X-ray Optics for YADEX: Yet Another Diffuse x-ray line Emission eXplorer
Andrew Rasmussen
Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory
arasmus@astro.columbia.edu
Additional authors: JW den Herder, P. de Korte, J. Kaastra, F. Paerels, C. Scharf, S. Kahn
Even with the advent of very high quality data directly relevant to cosmology (e.g., WMAP, SNAP, LSST, DUO..), many questions will remain about the formation of large scale structure. Spectroscopic sky surveys such as the Sloan DSS are doing terrific jobs mapping the portion of large scale structure that is *traceable by galaxies* out to z ~ 0.1; however, up to ~50% of the baryons of the "local" (z<3) universe are "missing" (i.e., may reside in a diffuse, hot, nearly unobservable phase). A dedicated, large grasp, orbiting X-ray telescope read out with an array of microcalorimeters could directly detect emission from this phase and map their distribution. Other groups have already proposed such missions (Missing Baryon Explorer & Diffuse Intergalactic Oxygen Surveyor). I present an optimized optical design for the X-ray focusing optics that maximizes performance and appeal for such an observatory.
