Related papers: X-ray Polarization at the Crossroads
We briefly discuss the history of X-ray polarimetry for astronomical applications including a guide to the appropriate statistics. We also provide an introduction to some of the new techniques discussed in more detail elsewhere in these…
In this paper we investigate the polarization property of the radiation amplified by astronomical masers in the presence of a strong magnetic field. Our model explicitly takes into account the broadband nature of the radiation field and the…
The launch of the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) on 2021 December 9 has opened a new window in X-ray astronomy. We report here the results of the first IXPE observation of a weakly magnetized neutron star, GS 1826-238, performed…
The discovery of very slow pulsations (Pspin=5560s) has solved the long-standing question of the nature of the compact object in the high-mass X-ray binary 4U 2206+54 but has posed new ones. According to spin evolutionary models in close…
We investigate the use of deep learning in the context of X-ray polarization detection from astrophysical sources as will be observed by the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE), a future NASA selected space-based mission expected to…
Through polarization observations masers are unique probes of the magnetic field in a variety of different astronomical objects, with the different maser species tracing different physical conditions. In recent years maser polarization…
A nonlinear interaction between photons is observed in a process that involves charge sources. To observe this process in a vacuum, there are a growing number of theoretical and experimental studies. This process may contain exotic…
X-ray polarimetry promises to give qualitatively new information about high-energy astrophysical sources, such as binary black hole systems, micro-quasars, active galactic nuclei, neutron stars, and gamma-ray bursts. We designed, built and…
The hard X-ray emission from magnetars and other isolated neutron stars remains under-explored. An instrument with higher sensitivity to hard X-rays is critical to understanding the physics of neutron star magnetospheres and also the…
Nondestructive spin-resolved imaging of ultracold atomic gases requires calculating the differences of the refractive indices seen by two circular probe polarizations. Perfect overlap of the two images, corresponding to two different…
X-ray flares, lasting for $\sim 100 - 1000$ s in the X-ray band, are often observed following gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). The physical origin of X-ray flares is still unknown merely with the temporal/spectral information. On the other hand,…
The polarisation of x-ray photons can be determined by measuring the direction of emission of a K-shell photoelectron. Effective exploitation of this effect below 10 keV would allow development of a highly sensitive x-ray polarimeter…
The prospects for accomplishing X-ray polarization measurements appear to have grown in recent years after a more than 35-year hiatus. Unfortunately, this long hiatus has brought with it some confusion over the statistical uncertainties…
Missions like NASA's Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) are poised to provide an unprecedented view of the Universe in polarized X-rays. Polarization probes physical anisotropies, a fact exploited by particle physicists to look for…
Accreting X-ray pulsars (XRPs) are presumably ideal targets for polarization measurements, as their high magnetic field strength is expected to polarize the emission up to a polarization degree of ~80%. However, such expectations are being…
Major advances in X-ray sources including the development of circularly polarized and orbital angular momentum pulses make it possible to probe matter chirality at unprecedented energy regimes and with Angstr\"om and femtosecond…
We report on long-term multi-wavelength monitoring of blazar Mrk~421 from 2010 to 2011. The source exhibited extreme X-ray flares in 2010. Our research group performed optical photopolarimetric follow-up observations using the Kanata…
Motivated by experimental initiatives such as the Helmholtz International Beamline for Extreme Fields (HIBEF), we study Compton scattering of x-rays at electrons in a strong external field (e.g., a strong optical laser) with special…
We propose a novel technique that promises hope of being the first to directly detect a polarization in the quantum electrodynamic (QED) vacuum. The technique is based upon the use of ultra-short pulses of light circulating in low…
We present multiwavelength polarization measurements of the luminous blazar Mrk~501 over a 14-month period. The 2--8 keV X-ray polarization was measured with the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) with six 100-ks observations…