Measuring x-ray polarization in the presence of systematic effects: Known background
Abstract
The prospects for accomplishing x-ray polarization measurements of astronomical sources have grown in recent years, after a hiatus of more than 37 years. Unfortunately, accompanying this long hiatus has been some confusion over the statistical uncertainties associated with x-ray polarization measurements of these sources. We have initiated a program to perform the detailed calculations that will offer insights into the uncertainties associated with x-ray polarization measurements. Here we describe a mathematical formalism for determining the 1- and 2-parameter errors in the magnitude and position angle of x-ray (linear) polarization in the presence of a (polarized or unpolarized) background. We further review relevant statistics-including clearly distinguishing between the Minimum Detectable Polarization (MDP) and the accuracy of a polarization measurement.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1208.0610,
title = {Measuring x-ray polarization in the presence of systematic effects: Known background},
author = {Ronald F. Elsner and Stephen L. O'Dell and Martin C. Weisskopf},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1208.0610},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
12 pages, 4 figures, for SPIE conference proceedings