Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope

iWF-MAXI (iSEEP Wide Field MAXI): Soft X-ray Transient Monitor on ISS

M. Arimoto
N. Kawai, Y. Yatsu, Y. Tachibana, H. Tomida, S. Ueno, M. Kimura, T. Mihara, M. Serino, T. Yuasa, H. Tsunemi, N. Anabuki, A. Yoshida, T. Sakamoto, T. Kohmura, H. Negoro, Y. Ueda, Y. Tsuboi, K. Ebisawa, T. Dotani

Abstract:

iSEEP Wide Field MAXI (iWF-MAXI) is a proposed mission on the ISS/JEM to monitor a major fraction of the sky for detecting and localizing soft X-ray transients, starting at the end of 2010?s. We plan to promptly disseminate the locations of transients to the community to lead follow-up multi-wavelength observations with large observatories in space (e.g. Fermi, ASTRO-H, JWST, ..) and on ground. The main targets of iWF-MAXI are categorized in four classes: (1) X-ray counterparts of gravitational wave events, which are expected to be detected by the new generation gravitational wave detectors such as Advanced LIGO, Virgo and KAGRA in late 2010?s, (2) Short soft X-ray transients such as stellar flares, nova ignitions, and supernova shock breakouts, (3) Short high-energy transients such as gamma-ray bursts and tidal disruption events, (4) Activities of black hole binaries, neutron star binaries, and active galactic nuclei (AGN), iWF-MAXI?s main scientific instrument is the Soft X-ray Large Solid Angle Camera (SLC) which consists of a pairs of criss-cross coded aperture cameras using CCD as one-dimensional detectors. SLC covers the 0.7-12 keV band with a localization accuracy of $0.1^{circ}$. The design study and development of the prototype model of SLC and bus system are in progress.