The Hot and Energetic Universe: A White Paper presenting the science theme motivating the Athena+ mission. (arXiv:1306.2307v1 [astro-ph.HE])

The Hot and Energetic Universe: A White Paper presenting the science theme motivating the Athena+ mission. (arXiv:1306.2307v1 [astro-ph.HE]):
This White Paper, submitted to the recent ESA call for science themes to
define its future large missions, advocates the need for a transformational
leap in our understanding of two key questions in astrophysics: 1) How does
ordinary matter assemble into the large scale structures that we see today? 2)
How do black holes grow and shape the Universe? Hot gas in clusters, groups and
the intergalactic medium dominates the baryonic content of the local Universe.
To understand the astrophysical processes responsible for the formation and
assembly of these large structures, it is necessary to measure their physical
properties and evolution. This requires spatially resolved X-ray spectroscopy
with a factor 10 increase in both telescope throughput and spatial resolving
power compared to currently planned facilities. Feedback from supermassive
black holes is an essential ingredient in this process and in most galaxy
evolution models, but it is not well understood. X-ray observations can
uniquely reveal the mechanisms launching winds close to black holes and
determine the coupling of the energy and matter flows on larger scales. Due to
the effects of feedback, a complete understanding of galaxy evolution requires
knowledge of the obscured growth of supermassive black holes through cosmic
time, out to the redshifts where the first galaxies form. X-ray emission is the
most reliable way to reveal accreting black holes, but deep survey speed must
improve by a factor ~100 over current facilities to perform a full census into
the early Universe. The Advanced Telescope for High Energy Astrophysics
(Athena+) mission provides the necessary performance (e.g. angular resolution,
spectral resolution, survey grasp) to address these questions and revolutionize
our understanding of the Hot and Energetic Universe. These capabilities will
also provide a powerful observatory to be used in all areas of astrophysics.