2010 Reports

Science Objectives for an X-Ray Microcalorimeter Observing the Sun

Laming, J. Martin; Adams, J.; Alexander, D.; Aschwanden, M.; Bailey, C.; Bandler, S.; Bookbinder, J.; Bradshaw, S.; Brickhouse, Nancy; Chervenak, J.; Christe, S.; Cirtain, J.; Cranmer, S.; Deiker, S.; DeLuca, E.; Del Zanna, G.; Dennis, B.; Doschek, G.; Eckart, M.; Fludra, A.; Finkbeiner, F.; Grigis, P.; Harrison, R.; Ji, L.; Kashyap, V.; Kelly, D.; Kelley, R.; Kilbourne, C.; Klimchuk, J.; Ko, Y.-K.; Landi, E.; Linton, M.; Longcope, D.; Lukin, V.; Mariska, J.; Martinez-Galarce, D.; Mason, H.; McKenzie, D.; Osten, R.; Peres, G.; Pevtsov, A.; Phillips, K.; Porter, F. S.; Rabin, D.; Raymond, J.; Reale, F.; Reeves, K.; Sadleir, J.; Savin, Daniel Wolf; Schmelz, J.; Smith, R. K.; Smith, S.; Stern, R.; Sylwester, J.; Ugarte-Urra, I.; Young, P.; Warren, H.; Wood, B.

We present the science case for a broadband X-ray imager with high-resolution spectroscopy, including simulations of X-ray spectral diagnostics of both active regions and solar flares. This is part of a trilogy of white papers discussing science, instrument (Bandler et al. 2010), and missions (Bookbinder et al. 2010) to exploit major advances recently made in transition-edge sensor (TES) detector technology that enable resolution better than 2 eV in an array that can handle high count rates. Combined with a modest X-ray mirror, this instrument would combine arcsecondscale imaging with high-resolution spectra over a field of view sufficiently large for the study of active regions and flares, enabling a wide range of studies such as the detection of microheating in active regions, ion-resolved velocity flows, and the presence of non-thermal electrons in hot plasmas. It would also enable more direct comparisons between solar and stellar soft X-ray spectra, a waveband in which (unusually) we currently have much better stellar data than we do of the Sun.