Polarized x-rays from a magnetar

Taverna, Roberto; Turolla, R.; Muleri, Fabio; Zane, S.; Baldini, Luca; González–Caniulef, Denis; Bachetti, Matteo; Rankin, John; Caiazzo, Ilaria; Lalla, N. Di; Doroshenko, V.; Errando, M.; Gau, Ephraim; Kirmizibayrak, Demet; Krawczynski, H.; Negro, Michela; Ng, Mason; Omodei, N.; Possenti, A.; Tamagawa, Toru; Uchiyama, Keisuke; Weisskopf, Martin C.; Agudo, I.; Antonelli, L. A.; Baumgartner, W. H.; Bellazzini, R.; Bianchi, S.; Bongiorno, Stephen D.; Bonino, R.; Brez, A.; Bucciantini, N.; Capitanio, F.; Castellano, S; Cavazzuti, E.; Ciprini, S.; Costa, E.; Rosa, A. De; Monte, E. Del; Gesu, Laura Di; Marco, Alessandro Di; Donnarumma, I.; Dovčiak, Michal; Ehlert, Steven R.; Enoto, Teruaki; Evangelista, Y.; Fabiani, Sergio; Ferrazzoli, Riccardo; García, Javier A.; Gunji, Shuichi; Hayashida, Kentaro; Iwakiri, W.; Jorstad, Svetlana G.; Karas, Vladimír; Kitaguchi, Takao; Kolodziejczak, Jeffery J.; Monaca, Fabio La; Latronico, L.; Liodakis, Ioannis; Maldera, S.; Manfreda, Alberto; Marin, Frédéric; Marinucci, Andrea; Marscher, A. P.; Marshall, Herman L.; Matt, Giorgio; Mitsuishi, Ikuyuki; Mizuno, T.; Ng, Chi-Yung; O’Dell, Stephen L.; Oppedisano, C.; Papitto, A.; Pavlov, G. G.; Peirson, Abel L.; Perri, M.; Pesce-Rollins, Melissa; Pilia, M.; Poutanen, Juri; Puccetti, S.; Ramsey, Brian D.; Ratheesh, Ajay; Romani, Roger W.; Sgrò, C.; Slane, Patrick; Soffitta, P.; Spandre, G.; Tavecchio, F.; Tawara, Yuzuru; Tennant, Allyn F.; Thomas, Nicholas E.; Tombesi, Francesco; Trois, A.; Tsygankov, Sergey S.; Capitanio, Fiamma; Wu, Kinwah; Xie, Fei

doi:10.1126/science.add0080

Cited by 39 publications

(44 citation statements)

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“…We find that the PA associated to the BB component turns out to be different by ∼90°with respect to that of the PL. This is similar to what IXPE observed in 4U 0142 + 61 (Taverna et al 2022), and it supports a scenario in which thermal and nonthermal photons are polarized, one in the X and the other in the O mode. The changing polarization degree with energy can be then explained as due to the different relative contributions of the two orthogonally polarized components.…”

Section: Phase-integrated Polarimetric and Spectropolarimetric Analysissupporting

confidence: 86%

“…We infer that the PL component is linearly polarized to ∼ 65%-75%, depending on the polarization of the BB component. This polarization degree is much higher than predicted by the resonant scattering scenario (Taverna et al 2022). It should be noted that the assumptions of constant thermal and PL polarization degrees lead to a significant contribution of the thermal component.…”

Section: Phase-integrated Polarimetric and Spectropolarimetric Analysismentioning

confidence: 58%

“…For both sources, a BB+PL and a BB+BB model provide a satisfactory fit of the IXPE spectrum (see Section 3). However, 4U 0142 + 61 exhibits a lower polarization degree, which decreases to approximately 0 at ∼5 keV, where the polarization angle swings by and then increases to ∼35% around 8 keV (Taverna et al 2022).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…The measured polarization angle is ∼60°west of north, and the phase-and energy-integrated polarization degree is remarkably high, ∼35%, that is more than 2.5 times the average X-ray polarization of the only other magnetar observed to date (Taverna et al 2022).…”

Section: Phase-integrated Polarimetric and Spectropolarimetric Analysismentioning

confidence: 84%

“…IXPE first observed a magnetar source, the bright anomalous X-ray pulsar (AXP) 4U 0142 + 61, in 2022 February. The polarization signal was clearly detected at ∼13% level, with both the polarization degree and angle exhibiting a strong dependence on the energy (Taverna et al 2022). In this paper, we report on the IXPE observation of a second magnetar, the AXP 1RXS J170849.0-400910.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 82%

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A Strong X-Ray Polarization Signal from the Magnetar 1RXS J170849.0-400910

Zane

Taverna

González–Caniulef

et al. 2023

ApJL

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Magnetars are the most strongly magnetized neutron stars, and one of the most promising targets for X-ray polarimetric measurements. We present here the first Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer observation of the magnetar 1RXS J170849.0-400910, jointly analyzed with a new Swift observation and archival NICER data. The total (energy- and phase-integrated) emission in the 2–8 keV energy range is linerarly polarized, at a ∼35% level. The phase-averaged polarization signal shows a marked increase with energy, ranging from ∼20% at 2–3 keV up to ∼80% at 6–8 keV, while the polarization angle remains constant. This indicates that radiation is mostly polarized in a single direction. The spectrum is well reproduced by a combination of either two thermal (blackbody) components or a blackbody and a power law. Both the polarization degree and angle also show a variation with the spin phase, and the former is almost anticorrelated with the source counts in the 2–8 and 2–4 keV bands. We discuss the possible implications and interpretations, based on a joint analysis of the spectral, polarization, and pulsation properties of the source. A scenario in which the surface temperature is not homogeneous, with a hotter cap covered by a gaseous atmosphere and a warmer region in a condensed state, provides a satisfactory description of both the phase- and energy-dependent spectro-polarimetric data. The (comparatively) small size of the two emitting regions, required to explain the observed pulsations, does not allow to reach a robust conclusion about the presence of vacuum birefringence effects.

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Section: Phase-integrated Polarimetric and Spectropolarimetric Analysissupporting

confidence: 86%

Section: Phase-integrated Polarimetric and Spectropolarimetric Analysismentioning

confidence: 58%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Section: Phase-integrated Polarimetric and Spectropolarimetric Analysismentioning

confidence: 84%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 82%

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A Strong X-Ray Polarization Signal from the Magnetar 1RXS J170849.0-400910

Zane

Taverna

González–Caniulef

et al. 2023

ApJL

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Pulsed and Polarized X‐Ray Emission From Neutron Star Surfaces

Baring,

Thi,

Younes

et al. 2024

Astron Nachr

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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 intensities and polarizations depend on the angle between the magnetic and spin axes and the observer's viewing direction. In this paper, results are presented from a Monte Carlo simulation of neutron star atmospheres that uses a complex electric field vector formalism to treat polarized radiative transfer due to magnetic Thomson scattering. General relativistic influences on the propagation of light from the stellar surface to a distant observer are taken into account. The paper outlines a range of theoretical predictions for pulse profiles at different X‐ray energies, focusing on magnetars and also neutron stars of lower magnetization. By comparing these models with observed intensity and polarization pulse profiles for the magnetar 1RXS J1708‐40, and the light curve for the pulsar PSR J0821‐4300, constraints on the stellar geometry angles and the size of putative polar cap hot spots are obtained.

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Astronomical Polarimetry

Vorobiev

2024

Springer Series in Vision Research

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Polarized x-rays from a magnetar

Cited by 39 publications

References 50 publications

A Strong X-Ray Polarization Signal from the Magnetar 1RXS J170849.0-400910

A Strong X-Ray Polarization Signal from the Magnetar 1RXS J170849.0-400910

Pulsed and Polarized X‐Ray Emission From Neutron Star Surfaces

Astronomical Polarimetry

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