White Paper on GEMS Study of Polarized X-rays from Neutron Stars
Abstract
We examine the expected X-ray polarization properties of neutron-star X-ray sources of various types, e.g., accretion and rotation powered pulsars, magnetars, and low-mass X-ray binaries. We summarize the model calculations leading to these expected properties. We describe how a comparison of these with their observed properties, as inferred from GEMS data, will probe the essential dynamical, electromagnetic, plasma, and emission processes in neutron-star binaries, discriminate between models of these processes, and constrain model parameters. An exciting goal is the first observational demonstration in this context of the existence of vacuum resonance, a fundamental quantum electrodynamical phenomenon first described in the 1930s.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1301.5514,
title = {White Paper on GEMS Study of Polarized X-rays from Neutron Stars},
author = {Pranab Ghosh and Lorella Angelini and Matthew Baring and Wayne Baumgartner and Kevin Black and Jessie Dotson and Alice Harding and Joanne Hill and Keith Jahoda and Phillip Kaaret and Tim Kallman and Henric Krawczynski and Julian Krolik and Dong Lai and Craig Markwardt and Herman Marshall and Jeffrey Martoff and Robin Morris and Takashi Okajima and Robert Petre and Juri Poutanen and Stephen Reynolds and Jeffrey Scargle and Jeremy Schnittman and Peter Serlemitsos and Yang Soong and Tod Strohmayer and Jean Swank and Y. Tawara and Toru Tamagawa},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1301.5514},
year = {2013}
}
Comments
29 pages 11 figures