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XL-Calibur: A balloon-based window into black holes and neutron stars.

Time: Thu 2020-09-03 15.00 - 16.00

Location: D3

Participating: Nirmal Kumar Iyer

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Zoom meeting adress: kth-se.zoom.us/s/64573588214

Nirmal Iyer, a researcher working at the Particle and Astroparticle group on KTH, will on the third of September give a seminar about the XL-Calibour project, where a balloon in 2022 will be launched from Esrange to make measurements of X-ray from black holes and neutron stars. Below you can read a more detailed description. Due to the restrictions imposed by KTH, a maximum of 50 people can participate in the lecture on site. However, there will also be the opportunity to take part of the seminar via Zoom.

XL-Calibur is a second generation X-ray polarimeter telescope scheduled for a balloon flight from Esrange, Sweden in 2022. It builds on previous balloon flights of the X-Calibur and PoGO+ missions to realise a highly sensitive polarimeter. With a 12m focal length mirror, highly efficient thin CZT detectors and an improved BGO based background shield, the XL-Calibur polarimeter will make high precision studies of neutron star magnetic fields, black hole corona and locale of pulsar emission. This talk will highlight the telescope development activities currently in progress at KTH, as we build towards the upcoming balloon flight, e.g. the development of the improved background shielding mechanism based on studies of the radiation environment at balloon flights. Some highlights of the expected scientific studies will also be presented.