Science objectives of the Einstein Probe mission  

作　　者：Weimin Yuan Lixin Dai Hua Feng Chichuan Jin Peter Jonker Erik Kuulkers Yuan Liu Kirpal Nandra Paul O’Brien Luigi Piro Arne Rau Nanda Rea Jeremy Sanders Lian Tao Junfeng Wang Xuefeng Wu Bing Zhang Shuangnan Zhang Shunke Ai Johannes Buchner Esra Bulbul Hechao Chen Minghua Chen Yong Chen Yu-Peng Chen Alexis Coleiro Francesco Coti Zelati Zigao Dai Xilong Fan Zhou Fan Susanne Friedrich He Gao Chong Ge Mingyu Ge Jinjun Geng Giancarlo Ghirlanda Giulia Gianfagna Lijun Gou Sebastien Guillot´ Xian Hou Jingwei Hu Yongfeng Huang Long Ji Shumei Jia S.Komossa Albert K.H.Kong Lin Lan An Li Ang Li Chengkui Li Dongyue Li Jian Li Zhaosheng Li Zhixing Ling Ang Liu Jinzhong Liu Liangduan Liu Zhu Liu Jiawei Luo Ruican Ma Pierre Maggi Chandreyee Maitra Alessio Marino Stephen Chi-Yung Ng Haiwu Pan Surangkhana Rukdee Roberto Soria Hui Sun Pak-Hin Thomas Tam Aishwarya Linesh Thakur Hui Tian Eleonora Troja Wei Wang Xiangyu Wang Yanan Wang Junjie Wei Sixiang Wen Jianfeng Wu Ting Wu Di Xiao Dong Xu Renxin Xu Yanjun Xu Yu Xu Haonan Yang Bei You Heng Yu Yunwei Yu Binbin Zhang Chen Zhang Guobao Zhang Liang Zhang Wenda Zhang Yu Zhang Ping Zhou Zecheng Zou 

机构地区：[1]National Astronomical Observatories,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing 100101,China [2]School of Astronomy and Space Sciences,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing 100049,China [3]Department of Physics,University of Hong Kong,Pokfulam Road,Hong Kong 999077,China [4]Key Laboratory of Particle Astrophysics,Institute of High Energy Physics,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing 100049,China [5]Department of Astrophysics/IMAPP,Radboud University,Nijmegen,6500 GL,the Netherlands [6]SRON,Netherlands Institute for Space Research,Leiden,2333 CA,the Netherlands [7]ESA/ESTEC,Noordwijk,2201 AZ,the Netherlands [8]Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics,Garching,85748,Germany [9]School of Physics and Astronomy,University of Leicester,Leicester,LE17RH,UK [10]INAF-Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali,Rome,00133,Italy [11]Institute of Space Sciences(ICE),CSIC,Campus UAB,Barcelona,E-08193,Spain [12]Institut d’Estudis Espacials de Catalunya(IEEC),Barcelona,E-08034,Spain [13]Department of Astronomy,Xiamen University,Xiamen 361005,China [14]Purple Mountain Observatory,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Nanjing 210023,China [15]School of Astronomy and Space Sciences,University of Science and Technology of China,Hefei 230026,China [16]Nevada Center for Astrophysics,University of Nevada,Las Vegas,NV 89154,USA [17]Department of Physics and Astronomy,University of Nevada,Las Vegas,NV 89154,USA [18]Department of Astronomy,School of Physics and Technology,Wuhan University,Wuhan 430072,China [19]School of Physics and Astronomy,Yunnan University,Kunming 650500,China [20]Xinjiang Astronomical Observatory,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Urumqi 830011,China [21]Universit´e Paris Cit´e,CNRS,Astroparticule et Cosmologie,Paris,F-75013,France [22]Department of Astronomy,University of Science and Technology of China,Hefei 230026,China [23]Institute for Frontier in Astronomy and Astrophysics,Beijing Normal University,Beijing 102206,China [24]Department of Astronomy,Beijing Normal University,Beijing 100875,China [25]INAF-Oss

出　　处：《Science China(Physics,Mechanics & Astronomy)》2025年第3期1-60,共60页中国科学:物理学、力学、天文学(英文版)

基　　金：supported by Strategic Priority Program on Space Science of Chinese Academy of Sciences,in collaboration with ESA,MPE and CNES(Grant Nos.XDA15310000,and XDA15052100);supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.61234003,61434004,and 61504141);CAS Interdisciplinary Project(Grant No.KJZD-EW-L11-04)。

摘　　要：The Einstein Probe(EP)is an interdisciplinary mission of time-domain and X-ray astronomy.Equipped with a wide-field lobstereye X-ray focusing imager,EP will discover cosmic X-ray transients and monitor the X-ray variability of known sources in 0.5-4 keV,at a combination of detecting sensitivity and cadence that is not accessible to the previous and current wide-field monitoring missions.EP can perform quick characterisation of transients or outbursts with a Wolter-I X-ray telescope onboard.In this paper,the science objectives of the EP mission are presented.EP is expected to enlarge the sample of previously known or predicted but rare types of transients with a wide range of timescales.Among them,fast extragalactic transients will be surveyed systematically in soft X-rays,which includeγ-ray bursts and their variants,supernova shock breakouts,and the predicted X-ray transients associated with binary neutron star mergers.EP will detect X-ray tidal disruption events and outbursts from active galactic nuclei,possibly at an early phase of the flares for some.EP will monitor the variability and outbursts of X-rays from white dwarfs,neutron stars and black holes in our and neighbouring galaxies at flux levels fainter than those detectable by the current instruments,and is expected to discover new objects.A large sample of stellar X-ray flares will also be detected and characterised.In the era of multi-messenger astronomy,EP has the potential of detecting the possible X-ray counterparts of gravitational wave events,neutrino sources,and ultra-high energyγ-ray and cosmic ray sources.EP is expected to help advance the studies of extreme objects and phenomena revealed in the dynamic X-ray universe,and their underlying physical processes.Besides EP's strength in time-domain science,its follow-up telescope,with excellent performance,will also enable advances in many areas of X-ray astronomy.

关 键 词：Einstein Probe X-ray astronomy X-ray telescopes time-domain astronomy transients VARIABILITY 

分 类 号：P111[天文地球—天文学]