The wide-field monitor (WFM) is one of the three instruments on the “Spectroscopic Time-Resolving Observatory for Broadband Energy X-rays” (STROBE-X) mission, which was proposed in response to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s 2023 call for a probe-class mission. The WFM is a coded-mask camera system that would be the most scientifically capable wide-angle monitor ever flown. The WFM will anchor X-ray time domain astronomy, at the all-sky level, for the 2030s. The field of view covers one-third of the sky, to 50% mask coding, and the energy sensitivity is 2 to 50 keV. The WFM will identify new X-ray transients for rapid observations with the two pointed instruments of STROBE-X. In addition, the WFM will capture spectral/timing changes in known sources with data of unprecedented quality. WFM data will uniquely advance scientific knowledge for diverse classes in high-energy astrophysics, including X-ray bursts that coincide with gravitational wave detections, gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and their transition from prompt emission to afterglow, subluminous GRBs that may signal shock breakout in supernovae, state transitions in accreting compact objects and their jets, bright flares in fast X-ray transients, accretion onset in transitional pulsars, and coronal flares from many types of active stars.
The Gamow Explorer will use Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) to: 1) probe the high redshift universe (z < 6) when the first stars were born, galaxies formed and Hydrogen was reionized; and 2) enable multi-messenger astrophysics by rapidly identifying Electro-Magnetic (IR/Optical/X-ray) counterparts to Gravitational Wave (GW) events. GRBs have been detected out to z ~ 9 and their afterglows are a bright beacon lasting a few days that can be used to observe the spectral fingerprints of the host galaxy and intergalactic medium to map the period of reionization and early metal enrichment. Gamow Explorer is optimized to quickly identify high-z events to trigger follow-up observations with JWST and large ground-based telescopes. A wide field of view Lobster Eye X-ray Telescope (LEXT) will search for GRBs and locate them with arc-minute precision. When a GRB is detected, the rapidly slewing spacecraft will point the 5 photometric channel Photo-z Infra-Red Telescope (PIRT) to identify high redshift (z < 6) long GRBs within 100s and send an alert within 1000s of the GRB trigger. An L2 orbit provides < 95% observing efficiency with pointing optimized for follow up by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and ground observatories. The predicted Gamow Explorer high-z rate is <10 times that of the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory. The instrument and mission capabilities also enable rapid identification of short GRBs and their afterglows associated with GW events. The Gamow Explorer will be proposed to the 2021 NASA MIDEX call and if approved, launched in 2028.
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