| Abstract: X-ray astronomy in India began with early balloon-borne and sounding-rocket experiments, and entered the space era with the launch of Aryabhata, India’s first satellite. A major milestone was achieved with AstroSat, which carried dedicated X-ray instrumentation with broad energy coverage spanning soft to hard X-rays. These instruments enabled fast timing studies of compact objects in an unprecedented manner, the first of their kind X-ray polarimetric studies of bright sources, and broad-band X-ray spectroscopy of different classes of sources. In parallel, X-ray experiments have also been an integral part of the Chandrayaan series of missions to the Moon, as well as the solar mission Aditya-L1. The XPoSat mission builds on the technological legacy of these previous experiments to explore a largely uncharted regime of X-ray polarimetry. Beyond these missions, ongoing efforts in India have focused primarily on the niche area of X-ray polarimetry over broad energy ranges using multiple techniques, the development of X-ray focusing optics to achieve higher sensitivity compared to collimated detectors, and all-sky monitoring for fast transients. In this talk, I will discuss the ongoing initiatives in these directions within our group and across the country, highlighting their connections to AstroSat results and recent planetary and solar X-ray experiments. |
