High Angular Resolution X-ray Imager (Hi-ReX) SAG Report on Extragalactic and Extreme Gravity Science

Speaker

Kimberly Weaver, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Abstract

I will present extragalactic and extreme gravity results from the Hi-ReX Science Analysis Group, which has examined the importance of high angular resolution imaging at X-ray wavelengths. An X-ray instrument with ~0.1 arcsecond to a milliarcsecond resolution will directly map hot gas around supermassive black holes (SMBH) within the gravitational “sphere of influence” (Bondi radius), resolve the X-ray broad line region and obscuring torus geometries, confirm binary and dual/multiple AGN candidates selected at other wavelengths, and directly probe AGN feedback. An X-ray instrument with microarcsecond resolution will map supermassive black hole accretion, reveal the AGN corona, uncover relativistic jet launching and collimation regions, and directly image the immediate vicinity of supermassive black hole event horizons, mirroring the ground-breaking achievements of the Event Horizon Telescope in the radio band. This breakthrough will enable unprecedented tests of General Relativity and alternative gravity theories in the strong-field regime, directly probing spacetime curvature and mapping accretion disk dynamics.

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Meeting ID: 219 360 659 635 0

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