Related papers: A note on polarized light from Magnetars
During the last decade, the FORS1 instrument of the ESO Very Large Telescope has been used to obtain low resolution circular polarized spectra for about 500 stars, with the aim of measuring their mean longitudinal magnetic fields. Magnetic…
Under the assumption of a specific nonminimal coupling of torsion to Under the assumption of a specific nonminimal coupling of torsion to electromagnetism, spacetime is birefringent in the presence of a gravitational field leading to…
Elastic scattering of laser radiation due to vacuum polarization by spatially modulated strong electromagnetic fields is considered. The Bragg interference arising at a specific impinging direction of the probe wave concentrates the…
Understanding the physics of how stars form is a highly-prioritized goal of modern Astrophysics, in part because star formation is linked to both galactic dynamics on large scales and to the formation of planets on small scales. It is…
A structured-light-based approach for detecting magneto-optical rotation is presented, in which polarization rotation is mapped onto a directly observable spatial degree of freedom. A radially polarized Laguerre-Gaussian beam interacts with…
Vacuum birefringence (VB), a fundamental prediction of nonlinear quantum electrodynamics (QED), has eluded direct laboratory detection due to its extreme weakness. We propose a compact, "self-probing" scheme where a GeV electron beam…
The extraordinary energetic activity of magnetars is usually explained in terms of dissipation of a huge internal magnetic field of the order of $10^{15-16}$G. How such a strong magnetic field can originate during the formation of a neutron…
The Guitar nebula surrounding PSR B2224+65 boasts a pulsar X-ray filament likely aligned with the local magnetic field. We present new RoboPol stellar polarization data distributed along the line-of-sight to the pulsar. The polarizing…
Galactic dust emission is polarized at unexpectedly high levels, as revealed by Planck. The origin of the observed $\simeq 20\%$ polarization fractions can be identified by characterizing the properties of optical starlight polarization in…
We study the effect of vacuum polarization on the atmosphere structure and radiation spectra of neutron stars with surface magnetic fields B=10^14-10^15 G, as appropriate for magnetars. Vacuum polarization modifies the dielectric property…
A new model of nonlinear electrodynamics with three parameters is suggested. The phenomena of vacuum birefringence takes place when there is the external constant magnetic field. We calculate the indices of refraction for two polarizations…
The photon polarization tensor is the central building block of an effective theory description of photon propagation in the quantum vacuum. It accounts for the vacuum fluctuations of the underlying theory, and in the presence of external…
We report the experimental observation of a light polarization rotation in vacuum in the presence of a transverse magnetic field. Assuming that data distribution is Gaussian, the average measured rotation is (3.9+/-0.5)e-12 rad/pass, at 5 T…
Enormous progress has been made on observing stellar magnetism in stars from the main sequence through to compact objects. Recent data have thrown into sharper relief the vexed question of the origin of stellar magnetic fields, which…
Calculations are performed for the linear polarization of starlight due to extinction by aligned dust grains when the starlight traverses a medium with irregular magnetic fields. This medium is intended to represent the optically thick…
Magnetic fields represent a crucial aspect of the physics and astrophysics of neutron stars. Despite its great relevance, the internal magnetic field configuration of neutron stars is very poorly constrained by the observations, and…
We have obtained high-quality magnetic field measurements of 19 sharp-lined B-type stars with precisely-measured N/C abundance ratios. Our primary goal is to test the idea that a magnetic field may explain extra drag (through the wind) on…
The effects of strong magnetic fields on the inner crust of neutron stars are investigated after taking into account the anomalous magnetic moments of nucleons. Energy spectra and wave functions for protons and neutrons in a uniform…
We study the properties of polarized radiation in turbulent magnetic fields from X-ray binary jets. These turbulent magnetic fields are composed of large- and small-scale configurations, which result in the polarized jitter radiation when…
In magnetic fields stronger than B_Q = 4.4 X 10^13 Gauss, an electron's Landau excitation energy exceeds its rest energy. I review the physics of this strange regime and some of its implications for the crusts and magneto- spheres of…