Time domain astronomy with the THESEUS satellite

Mereghetti, S.; Balman, S.; Caballero-Garcia, M.; Del Santo, M.; Doroshenko, V.; Erkut, M. H.; Hanlon, L.; Hoeflich, P.; Markowitz, A.; Osborne, J. P.; Pian, E.; Rivera Sandoval, L.; Webb, N.; Amati, L.; Ambrosi, E.; Beardmore, A. P.; Blain, A.; Bozzo, E.; Burderi, L.; Campana, S.; Casella, P.; D'Ai, A.; D'Ammando, F.; De Colle, F.; Della Valle, M.; De Martino, D.; Di Salvo, T.; Doyle, M.; Esposito, P.; Frontera, F.; Gandhi, P.; Ghisellini, G.; Gotz, D.; Grinberg, V.; Guidorzi, C.; Hudec, R.; Iaria, R.; Izzo, L.; Jaisawal, G. K.; Jonker, P. G.; Kong, A. K. H.; Krumpe, M.; Kumar, P.; Manousakis, A.; Marino, A.; Martin-Carrillo, A.; Mignani, R.; Miniutti, G.; Mundell, C. G.; Mukai, K.; Nucita, A. A.; O'Brien, P. T.; Orlandini, M.; Orio, M.; Palazzi, E.; Papitto, A.; Pintore, F.; Piranomonte, S.; Porquet, D.; Ricci, C.; Riggio, A.; Rigoselli, M.; Rodriguez, J.; Saha, T.; Sanna, A.; Santangelo, A.; Saxton, R.; Sidoli, L.; Stiele, H.; Tagliaferri, G.; Tavecchio, F.; Tiengo, A.; Tsygankov, S.; Turriziani, S.; Wijnands, R.; Zane, S.; Zhang, B.

doi:10.1007/s10686-021-09809-6

THESEUS is a medium size space mission of the European Space Agency, currently under evaluation for a possible launch in 2032. Its main objectives are to investigate the early Universe through the observation of gamma-ray bursts and to study the gravitational waves electromagnetic counterparts and neutrino events. On the other hand, its instruments, which include a wide field of view X-ray (0.3-5 keV) telescope based on lobster-eye focussing optics and a gamma-ray spectrometer with imaging capabilities in the 2-150 keV range, are also ideal for carrying out unprecedented studies in time domain astrophysics. In addition, the presence onboard of a 70 cm near infrared telescope will allow simultaneous multiwavelegth studies. Here we present the THESEUS capabilities for studying the time variability of different classes of sources in parallel to, and without affecting, the gamma-ray bursts hunt.