Related papers: Analyzing the Data from X-ray Polarimeters with St…
We review the tools and procedures for the analysis of the data collected by X-ray photoelectric gas polarimeters, like the ones on-board the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE). Although many of such tools are in principle common…
An approach for measuring linear X-ray polarization over a broad-band using conventional spectroscopic optics is described. A set of multilayer-coated flats reflect the dispersed X-rays to the instrument detectors. The intensity variation…
X-ray polarisation measurement is a unique tool which may provide crucial information regarding the emission mechanism and the geometry of various astrophysical sources, like neutron stars, accreting black holes, pulsar wind nebulae, AGNs,…
We present a simple but powerful technique for the analysis of polarized emission from radio galaxies and other objects. It is based on the fact that images of Stokes parameters often contain considerably more information than is available…
X-ray polarimetric missions planned for this decade will significantly enhance our knowledge of compact accreting sources. Observations of the X-ray polarization signal from active galactic nuclei (AGNs) or X-ray binary systems (XRBs) will…
We developed an instrument design capable of measuring linear X-ray polarization over a broad-band using conventional spectroscopic optics. A set of multilayer-coated flats reflects the dispersed X-rays to the instrument detectors. The…
An optimal estimate for Stokes parameters is derived for the situation in X-ray astronomy where the instrument has a modulation factor that varies significantly with energy but the signals are very weak or mildly polarized. For such…
We develop two new highly efficient estimators to measure the polarization (Stokes parameters) in experiments that constrain the position angle of individual photons such as scattering and gas-pixel-detector polarimeters, and analyse in…
Four Stokes parameters (1852) define the polarisation state of light. Measured changes of the Stokes vector of light traversing an inhomogeneous sample are linked to the local anisotropies of absorption and refraction and are harnessed over…
X-ray polarimetry is a fine tool to probe the accretion geometry and physical processes operating in the proximity of compact objects, black holes and neutron stars. Recent discoveries made by the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer put our…
The use of polarimetric techniques is nowadays widespread among solar and stellar astronomers. However, notwithstanding the recommandations that have often been made about the publication of polarimetric results in the astronomical…
X-ray polarimetry has the potential to make key-contributions to our understanding of galactic compact objects like binary black hole systems and neutron stars, and extragalactic objects like active galactic nuclei, blazars, and Gamma Ray…
In astronomy there are basically four kinds of observations to extract the information carried by electromagnetic radiation: photometry, imaging, spectroscopy and polarimetry. By optimal exploitation of the first three techniques, X-ray…
We present configurations of polarimeters which measure the three linear Stokes parameters of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation with a nearly diagonal error matrix, independent of the global orientation of the polarimeters in the…
Linearly polarized emission is described, in general, in terms of the Stokes parameters $Q$ and $U$, from which the polarization intensity and polarization angle can be determined. Although the polarization intensity and polarization angle…
Several on-going and future experiments use a Stokes polarimeter (i.e. a rotating wave plate followed by a steady polarizer and by an unpolarized detector) to measure the small polarized component of the Cosmic Microwave Background. The…
One of the difficulties with performing polarization analysis is that the mean polarization fraction of sub-divided data sets is larger than the polarization fraction for the integrated measurement. The resulting bias is one of the…
This white paper highlights compact object and fundamental physics science opportunities afforded by high-throughput broadband (0.1-60 keV) X-ray polarization observations. X-ray polarimetry gives new observables with geometric information…
Experimental Stokes vector spectroscopy characterizes polarization state noise in nonlinear fiber transmission. Noise bandwidths of a few MHz are observed from XPM-blurred receive SOPs using a polarization scrambling interferometer. This…
Thermal emission from the accretion disc around a black hole can be polarized, due to Thomson scattering in a disc atmosphere. In Newtonian space, the polarization angle must be either parallel or perpendicular to the projection of the disc…