Invitation to Join the X-ray Surveyor Science Working Groups

The X-ray Surveyor Science and Technology Definition Team (STDT) has formed its science working groups (SWG) and is pleased to invite applications from the community for active participation and membership. We welcome members internal and external to the X-ray community, at all career stages, and from domestic and international institutions.

The SWGs will be responsible for identifying outstanding science questions, developing a compelling science case, and aiding the STDT with developing a mission concept that best addresses these questions.

We provide the list of the science working groups and their corresponding STDT leads below. All interested members of the community are encouraged to register their interest using the relevant online form (linked below) by 25 July 2016. Please identify in one to two paragraphs the topics to which you would like to contribute, your expertise in these areas, and what tasks you are willing to undertake in support of the study. Please feel free to register for more than one group as appropriate.

Cycles of Baryons In and Out of Galaxies:
(includes: Cosmic Web, IGM, CGM, MW halo, evolution of normal galaxies)
Joel Bregman, Juna Kollmeier

First Accretion Light in the Universe:
(includes: BH seed formation, X-rays from early BHs, X-ray binaries in early galaxies, reionization of the universe, cross-correlation of X-ray emission from high-z with other tracers)
Niel Brandt, Piero Madau, Daniel Stern

Evolution of Structure and AGN populations:
(includes: statistical studies of AGN populations, galaxy evolution, galaxy clusters)
Steve Allen, Ryan Hickox, Tesla Jeltema, Daniel Stern

Physics of Plasmas:
(includes: shocks, particle acceleration, interfaces, transport processes, turbulence, instabilities, etc. in various astrophysical systems)
Eliot Quataert, Alexey Vikhlinin

Physics of High Density Matter, Compact Objects, and Accretion:
(includes: physics of cold dense matter, BH spacetimes, GR tests, TDEs, Short bursts)
Feryal Ozel, Frits Paerels, Chris Reynolds

Physics of Feedback:
(includes: feedback on all scales from BHs to young stars to SNe to jets to galactic winds)
Megan Donahue, Chris Reynolds

Stellar Lifecycles:
(includes: stars, X-ray binaries, supernovae, SN remnants)
Laura Lopez, Rachel Osten, Dave Pooley, Andy Ptak

X-rays in the Multi-wavelength, Multi-Messenger Era:
(Synergies with gravitational waves, WFIRST, LSST, etc.)
Robert Petre, Randall Smith