Visible light blocking performance of a wide-field X-ray telescope onboard the Einstein probe.

The wide-field X-ray telescope (WXT) onboard the Einstein probe (EP) is equipped with complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) detector that is sensitive not only to X-rays but also to visible light. Therefore, effective visible light blocking is crucial to prevent interference with X-ray performance. In this paper, we present the design of the blocking films and the baffle for the WXT module and simulate the blocking performance on visible light.

Magnetar emergence in a peculiar gamma-ray burst from a compact star merger.

The central engine that powers gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), the most powerful explosions in the universe, is still not identified. Besides hyper-accreting black holes, rapidly spinning and highly magnetized neutron stars, known as millisecond magnetars, have been suggested to power both long and short GRBs. The presence of a magnetar engine following compact star mergers is of particular interest as it would provide essential constraints on the poorly understood equation of state for neutron stars.