Mapping the circumnuclear regions of the Circinus galaxy with the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer

Ursini, F.; Marinucci, Andrea; Matt, Giorgio; Bianchi, S.; Marin, Frédéric; Marshall, Herman L.; Middei, R.; Poutanen, Juri; Rosa, A. De; Gesu, Laura Di; García, Javier A.; Ingram, Adam; Kim, Dawoon E.; Krawczynski, H.; Puccetti, S.; Soffitta, P.; Svoboda, Jiří; Tombesi, Francesco; Weisskopf, Martin C.; Barnouin, Thibault; Perri, M.; Podgorný, Jakub; Ratheesh, Ajay; Zaino, A.; Agudo, I.; Antonelli, L. A.; Bachetti, Matteo; Baldini, Luca; Baumgartner, W. H.; Bellazzini, R.; Bongiorno, Stephen D.; Bonino, R.; Brez, A.; Bucciantini, N.; Capitanio, F.; Castellano, S; Cavazzuti, E.; Ciprini, S.; Costa, E.; Monte, E. Del; Lalla, N. Di; Marco, Alessandro Di; Donnarumma, I.; Doroshenko, V.; Dovčiak, Michal; Ehlert, Steven R.; Enoto, Teruaki; Evangelista, Y.; Fabiani, Sergio; Ferrazzoli, Riccardo; Gunji, Shuichi; Iwakiri, W.; Jorstad, Svetlana G.; Karas, Vladimír; Kitaguchi, Takao; Kolodziejczak, Jeffery J.; Monaca, Fabio La; Latronico, L.; Liodakis, Ioannis; Maldera, S.; Manfreda, Alberto; Marscher, A. P.; Mitsuishi, Ikuyuki; Mizuno, T.; Muleri, Fabio; Ng, C.‐Y.; O’Dell, Stephen L.; Omodei, N.; Oppedisano, C.; Papitto, A.; Pavlov, G. G.; Peirson, Abel L.; Pesce-Rollins, Melissa; Petrucci, P.-O.; Pilia, M.; Possenti, A.; Ramsey, Brian D.; Rankin, John; Romani, Roger W.; Sgrò, C.; Slane, Patrick; Spandre, G.; Tamagawa, Toru; Tavecchio, F.; Taverna, Roberto; Tawara, Yuzuru; Tennant, Allyn F.; Thomas, Nicolas E.; Trois, A.; Tsygankov, Sergey S.; Turolla, R.; Vink, Jacco; Wu, Kinwah; Xie, Fei; Zane, S.

doi:10.1093/mnras/stac3189

Cited by 33 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 65 publications

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“…Owing to the three gas pixel detectors (GPDs; Costa et al 2001;Bellazzini et al 2003;Baldini et al 2021) in its focal plane, IXPE provides an unprecedented opportunity to measure the X-ray polarization of cosmic sources. Since its launch on 2021 December 9, IXPE has observed different types of AGNs (e.g., Ehlert et al 2022;Marinucci et al 2022;Gianolli et al 2023;Ingram et al 2023;Tagliacozzo et al 2023;Ursini et al 2023), including blazars (e.g., Liodakis et al 2022;Middei et al 2023). PG 1553+113 is one of several HSP blazars observed by IXPE.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

IXPE and Multiwavelength Observations of Blazar PG 1553+113 Reveal an Orphan Optical Polarization Swing

Middei

Perri

Puccetti

et al. 2023

ApJL

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The lower-energy peak of the spectral energy distribution of blazars has commonly been ascribed to synchrotron radiation from relativistic particles in the jets. Despite the consensus regarding jet emission processes, the particle acceleration mechanism is still debated. Here, we present the first X-ray polarization observations of PG 1553+113, a high-synchrotron-peak blazar observed by the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE). We detect an X-ray polarization degree of (10 ± 2)% along an electric-vector position angle of ψ X = 86° ± 8°. At the same time, the radio and optical polarization degrees are lower by a factor of ∼3. During our IXPE pointing, we observed the first orphan optical polarization swing of the IXPE era, as the optical angle of PG 1553+113 underwent a smooth monotonic rotation by about 125°, with a rate of ∼17° day–1. We do not find evidence of a similar rotation in either radio or X-rays, which suggests that the X-ray and optically emitting regions are separate or, at most, partially cospatial. Our spectropolarimetric results provide further evidence that the steady-state X-ray emission in blazars originates in a shock-accelerated and energy-stratified electron population.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

IXPE and Multiwavelength Observations of Blazar PG 1553+113 Reveal an Orphan Optical Polarization Swing

Middei

Perri

Puccetti

et al. 2023

ApJL

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“…For the hardspectrum sources where the innermost parts of the accretion disk are visible, the X-ray polarization is found to be in a range of about a few percent (Cyg X-1, Krawczynski et al 2022;NGC 4151, Gianolli et al 2023;MCG-05-23-16, Marinucci et al 2022;Tagliacozzo et al 2023;IC 4329A, Ingram et al 2023) and aligned with the jet direction (wherever it is constrained). For the sources where the central engine is obscured, the observed spectrum is dominated by a reflection continuum, and high (PD >20%) polarization orthogonal to the jet direction (polarization aligned with the obscuring torus) has been found (Cyg X-3, Veledina et al 2023; Circinus galaxy, Ursini et al 2023).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Discovery of X-Ray Polarization from the Black Hole Transient Swift J1727.8−1613

Veledina,

Muleri,

Dovčiak

et al. 2023

ApJL

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We report the first detection of the X-ray polarization of the bright transient Swift J1727.8−1613 with the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer. The observation was performed at the beginning of the 2023 discovery outburst, when the source resided in the bright hard state. We find a time- and energy-averaged polarization degree of 4.1% ± 0.2% and a polarization angle of 2.°2 ± 1.°3 (errors at 68% confidence level; this translates to ∼20σ significance of the polarization detection). This finding suggests that the hot corona emitting the bulk of the detected X-rays is elongated, rather than spherical. The X-ray polarization angle is consistent with that found in submillimeter wavelengths. Since the submillimeter polarization was found to be aligned with the jet direction in other X-ray binaries, this indicates that the corona is elongated orthogonal to the jet.

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“…The coexistence of jets and dusty tori has been frequently observed in active galactic nuclei, e.g. Circinus (Ursini et al 2023) and NGC 1068 (e.g. Gallimore et al 2004).…”

Section: √︃mentioning

confidence: 96%

The innermost jet in the hidden ultra-luminous X-ray source Cygnus X-3

Yang,

García,

del Palacio

et al. 2023

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters

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Cygnus X-3 is a high-mass X-ray binary with a compact object accreting matter from a Wolf–Rayet donor star. Recently, it has been revealed by the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) as a hidden Galactic ultra-luminous X-ray (ULX) source with a luminosity above the Eddington limit, along the direction of a narrow (opening angle $\lesssim 32^{\circ }$) funnel. In between the IXPE observations, we observed Cyg X-3 with the European very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) Network at 22 GHz and the NICER X-ray instrument. To probe possible relations between the X-ray funnel and the potential radio jet from the ULX, we analysed the simultaneous multiwavelength data. Our high-resolution VLBI image reveals an elongated structure with a position angle of −3.2 ± 0.4 °, accurately perpendicular to the direction of the linear X-ray polarization. Because Cyg X-3 was in the radio quiescent state on 2022 November 10, we identify the mas-scale structure as the innermost radio jet. The finding indicates that the radio jet propagates along and within the funnel. Moreover, the jet is marginally resolved in the transverse direction. This possibly results from the strong stellar winds and the rapid orbital motion of the binary system.

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Mapping the circumnuclear regions of the Circinus galaxy with the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer

Cited by 33 publications

References 65 publications

IXPE and Multiwavelength Observations of Blazar PG 1553+113 Reveal an Orphan Optical Polarization Swing

IXPE and Multiwavelength Observations of Blazar PG 1553+113 Reveal an Orphan Optical Polarization Swing

Discovery of X-Ray Polarization from the Black Hole Transient Swift J1727.8−1613

The innermost jet in the hidden ultra-luminous X-ray source Cygnus X-3

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