Related papers: X-ray polarization from magnetar sources
The surfaces of neutron stars are likely sources of strongly polarized soft X rays due to the presence of strong magnetic fields. Scattering transport in the surface layers is critical to the determination of the emergent anisotropy of…
Synchrotron emission from the shocked regions in supernova remnants provides, through its polarization, crucial details about the magnetic field strength and orientation in these regions. This, in turn, provides information on particle…
In about four years, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will launch a small explorer mission named the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE). IXPE is a satellite dedicated to the observation of X-ray polarization…
We present results from simultaneous X-ray polarimetric and spectroscopic observations of the bright neutron star low-mass X-ray binary Cyg X-2, performed by the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) and the Nuclear Spectroscopic…
X-ray polarimetry missions like IXPE will be able to measure for the first time the polarization properties of accreting, weakly magnetized neutron stars in Low Mass X-ray Binaries. In this work we present simulations of the expected X-ray…
Weakly magnetized neutron stars (WMNS) are complicated sources with challenging phenomenology. For decades, they have been studied via spectrometry and timing. It has been established that the spectrum of WMNSs consists of several…
The quantum electrodynamics (QED) theory predicts that the quantum vacuum becomes birefringent in the presence of ultra-strong magnetic fields -- a fundamental effect yet to be directly observed. Magnetars, isolated neutron stars with…
The thermal emission of strongly magnetized neutron-star atmospheres is thought to be highly polarized. However, because of the different orientations of the magnetic field over the surface of the neutron star (NS), it is commonly assumed…
Radiation from X-ray pulsars (XRPs) was expected to be strongly linearly polarized owing to a large difference in their ordinary and extraordinary mode opacities. The launch of IXPE allowed us to check this prediction. IXPE observed a dozen…
We report on the discovery of polarized X-ray emission from an accreting millisecond pulsar. During a 10-day-long coverage of the February 2024 outburst of SRGA J144459.2-604207, the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) detected an…
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…
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…
The intense magnetic fields of neutron stars naturally lead to strong anisotropy and polarization of radiation emanating from their surfaces, both being sensitive to the hot spot position on the surface. Accordingly, pulse phase-resolved…
New-generation X-ray polarimeters currently under development promise to open a new window in the study of high-energy astrophysical sources. Among them, neutron stars appear particularly suited for polarization measurements. Radiation from…
We have used the Parkes radio telescope to study the polarized emission from the anomalous X-ray pulsar XTE J1810-197 at frequencies of 1.4, 3.2, and 8.4 GHz. We find that the pulsed emission is nearly 100% linearly polarized. The position…
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,…
We report on IXPE and NuSTAR observations beginning forty days after the 2024 outburst onset of magnetar 1E 1841-045, marking the first IXPE observation of a magnetar in an enhanced state. Our spectropolarimetric analysis indicates that…
The incoming Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) observations of X-ray binaries provide a new tool to investigate the underlying accretion geometry. Here we report the first measurements of X-ray polarization of the extra-galactic…
We derive new constraints on axion-like particles (ALPs) using precision $X$-ray polarization studies of magnetars. Specifically, we use the first detection of polarized $X$-rays from the magnetars 4U 0142+61 and 1RXS J170849.0-400910 by…
Z-sources are a particular class of neutron star low-mass X-ray binaries characterized by a wide Z-like track in their hard colorsoft color (or hardness-intensity) diagrams, with three branches: the horizontal (HB), the normal (NB), and the…