Tools for simulations

For scientific simulation activities please use the responses available through the X-IFU and WFI Consortia web pages.

Newathena mirror Requirement implementation

The NewAthena mirror requirements are implemented through the following mirror configuration:

  • Mirror Assembly (MA) with 13 rows, 6 sectors, 492 mirror modules
  • Membrane thickness 150 μm
  • Active mirror apertures radius 245-1120 mm
  • Mirror plate rib spacing (pitch) of 1.86 mm
  • 10 nm of Pt coating on each individual module, plus 8 nm C (top) and 12.5 nm Cr overcoating (0.45 nm roughness) . The CrC layer thickness has been optimised to achieve the best possible area at low and high energies (unpublished study by Desiree della Monica Ferreira, DTU)
  • +1/-1 wedging geometry

 The mirror geometry will be described in the Athena Telescope Reference Document (TRD) version 4.1 by the ESA Study Team.

 

Component Data Files: area and on-axis PSF

Estimates of the on-axis effective area and vignetting curves have been calculated by ESA (Alex Mc Namara and Ivo Ferreira). They have been based on realistic ray-trace experiments including all known loss effects. In addition, they do include provisional loss factors to account for expected losses such as misalignments, coating imperfections, contamination, etc. The simulations correspond to the simulated mission at beginning-of-life conditions.

Point Spread Function (PSF) parameterization and images have been extrapolated by ESA from estimates originally provided by Prof. Richard Willingale (University of Leicester).

NewAthena mirror peformance resources

  • Mirror Effective Area On-Axis (1 eV energy resolution): CSV format (PNG plot)
  • Vignetting as a function of energy (0.2, 0.35, 1, 2, 4, 7, and 10 keV) and off-axis angle (0, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 5.0, 7.0, 10.0, 15.0, 20.0, 28.0 arcminutes): ASCII data file​​​​​​​
  • On-axis on-focus PSF (version 31 March 2026) images as a function of energy: 0.2 keV, 0.35 keV, 1 keV, 2 keV, 4 keV, 7 keV, 10 keV, and 12 keV. The PSF model is a 2-D distribution whose radial profile corresponds to a modified pseudo-Voigt distribution. The keywords PIXM[12] in the file header indicate the physical pixel size in meters; the keywords PIXAS[12]​​​​​​​ indicate the platescale (arcseconds per pixel).
  • On-axis 35-mm defocused PSF (version 10 March 2026) images as a function of energy (same specifications as the on-focuses PSF above): 0.2 keV, 0.35 keV, 1 keV, 2 keV, 4 keV, 7 keV, 10 keV, and 12 keV.

X-ray stray light

This tarfile contains software (C procedure) and associated data files to produce stray light estimates (credit: Prof. Richard Willingale, University of Leicester). It has been integrated in SIXTE to produce images directly usable for scientific simulations.