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Nicolai Brejnholt

Other affiliations: Technical University of Denmark
Bio: Nicolai Brejnholt is an academic researcher from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The author has contributed to research in topics: Telescope & X-ray optics. The author has an hindex of 14, co-authored 35 publications receiving 3784 citations. Previous affiliations of Nicolai Brejnholt include Technical University of Denmark.

Papers
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Journal ArticleDOI
Fiona A. Harrison1, William W. Craig2, William W. Craig3, Finn Erland Christensen4, Charles J. Hailey5, William W. Zhang6, Steven E. Boggs3, Daniel Stern1, W. Rick Cook1, Karl Forster1, Paolo Giommi, Brian W. Grefenstette1, Yunjin Kim1, Takao Kitaguchi7, Jason E. Koglin5, Kristin K. Madsen1, Peter H. Mao1, Hiromasa Miyasaka1, Kaya Mori5, M. Perri8, Michael J. Pivovaroff2, Simonetta Puccetti8, Vikram Rana1, Niels Jørgen Stenfeldt Westergaard4, J. L. Willis1, Andreas Zoglauer3, Hongjun An9, Matteo Bachetti10, Matteo Bachetti11, Nicolas M. Barrière3, Eric C. Bellm1, Varun Bhalerao1, Varun Bhalerao12, Nicolai Brejnholt4, Felix Fuerst1, Carl Christian Liebe1, Craig B. Markwardt6, Melania Nynka5, Julia Vogel2, Dominic J. Walton1, Daniel R. Wik6, David M. Alexander13, L. R. Cominsky14, Ann Hornschemeier6, Allan Hornstrup4, Victoria M. Kaspi9, Greg Madejski, Giorgio Matt15, S. Molendi7, David M. Smith16, John A. Tomsick3, Marco Ajello3, David R. Ballantyne17, Mislav Baloković1, Didier Barret10, Didier Barret11, Franz E. Bauer18, Roger Blandford8, W. Niel Brandt19, Laura Brenneman20, James Chiang8, Deepto Chakrabarty21, Jérôme Chenevez4, Andrea Comastri7, Francois Dufour9, Martin Elvis20, Andrew C. Fabian22, Duncan Farrah23, Chris L. Fryer24, Eric V. Gotthelf5, Jonathan E. Grindlay20, D. J. Helfand25, Roman Krivonos3, David L. Meier1, Jon M. Miller26, Lorenzo Natalucci7, Patrick Ogle1, Eran O. Ofek27, Andrew Ptak6, Stephen P. Reynolds28, Jane R. Rigby6, Gianpiero Tagliaferri7, Stephen E. Thorsett29, Ezequiel Treister30, C. Megan Urry31 
TL;DR: The Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) as discussed by the authors is the first focusing high-energy X-ray telescope in orbit, which operates in the band from 3 to 79 keV.
Abstract: The Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) mission, launched on 2012 June 13, is the first focusing high-energy X-ray telescope in orbit. NuSTAR operates in the band from 3 to 79 keV, extending the sensitivity of focusing far beyond the ~10 keV high-energy cutoff achieved by all previous X-ray satellites. The inherently low background associated with concentrating the X-ray light enables NuSTAR to probe the hard X-ray sky with a more than 100-fold improvement in sensitivity over the collimated or coded mask instruments that have operated in this bandpass. Using its unprecedented combination of sensitivity and spatial and spectral resolution, NuSTAR will pursue five primary scientific objectives: (1) probe obscured active galactic nucleus (AGN) activity out to the peak epoch of galaxy assembly in the universe (at z ≾ 2) by surveying selected regions of the sky; (2) study the population of hard X-ray-emitting compact objects in the Galaxy by mapping the central regions of the Milky Way; (3) study the non-thermal radiation in young supernova remnants, both the hard X-ray continuum and the emission from the radioactive element ^(44)Ti; (4) observe blazars contemporaneously with ground-based radio, optical, and TeV telescopes, as well as with Fermi and Swift, to constrain the structure of AGN jets; and (5) observe line and continuum emission from core-collapse supernovae in the Local Group, and from nearby Type Ia events, to constrain explosion models. During its baseline two-year mission, NuSTAR will also undertake a broad program of targeted observations. The observatory consists of two co-aligned grazing-incidence X-ray telescopes pointed at celestial targets by a three-axis stabilized spacecraft. Deployed into a 600 km, near-circular, 6° inclination orbit, the observatory has now completed commissioning, and is performing consistent with pre-launch expectations. NuSTAR is now executing its primary science mission, and with an expected orbit lifetime of 10 yr, we anticipate proposing a guest investigator program, to begin in late 2014.

1,966 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) as discussed by the authors is the first focusing high-energy X-ray telescope in orbit, which operates in the band from 3 - 79 keV.
Abstract: The Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) mission, launched on 13 June 2012, is the first focusing high-energy X-ray telescope in orbit. NuSTAR operates in the band from 3 -- 79 keV, extending the sensitivity of focusing far beyond the ~10 keV high-energy cutoff achieved by all previous X-ray satellites. The inherently low-background associated with concentrating the X-ray light enables NuSTAR to probe the hard X-ray sky with a more than one-hundred-fold improvement in sensitivity over the collimated or coded-mask instruments that have operated in this bandpass. Using its unprecedented combination of sensitivity, spatial and spectral resolution, NuSTAR will pursue five primary scientific objectives, and will also undertake a broad program of targeted observations. The observatory consists of two co-aligned grazing-incidence X-ray telescopes pointed at celestial targets by a three-axis stabilized spacecraft. Deployed into a 600 km, near-circular, 6degree inclination orbit, the Observatory has now completed commissioning, and is performing consistent with pre-launch expectations. NuSTAR is now executing its primary science mission, and with an expected orbit lifetime of ten years, we anticipate proposing a guest investigator program, to begin in Fall 2014.

1,548 citations

Proceedings ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) is a NASA Small Explorer mission that will carry the first focusing hard X-ray (5 - 80 keV) telescope to orbit as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) is a NASA Small Explorer mission that will carry the first focusing hard X-ray (5 - 80 keV) telescope to orbit. NuSTAR will offer a factor 50 - 100 sensitivity improvement compared to previous collimated or coded mask imagers that have operated in this energy band. In addition, NuSTAR provides sub-arcminute imaging with good spectral resolution over a 12-arcminute field of view. After launch, NuSTAR will carry out a two-year primary science mission that focuses on four key programs: studying the evolution of massive black holes through surveys carried out in fields with excellent multiwavelength coverage, understanding the population of compact objects and the nature of the massive black hole in the center of the Milky Way, constraining explosion dynamics and nucleosynthesis in supernovae, and probing the nature of particle acceleration in relativistic jets in active galactic nuclei. A number of additional observations will be included in the primary mission, and a. guest observer program will be proposed for an extended mission to expand the range of scientific targets. The payload consists of two co-aligned depth-graded multilayer coated grazing incidence optics focused onto solid state CdZnTe pixel detectors. To be launched in early 2012 on a Pegasus rocket into a low-inclination Earth orbit. NuSTAR largely avoids SAA passages, and will therefore have low and stable detector backgrounds. The telescope achieves a 10.15-meter focal length through on-orbit deployment of all mast. An aspect and alignment metrology system enable reconstruction of the absolute aspect and variations in the telescope alignment resulting from mast flexure during ground data processing. Data will be publicly available at GSFC's High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center (HEASARC) following validation at the science operations center located at Caltech.

140 citations

Proceedings ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors describe the entire coating effort including the final coating design that was used for the two flight optics and present data on the performance verification of the coatings both on Si witness samples and on individual flight mirrors.
Abstract: The NuSTAR mission will be the first mission to carry a hard X-ray(5-80 keV) focusing telescope to orbit. The optics are based on the use of multilayer coated thin slumped glass. Two different material combinations were used for the flight optics, namely W/Si and Pt/C. In this paper we describe the entire coating effort including the final coating design that was used for the two flight optics. We also present data on the performance verification of the coatings both on Si witness samples as well as on individual flight mirrors.

48 citations

Proceedings ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) is a NASA Small Explorer mission scheduled for launch in February 2012 as discussed by the authors, which will deploy two imaging CdZnTe spectrometers in the 6-79 keV energy band.
Abstract: The Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) is a NASA Small Explorer mission scheduled for launch in February 2012. NuSTAR will deploy two imaging CdZnTe spectrometers in the 6-79 keV energy band. The two NuSTAR optics utilize multilayer-coated, thermally-slumped glass integrated into a titanium-glass-epoxy-graphite composite structure, along with an extendable mast, to obtain 10.15 meter focal length. Using this approach, the NuSTAR optics will obtain subarcminute imaging with large effective area over its entire energy band. NuSTAR's conic-approximation Wolter-I optics are the first true hard X-ray focusing optics to be deployed on a satellite experiment. We report on the design of the NuSTAR optics, present the status of the two flight optics under construction, and report preliminary measurements that can be used to predict performance.

47 citations


Cited by
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A binary neutron star coalescence candidate (later designated GW170817) with merger time 12:41:04 UTC was observed through gravitational waves by the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors.
Abstract: On 2017 August 17 a binary neutron star coalescence candidate (later designated GW170817) with merger time 12:41:04 UTC was observed through gravitational waves by the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors. The Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor independently detected a gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) with a time delay of $\sim 1.7\,{\rm{s}}$ with respect to the merger time. From the gravitational-wave signal, the source was initially localized to a sky region of 31 deg2 at a luminosity distance of ${40}_{-8}^{+8}$ Mpc and with component masses consistent with neutron stars. The component masses were later measured to be in the range 0.86 to 2.26 $\,{M}_{\odot }$. An extensive observing campaign was launched across the electromagnetic spectrum leading to the discovery of a bright optical transient (SSS17a, now with the IAU identification of AT 2017gfo) in NGC 4993 (at $\sim 40\,{\rm{Mpc}}$) less than 11 hours after the merger by the One-Meter, Two Hemisphere (1M2H) team using the 1 m Swope Telescope. The optical transient was independently detected by multiple teams within an hour. Subsequent observations targeted the object and its environment. Early ultraviolet observations revealed a blue transient that faded within 48 hours. Optical and infrared observations showed a redward evolution over ~10 days. Following early non-detections, X-ray and radio emission were discovered at the transient's position $\sim 9$ and $\sim 16$ days, respectively, after the merger. Both the X-ray and radio emission likely arise from a physical process that is distinct from the one that generates the UV/optical/near-infrared emission. No ultra-high-energy gamma-rays and no neutrino candidates consistent with the source were found in follow-up searches. These observations support the hypothesis that GW170817 was produced by the merger of two neutron stars in NGC 4993 followed by a short gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) and a kilonova/macronova powered by the radioactive decay of r-process nuclei synthesized in the ejecta.

2,746 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
Fiona A. Harrison1, William W. Craig2, William W. Craig3, Finn Erland Christensen4, Charles J. Hailey5, William W. Zhang6, Steven E. Boggs3, Daniel Stern1, W. Rick Cook1, Karl Forster1, Paolo Giommi, Brian W. Grefenstette1, Yunjin Kim1, Takao Kitaguchi7, Jason E. Koglin5, Kristin K. Madsen1, Peter H. Mao1, Hiromasa Miyasaka1, Kaya Mori5, M. Perri8, Michael J. Pivovaroff2, Simonetta Puccetti8, Vikram Rana1, Niels Jørgen Stenfeldt Westergaard4, J. L. Willis1, Andreas Zoglauer3, Hongjun An9, Matteo Bachetti10, Matteo Bachetti11, Nicolas M. Barrière3, Eric C. Bellm1, Varun Bhalerao12, Varun Bhalerao1, Nicolai Brejnholt4, Felix Fuerst1, Carl Christian Liebe1, Craig B. Markwardt6, Melania Nynka5, Julia Vogel2, Dominic J. Walton1, Daniel R. Wik6, David M. Alexander13, L. R. Cominsky14, Ann Hornschemeier6, Allan Hornstrup4, Victoria M. Kaspi9, Greg Madejski, Giorgio Matt15, S. Molendi7, David M. Smith16, John A. Tomsick3, Marco Ajello3, David R. Ballantyne17, Mislav Baloković1, Didier Barret10, Didier Barret11, Franz E. Bauer18, Roger Blandford8, W. Niel Brandt19, Laura Brenneman20, James Chiang8, Deepto Chakrabarty21, Jérôme Chenevez4, Andrea Comastri7, Francois Dufour9, Martin Elvis20, Andrew C. Fabian22, Duncan Farrah23, Chris L. Fryer24, Eric V. Gotthelf5, Jonathan E. Grindlay20, D. J. Helfand25, Roman Krivonos3, David L. Meier1, Jon M. Miller26, Lorenzo Natalucci7, Patrick Ogle1, Eran O. Ofek27, Andrew Ptak6, Stephen P. Reynolds28, Jane R. Rigby6, Gianpiero Tagliaferri7, Stephen E. Thorsett29, Ezequiel Treister30, C. Megan Urry31 
TL;DR: The Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) as discussed by the authors is the first focusing high-energy X-ray telescope in orbit, which operates in the band from 3 to 79 keV.
Abstract: The Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) mission, launched on 2012 June 13, is the first focusing high-energy X-ray telescope in orbit. NuSTAR operates in the band from 3 to 79 keV, extending the sensitivity of focusing far beyond the ~10 keV high-energy cutoff achieved by all previous X-ray satellites. The inherently low background associated with concentrating the X-ray light enables NuSTAR to probe the hard X-ray sky with a more than 100-fold improvement in sensitivity over the collimated or coded mask instruments that have operated in this bandpass. Using its unprecedented combination of sensitivity and spatial and spectral resolution, NuSTAR will pursue five primary scientific objectives: (1) probe obscured active galactic nucleus (AGN) activity out to the peak epoch of galaxy assembly in the universe (at z ≾ 2) by surveying selected regions of the sky; (2) study the population of hard X-ray-emitting compact objects in the Galaxy by mapping the central regions of the Milky Way; (3) study the non-thermal radiation in young supernova remnants, both the hard X-ray continuum and the emission from the radioactive element ^(44)Ti; (4) observe blazars contemporaneously with ground-based radio, optical, and TeV telescopes, as well as with Fermi and Swift, to constrain the structure of AGN jets; and (5) observe line and continuum emission from core-collapse supernovae in the Local Group, and from nearby Type Ia events, to constrain explosion models. During its baseline two-year mission, NuSTAR will also undertake a broad program of targeted observations. The observatory consists of two co-aligned grazing-incidence X-ray telescopes pointed at celestial targets by a three-axis stabilized spacecraft. Deployed into a 600 km, near-circular, 6° inclination orbit, the observatory has now completed commissioning, and is performing consistent with pre-launch expectations. NuSTAR is now executing its primary science mission, and with an expected orbit lifetime of 10 yr, we anticipate proposing a guest investigator program, to begin in late 2014.

1,966 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
Željko Ivezić1, Steven M. Kahn2, J. Anthony Tyson3, Bob Abel4  +332 moreInstitutions (55)
TL;DR: The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) as discussed by the authors is a large, wide-field ground-based system designed to obtain repeated images covering the sky visible from Cerro Pachon in northern Chile.
Abstract: We describe here the most ambitious survey currently planned in the optical, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). The LSST design is driven by four main science themes: probing dark energy and dark matter, taking an inventory of the solar system, exploring the transient optical sky, and mapping the Milky Way. LSST will be a large, wide-field ground-based system designed to obtain repeated images covering the sky visible from Cerro Pachon in northern Chile. The telescope will have an 8.4 m (6.5 m effective) primary mirror, a 9.6 deg2 field of view, a 3.2-gigapixel camera, and six filters (ugrizy) covering the wavelength range 320–1050 nm. The project is in the construction phase and will begin regular survey operations by 2022. About 90% of the observing time will be devoted to a deep-wide-fast survey mode that will uniformly observe a 18,000 deg2 region about 800 times (summed over all six bands) during the anticipated 10 yr of operations and will yield a co-added map to r ~ 27.5. These data will result in databases including about 32 trillion observations of 20 billion galaxies and a similar number of stars, and they will serve the majority of the primary science programs. The remaining 10% of the observing time will be allocated to special projects such as Very Deep and Very Fast time domain surveys, whose details are currently under discussion. We illustrate how the LSST science drivers led to these choices of system parameters, and we describe the expected data products and their characteristics.

921 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
Fermi-LAT1, Asas-Sn1, Hawc1, Kanata1, Kiso1, Kapteyn1, Liverpool Telescope1, NuSTAR1, Vla1, B teams1 
13 Jul 2018-Science
TL;DR: The discovery of an extraterrestrial diffuse flux of high-energy neutrinos, announced by IceCube in 2013, has characteristic properties that hint at contributions from extragalactic sources, although the individual sources remain as yet unidentified.
Abstract: INTRODUCTION Neutrinos are tracers of cosmic-ray acceleration: electrically neutral and traveling at nearly the speed of light, they can escape the densest environments and may be traced back to their source of origin. High-energy neutrinos are expected to be produced in blazars: intense extragalactic radio, optical, x-ray, and, in some cases, γ-ray sources characterized by relativistic jets of plasma pointing close to our line of sight. Blazars are among the most powerful objects in the Universe and are widely speculated to be sources of high-energy cosmic rays. These cosmic rays generate high-energy neutrinos and γ-rays, which are produced when the cosmic rays accelerated in the jet interact with nearby gas or photons. On 22 September 2017, the cubic-kilometer IceCube Neutrino Observatory detected a ~290-TeV neutrino from a direction consistent with the flaring γ-ray blazar TXS 0506+056. We report the details of this observation and the results of a multiwavelength follow-up campaign. RATIONALE Multimessenger astronomy aims for globally coordinated observations of cosmic rays, neutrinos, gravitational waves, and electromagnetic radiation across a broad range of wavelengths. The combination is expected to yield crucial information on the mechanisms energizing the most powerful astrophysical sources. That the production of neutrinos is accompanied by electromagnetic radiation from the source favors the chances of a multiwavelength identification. In particular, a measured association of high-energy neutrinos with a flaring source of γ-rays would elucidate the mechanisms and conditions for acceleration of the highest-energy cosmic rays. The discovery of an extraterrestrial diffuse flux of high-energy neutrinos, announced by IceCube in 2013, has characteristic properties that hint at contributions from extragalactic sources, although the individual sources remain as yet unidentified. Continuously monitoring the entire sky for astrophysical neutrinos, IceCube provides real-time triggers for observatories around the world measuring γ-rays, x-rays, optical, radio, and gravitational waves, allowing for the potential identification of even rapidly fading sources. RESULTS A high-energy neutrino-induced muon track was detected on 22 September 2017, automatically generating an alert that was distributed worldwide within 1 min of detection and prompted follow-up searches by telescopes over a broad range of wavelengths. On 28 September 2017, the Fermi Large Area Telescope Collaboration reported that the direction of the neutrino was coincident with a cataloged γ-ray source, 0.1° from the neutrino direction. The source, a blazar known as TXS 0506+056 at a measured redshift of 0.34, was in a flaring state at the time with enhanced γ-ray activity in the GeV range. Follow-up observations by imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes, notably the Major Atmospheric Gamma Imaging Cherenkov (MAGIC) telescopes, revealed periods where the detected γ-ray flux from the blazar reached energies up to 400 GeV. Measurements of the source have also been completed at x-ray, optical, and radio wavelengths. We have investigated models associating neutrino and γ-ray production and find that correlation of the neutrino with the flare of TXS 0506+056 is statistically significant at the level of 3 standard deviations (sigma). On the basis of the redshift of TXS 0506+056, we derive constraints for the muon-neutrino luminosity for this source and find them to be similar to the luminosity observed in γ-rays. CONCLUSION The energies of the γ-rays and the neutrino indicate that blazar jets may accelerate cosmic rays to at least several PeV. The observed association of a high-energy neutrino with a blazar during a period of enhanced γ-ray emission suggests that blazars may indeed be one of the long-sought sources of very-high-energy cosmic rays, and hence responsible for a sizable fraction of the cosmic neutrino flux observed by IceCube.

813 citations

Book
30 Apr 2020
TL;DR: In this paper, the fundamental properties of soft x-rays and extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation are discussed and their applications in a wide variety of fields, including EUV lithography for semiconductor chip manufacture and soft X-ray biomicroscopy.
Abstract: This self-contained, comprehensive book describes the fundamental properties of soft x-rays and extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation and discusses their applications in a wide variety of fields, including EUV lithography for semiconductor chip manufacture and soft x-ray biomicroscopy. The author begins by presenting the relevant basic principles such as radiation and scattering, wave propagation, diffraction, and coherence. He then goes on to examine a broad range of phenomena and applications. The topics covered include EUV lithography, biomicroscopy, spectromicroscopy, EUV astronomy, synchrotron radiation, and soft x-ray lasers. He also provides a great deal of useful reference material such as electron binding energies, characteristic emission lines and photo-absorption cross-sections. The book will be of great interest to graduate students and researchers in engineering, physics, chemistry, and the life sciences. It will also appeal to practicing engineers involved in semiconductor fabrication and materials science.

786 citations