Related papers: Inferring astrophysical X-ray polarization with de…
This thesis focuses on X-ray polarimetry and its recent resurgence due to the NASA/ASI Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) mission launched in December 2021. It aims to address two critical tasks: in-orbit calibrations and observing…
X-ray Astrophysics, which addresses extreme physics in extreme conditions, is particularly well suited for answering questions related to known physics. Reversely tiny effects, but integrated along sidereal distances, allow to probe…
This paper discusses issues encountered during the early development of the instrument on the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE), a NASA ASI Small Explorer mission launched on 9 December 2021. IXPE has observed about 100 sources,…
This chapter presents deep neural network based methods for enhancing the sensitivity of X-ray telescopic observations with imaging polarimeters. Deep neural networks can be used to determine photoelectron emission directions, photon…
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…
X-ray polarimetry will soon open a new window on the high energy universe with the launch of NASA's Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE). Polarimeters are currently limited by their track reconstruction algorithms, which typically use…
Scheduled to launch in late 2021, the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) is a NASA Small Explorer Mission in collaboration with the Italian Space Agency (ASI). The mission will open a new window of investigation - imaging X-ray…
This dissertation elaborates on X-ray polarisation features of astrophysical environments near accreting black holes. Although the work was originally assigned to supermassive black holes in active galactic nuclei, the results are also…
X-ray polarization should provide new probes of magnetic field geometry and acceleration physics near the base of blazar jets, but near-future missions will have limited sensitivity. We thus use existing lower energy data and X-ray…
Since the birth of X-ray Astronomy, spectacular advances have been seen in the imaging, spectroscopic and timing studies of the hot and violent X-ray Universe, and further leaps forward are expected in the future. On the other hand,…
The Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE), launched on December 9, 2021, enables X-ray polarimetric observations with unprecedented sensitivity in the 2-8 keV energy range. X-ray polarization allows us to test accretion disk, corona,…
The launch of the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE), the first space-based polarimeter since 1978, offers a two order of magnitude improvement to the measurement of X-ray polarisation than its predecessor OSO-8, offering…
IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer) is a Small Explorer mission by NASA and ASI, launched on December 9$^{th}$ 2021, dedicated to investigating X-ray polarimetry allowing angular-, time- and energy-resolved observations in the 2--8…
Launched on December 9, 2021, the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) is the first imaging polarimeter ever flown, providing sensitivity in the 2--8 keV range, and during the 2-year initial phase of the mission will sample tens of…
We present a method for enhancing the sensitivity of X-ray telescopic observations with imaging polarimeters, with a focus on the gas pixel detectors (GPDs) to be flown on the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE). Our analysis…
This chapter provides an almost comprehensive guide to the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) data analysis. The chapter briefly introduces the IXPE spacecraft and the instrument onboard; subsequently, the strategies adopted to…
Thanks to IXPE , the X-ray spectro-polarimeter launched at the end of 2021, X-ray polarimetry has finally become an extraordinary tool in investigating the physics of accretion in low mass X-ray binaries. Similarly to what happened with…
While X-ray Spectroscopy, Timing and Imaging have improved verymuch since 1962, when the first astronomical non-solar source was discovered, especially with the launch of Newton/X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission, Rossi/X-ray Timing Explorer and…
X-ray polarimetry, sometimes alone, and sometimes coupled to spectral and temporal variability measurements and to imaging, allows a wealth of physical phenomena in astrophysics to be studied. X-ray polarimetry investigates the acceleration…
X-ray polarization is a unique new probe of the particle acceleration in astrophysical jets made possible through the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer. Here we report on the first dense X-ray polarization monitoring campaign on the blazar…