The poorly-understood Galactic Ridge X-ray Emission (GRXE) is an X-raybackground concentrated around the Galactic plane, primarily composed ofdifficult to resolve discrete sources. The most promising candidates for itsorigin above a few keV are the intermediate polars (IPs), a class of magneticcataclysmic variables (CVs), consisting of a strongly magnetic white dwarf and aRoche-lobe filling companion. Most of the 49 confirmed IPs are X-ray bright (L_Xvirgul 10^33 erg/s) but there may be a more numerous undiscovered population offainter (L_X virgul 10^31 erg /s) IPs. We propose to observe 8 underluminous IPcandidates to confirm their nature as IPs, to search for the underluminous IPpopulation, detect spin period
Instrument
EMOS1, EMOS2, EPN, OM, RGS1, RGS2
Temporal Coverage
2019-03-18T04:57:50Z/2019-03-18T16:02:50Z
Version
17.56_20190403_1200
Mission Description
The European Space Agencys (ESA) X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission (XMM-Newton) was launched by an Ariane 504 on December 10th 1999. XMM-Newton is ESAs second cornerstone of the Horizon 2000 Science Programme. It carries 3 high throughput X-ray telescopes with an unprecedented effective area, and an optical monitor, the first flown on a X-ray observatory. The large collecting area and ability to make long uninterrupted exposures provide highly sensitive observations. Since Earths atmosphere blocks out all X-rays, only a telescope in space can detect and study celestial X-ray sources. The XMM-Newton mission is helping scientists to solve a number of cosmic mysteries, ranging from the enigmatic black holes to the origins of the Universe itself. Observing time on XMM-Newton is being made available to the scientific community, applying for observational periods on a competitive basis.
European Space Agency, Dr Hauke Worpel, 2020, 'Unveiling the X-ray faint intermediate polars- source of the Galactic Ridge X-ra', 17.56_20190403_1200, European Space Agency, https://doi.org/10.5270/esa-hi1go16
