Polarized emission from X-ray pulsars as seen by the IXPE observatory

by Dr. Sergey Tsygankov

University of Turku

at Astrophysics and Cosmology Seminar

Wed, 07 Jun 2023, 11:10
Sacta-Rashi Building for Physics (54), room 207

Abstract

Analysis of the polarization of electromagnetic radiation, or polarimetry, is a unique tool that allows us to obtain information about astrophysical objects that cannot be obtained in other ways, for example, regarding their geometry. With the launch of the IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer) mission at the end of 2021, this instrument became available in the X-ray range as well. In my talk I will give a brief overview of the results obtained during the first year of IXPE observations of accreting X-ray pulsars (XRPs). It was found that in all observed XRPs, the measured value of the degree of polarization is below 15%, which is much less than the theoretically predicted values. In some pulsars, it was possible to study in detail the variations in the degree of polarization and the polarization angle as a function of the rotation phase of the neutron star, which, in turn, made it possible to determine the geometric parameters of the system. I will briefly discuss physical mechanisms that could potentially explain the relatively low degree of polarization in XRPs.

Created on 31-05-2023 by Zitrin, Adi (zitrin)
Updaded on 31-05-2023 by Zitrin, Adi (zitrin)