Science with the EXTraS project: Exploring the X-ray transient and variable sky

Abstract

The EXTraS project (“Exploring the X-ray Transient and variable Sky”) will characterise the temporal behaviour of the largest ever sample of objects in the soft X-ray range (0.1–12 keV) with a complex, systematic and consistent analysis of all data collected by the European Photon Imaging Camera (EPIC) instrument onboard the ESA XMM-Newton X-ray observatory since its launch.We will search for, and characterize variability (both periodic and aperiodic) in hundreds of thousands of sources spanning more than nine orders of magnitude in time scale and six orders of magnitude in flux. We will also search for fast transients, missed by standard image analysis. Our analysis will be completed by multiwavelength characterization of new discoveries and phenomenological classification of variable sources. All results and productswill be made available to the community in a public archive, serving as a reference for a broad range of astrophysical investigations.