Determination of X-ray pulsar geometry with IXPE polarimetry

Doroshenko V, Poutanen J, Tsygankov SS, Suleimanov VF, Bachetti M, Caiazzo I, Costa E, Di Marco A, Heyl J, La Monaca F, Muleri F, Mushtukov AA, Pavlov GG, Ramsey BD, Rankin J, Santangelo A, Soffitta P, Staubert R, Weisskopf MC, Zane S, Agudo I, Antonelli LA, Baldini L, Baumgartner WH, Bellazzini R, Bianchi S, Bongiorno SD, Bonino R, Brez A, Bucciantini N, Capitanio F, Castellano S, Cavazzuti E, Ciprini S, De Rosa A, Del Monte E, Di Gesu L, Di Lalla N, Donnarumma I, Dovčiak M, Ehlert SR, Enoto T, Evangelista Y, Fabiani S, Ferrazzoli R, Garcia JA, Gunji S, Hayashida K, Iwakiri W, Jorstad SG, Karas V, Kitaguchi T, Kolodziejczak JJ, Krawczynski H, Latronico L, Liodakis I, Maldera S, Manfreda A, Marin F, Marinucci A, Marscher AP, Marshall HL, Matt G, Mitsuishi I, Mizuno T, Ng C-Y, O’Dell SL, Omodei N, Oppedisano C, Papitto A, Peirson AL, Perri M, Pesce-Rollins M, Pilia M, Possenti A, Puccetti S, Ratheesh A, Romani RW, Sgrò C, Slane P, Spandre G, Sunyaev RA, Tamagawa T, Tavecchio F, Taverna R, Tawara Y, Tennant AF, Thomas NE, Tombesi F, Trois A, Turolla R, Vink J, Wu K, Xie F. 2022. Determination of X-ray pulsar geometry with IXPE polarimetry. Nature Astronomy. 6(12), 1433–1443.

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OA https://arxiv.org/abs/2206.07138

DOI
10.1038/s41550-022-01799-5
Journal Article | Published | English

Scopus indexed
Author
Doroshenko, Victor; Poutanen, Juri; Tsygankov, Sergey S.; Suleimanov, Valery F.; Bachetti, Matteo; Caiazzo, IlariaISTA ; Costa, Enrico; Di Marco, Alessandro; Heyl, Jeremy; La Monaca, Fabio; Muleri, Fabio; Mushtukov, Alexander A.
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Abstract
Using observations of X-ray pulsar Hercules X-1 by the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer we report a highly significant (>17σ) detection of the polarization signal from an accreting neutron star. The observed degree of linear polarization of ~10% is far below theoretical expectations for this object, and stays low throughout the spin cycle of the pulsar. Both the degree and angle of polarization exhibit variability with the pulse phase, allowing us to measure the pulsar spin position angle 57(2) deg and the magnetic obliquity 12(4) deg, which is an essential step towards detailed modelling of the intrinsic emission of X-ray pulsars. Combining our results with the optical polarimetric data, we find that the spin axis of the neutron star and the angular momentum of the binary orbit are misaligned by at least ~20 deg, which is a strong argument in support of the models explaining the stability of the observed superorbital variability with the precession of the neutron star.
Keywords
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Publishing Year
2022
Date Published
2022-10-22
Journal Title
Nature Astronomy
Volume
6
Issue
12
Page
1433-1443
ISSN
2397-3366
IST-REx-ID
15204

Cite this

Doroshenko V, Poutanen J, Tsygankov SS, et al. Determination of X-ray pulsar geometry with IXPE polarimetry. Nature Astronomy. 2022;6(12):1433-1443. doi:10.1038/s41550-022-01799-5
Doroshenko, V., Poutanen, J., Tsygankov, S. S., Suleimanov, V. F., Bachetti, M., Caiazzo, I., … Xie, F. (2022). Determination of X-ray pulsar geometry with IXPE polarimetry. Nature Astronomy. Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-022-01799-5
Doroshenko, Victor, Juri Poutanen, Sergey S. Tsygankov, Valery F. Suleimanov, Matteo Bachetti, Ilaria Caiazzo, Enrico Costa, et al. “Determination of X-Ray Pulsar Geometry with IXPE Polarimetry.” Nature Astronomy. Springer Nature, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-022-01799-5.
V. Doroshenko et al., “Determination of X-ray pulsar geometry with IXPE polarimetry,” Nature Astronomy, vol. 6, no. 12. Springer Nature, pp. 1433–1443, 2022.
Doroshenko V, Poutanen J, Tsygankov SS, Suleimanov VF, Bachetti M, Caiazzo I, Costa E, Di Marco A, Heyl J, La Monaca F, Muleri F, Mushtukov AA, Pavlov GG, Ramsey BD, Rankin J, Santangelo A, Soffitta P, Staubert R, Weisskopf MC, Zane S, Agudo I, Antonelli LA, Baldini L, Baumgartner WH, Bellazzini R, Bianchi S, Bongiorno SD, Bonino R, Brez A, Bucciantini N, Capitanio F, Castellano S, Cavazzuti E, Ciprini S, De Rosa A, Del Monte E, Di Gesu L, Di Lalla N, Donnarumma I, Dovčiak M, Ehlert SR, Enoto T, Evangelista Y, Fabiani S, Ferrazzoli R, Garcia JA, Gunji S, Hayashida K, Iwakiri W, Jorstad SG, Karas V, Kitaguchi T, Kolodziejczak JJ, Krawczynski H, Latronico L, Liodakis I, Maldera S, Manfreda A, Marin F, Marinucci A, Marscher AP, Marshall HL, Matt G, Mitsuishi I, Mizuno T, Ng C-Y, O’Dell SL, Omodei N, Oppedisano C, Papitto A, Peirson AL, Perri M, Pesce-Rollins M, Pilia M, Possenti A, Puccetti S, Ratheesh A, Romani RW, Sgrò C, Slane P, Spandre G, Sunyaev RA, Tamagawa T, Tavecchio F, Taverna R, Tawara Y, Tennant AF, Thomas NE, Tombesi F, Trois A, Turolla R, Vink J, Wu K, Xie F. 2022. Determination of X-ray pulsar geometry with IXPE polarimetry. Nature Astronomy. 6(12), 1433–1443.
Doroshenko, Victor, et al. “Determination of X-Ray Pulsar Geometry with IXPE Polarimetry.” Nature Astronomy, vol. 6, no. 12, Springer Nature, 2022, pp. 1433–43, doi:10.1038/s41550-022-01799-5.
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