2023A&A...678A.119S

Query : 2023A&A...678A.119S

2023A&A...678A.119S - Astronomy and Astrophysics, volume 678A119 (2023/10-1)

X-ray polarimetry of the accreting pulsar GX 301-2.

SULEIMANOV V.F., FORSBLOM S.V., TSYGANKOV S.S., POUTANEN J., DOROSHENKO V., DOROSHENKO R., CAPITANIO F., DI MARCO A., GONZALEZ-CANIULEF D., HEYL J., LA MONACA F., LUTOVINOV A.A., MOLKOV S.V., MALACARIA C., MUSHTUKOV A.A., SHTYKOVSKY A.E., AGUDO I., ANTONELLI L.A., BACHETTI M., BALDINI L., BAUMGARTNER W.H., BELLAZZINI R., BIANCHI S., BONGIORNO S.D., BONINO R., BREZ A., BUCCIANTINI N., CASTELLANO S., CAVAZZUTI E., CHEN C.-T., CIPRINI S., COSTA E., DE ROSA A., DEL MONTE E., DI GESU L., DI LALLA N., DONNARUMMA I., DOVCIAK M., EHLERT S.R., ENOTO T., EVANGELISTA Y., FABIANI S., FERRAZZOLI R., GARCIA J.A., GUNJI S., HAYASHIDA K., IWAKIRI W., JORSTAD S.G., KAARET P., KARAS V., KISLAT F., KITAGUCHI T., KOLODZIEJCZAK J.J., KRAWCZYNSKI H., LATRONICO L., LIODAKIS I., MALDERA S., MANFREDA A., MARIN F., MARINUCCI A., MARSCHER A.P., MARSHALL H.L., MASSARO F., MATT G., MITSUISHI I., MIZUNO T., MULERI F., NEGRO M., NG C.-Y., O'DELL S.L., OMODEI N., OPPEDISANO C., PAPITTO A., PAVLOV G.G., PEIRSON A.L., PERRI M., PESCE-ROLLINS M., PETRUCCI P.-O., PILIA M., POSSENTI A., PUCCETTI S., RAMSEY B.D., RANKIN J., RATHEESH A., ROBERTS O.J., ROMANI R.W., SGRO C., SLANE P., SOFFITTA P., SPANDRE G., SWARTZ D.A., TAMAGAWA T., TAVECCHIO F., TAVERNA R., TAWARA Y., TENNANT A.F., THOMAS N.E., TOMBESI F., TROIS A., TUROLLA R., VINK J., WEISSKOPF M.C., WU K., XIE F. and ZANE S.

Abstract (from CDS):

The phase- and energy-resolved polarization measurements of accreting X-ray pulsars (XRPs) allow us to test different theoretical models of their emission, and they also provide an avenue to determine the emission region geometry. We present the results of the observations of the XRP GX 301-2 performed with the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE). A persistent XRP, GX 301-2 has one of the longest spin periods known: ∼680 s. A massive hyper-giant companion star Wray 977 supplies mass to the neutron star via powerful stellar winds. We did not detect significant polarization in the phase-averaged data when using spectro-polarimetric analysis, with the upper limit on the polarization degree (PD) of 2.3% (99% confidence level). Using the phase-resolved spectro-polarimetric analysis, we obtained a significant detection of polarization (above 99% confidence level) in two out of nine phase bins and a marginal detection in three bins, with a PD ranging between ∼3% and ∼10% and a polarization angle varying in a very wide range from ∼0° to ∼160°. Using the rotating vector model, we obtained constraints on the pulsar geometry using both phase-binned and unbinned analyses, finding excellent agreement. Finally, we discuss possible reasons for a low observed polarization in GX 301-2.

Abstract Copyright: © The Authors 2023

Journal keyword(s): magnetic fields - methods: observational - polarization - stars: neutron - X-rays: binaries - X-rays: individuals: GX 301-2

Simbad objects: 9

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Number of rows : 9
N Identifier Otype ICRS (J2000)
RA 		ICRS (J2000)
DEC 		Mag U Mag B Mag V Mag R Mag I Sp type #ref
1850 - 2026 		#notes
1 V* X Per HXB 03 55 23.0777456088 +31 02 45.039836148 6.090 6.840 6.720     O9.5III 1037 0
2 LS V +44 17 HXB 04 40 59.3296237272 +44 31 49.258049376 11.02 11.42 10.73 10.28 9.76 B0.2Ve 176 0
3 V* GP Vel HXB 09 02 06.8608812864 -40 33 16.899168060 6.85 7.37 6.87 6.31 6.05 B0.5Ia 1588 0
4 GRO J1008-571 HXB 10 09 46.9642314696 -58 17 35.603851848       14.63   B0e 269 0
5 V* V779 Cen HXB 11 21 15.0920532528 -60 37 25.630264596   14.4 12.27     O9III/Veq 1159 0
6 V* BP Cru HXB 12 26 37.5605188992 -62 46 13.261044684   12.482 10.803 10.304   B1Ia+ 731 0
7 V* KZ TrA LXB 16 32 16.79 -67 27 39.3 17.40 18.60 18.5     ~ 626 1
8 V* HZ Her LXB 16 57 49.8110126616 +35 20 32.486555472 11.90 14.89 13.63 13.88   B3/6ep 2172 0
9 V* V2246 Cyg HXB 20 32 15.2749858128 +37 38 14.843024844   22.16 19.41 17.32 15.18 B0Ve 480 0

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