical designs that have been proposed for X-rays: the Lobster Eye design (both in the Angel and Schmidt variant) - inspired by the eyes of crustaceans - consisting of many small capillaries where grazing incidence reflection occurs, the Kirkpatrick-Baez design, where double reflection occurs on two orthogonal parabolic mirrors, and the standard Wolter-I design. We find that the first two designs, compared to the latter, can achieve a significantly larger field of view, and have a good localization capability if the focal length is longer than existing Lobster Eye designs. The Kirkpatrick-Baez design presents the best angular resolution, but the best overall field of view is obtained with a Lobster system: we present a small optical module able to achieve an effective area $>$100 cm$^2$ at 1 keV in a field of view of 10 deg$^2$.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_05002
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Study of Lobster and Kirkpatrick-Baez Designs for a Small Mission dedicated to Gravitational Wave Transient Localization
Rankin, John
Campana, Sergio
Pareschi, Giovanni
Spiga, Daniele
Basso, Stefano
Civitani, Marta Maria
Conconi, Paolo
Cotroneo, Vincenzo
Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
The localization of X-ray counterparts to gravitational wave events requires a telescope with accurate localization capability in a field of view comparable to the region constrained by the gravitational wave detectors. In the context of a small, dedicated, mission, we investigate which optical design could satisfy this capability. We compare the possible optical designs that have been proposed for X-rays: the Lobster Eye design (both in the Angel and Schmidt variant) - inspired by the eyes of crustaceans - consisting of many small capillaries where grazing incidence reflection occurs, the Kirkpatrick-Baez design, where double reflection occurs on two orthogonal parabolic mirrors, and the standard Wolter-I design. We find that the first two designs, compared to the latter, can achieve a significantly larger field of view, and have a good localization capability if the focal length is longer than existing Lobster Eye designs. The Kirkpatrick-Baez design presents the best angular resolution, but the best overall field of view is obtained with a Lobster system: we present a small optical module able to achieve an effective area $>$100 cm$^2$ at 1 keV in a field of view of 10 deg$^2$.
title Study of Lobster and Kirkpatrick-Baez Designs for a Small Mission dedicated to Gravitational Wave Transient Localization
topic Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.05002