NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory (née AXAF), was launched in July 1999. The Chandra Multiwavelength Project (ChaMP) described here combines radio to X-ray observations of serendipitous Chandra sources, with an optical survey as its backbone, to provide a uniform multiwavelength database to the community.

The ChaMP will have very good X-ray positions (~1''), X-ray flux limits 20 times deeper than current wide area surveys (down to f(0.2-8 keV) ~3 × 10^-16 erg cm^-2 s^-1) and larger areal coverage (~8 deg² per year) than current deep surveys.

Here we describe the ChaMP, with emphasis on optical imaging followup, reaching V ~ 25. For selected Chandra fields, the ChaMP's homogeneously-selected samples of distant AGN, clusters and groups of galaxies, as well as galactic coronal sources and accreting binaries will facilitate advances over a wide range of research.

• Cosmic X-ray Background: dominated by new population at faint fluxes or the same sources with harder spectra?
• AGN:
  • what fraction missed in soft X-ray and optical surveys due to obscuration?
  • Does the X-ray luminosity function (XLF) evolve like the optical?
  • Does the spectral energy distribution (e.g. a_ox) depend on luminosity?
• Clusters:
  • Determine cluster XLF for z > 0.5 to constrain cosmological parameters.
  • Find high-z cooling flows.
• Stars:
  • Measure the high and low-mass ends of the XLF. Can fully convective low-mass stars support an aw dynamo?
• Binaries: XLFs of quiescent CVs, X-ray Novae

Date Last Modified: 22 April 2002
Contact: Webmaster