The FORCE mission: science aim and instrument parameter for broadband x-ray imaging spectroscopy with good angular resolution

Summary

FORCE is a 1.2 tonnes small mission dedicated for wide-band fine-imaging x-ray observation. It covers from 1 to 80 keV with a good angular resolution of 15′′ half-power-diameter. It is proposed to be launched around mid2020s and designed to reach a limiting sensitivity as good as F_X(10 − 40 keV) = 3 × 10⁻¹⁵ erg cm⁻² s⁻¹ keV⁻¹ within 1 Ms. This number is one order of magnitude better than current best one. With its high-sensitivity wideband coverage, FORCE will probe the new science field of “missing BHs”, searching for families of black holes of which populations and evolutions are not well known. Other point-source and diffuse-source sciences are also considered. FORCE will also provide the “hard x-ray coverage” to forthcoming