2023ApJ...947L..20F

Query : 2023ApJ...947L..20F

2023ApJ...947L..20F - Astrophys. J., 947, L20 (2023/April-3)

IXPE Observations of the Quintessential Wind-accreting X-Ray Pulsar Vela X-1.

FORSBLOM S.V., POUTANEN J., TSYGANKOV S.S., BACHETTI M., DI MARCO A., DOROSHENKO V., HEYL J., LA MONACA F., MALACARIA C., MARSHALL H.L., MULERI F., MUSHTUKOV A.A., PILIA M., ROGANTINI D., SULEIMANOV V.F., TAVERNA R., XIE F., AGUDO I., ANTONELLI L.A., BALDINI L., BAUMGARTNER W.H., BELLAZZINI R., BIANCHI S., BONGIORNO S.D., BONINO R., BREZ A., BUCCIANTINI N., CAPITANIO F., 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., KITAGUCHI T., KOLODZIEJCZAK J.J., KRAWCZYNSKI H., LATRONICO L., LIODAKIS I., MALDERA S., MANFREDA A., MARIN F., MARINUCCI A., MARSCHER A.P., MATT G., MITSUISHI I., MIZUNO T., 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., 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., SUNYAEV R.A., SWARTZ D.A., TAMAGAWA T., TAVECCHIO F., TAWARA Y., TENNANT A.F., THOMAS N.E., TOMBESI F., TROIS A., TUROLLA R., VINK J., WEISSKOPF M.C., WU K., ZANE S. (The IXPE Collaboration)

Abstract (from CDS):

The radiation from accreting X-ray pulsars was expected to be highly polarized, with some estimates for the polarization degree of up to 80%. However, phase-resolved and energy-resolved polarimetry of X-ray pulsars is required in order to test different models and to shed light on the emission processes and the geometry of the emission region. Here we present the first results of the observations of the accreting X-ray pulsar Vela X-1 performed with the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer. Vela X-1 is considered to be the archetypal example of a wind-accreting, high-mass X-ray binary system, consisting of a highly magnetized neutron star accreting matter from its supergiant stellar companion. The spectropolarimetric analysis of the phase-averaged data for Vela X-1 reveals a polarization degree (PD) of 2.3% ± 0.4% at the polarization angle (PA) of -47.°3 ± 5.°4. A low PD is consistent with the results obtained for other X-ray pulsars and is likely related to the inverse temperature structure of the neutron star atmosphere. The energy-resolved analysis shows the PD above 5 keV reaching 6%-10% and a ∼90° difference in the PA compared to the data in the 2-3 keV range. The phase-resolved spectropolarimetric analysis finds a PD in the range 0%-9% with the PA varying between -80° and 40°.

Abstract Copyright: © 2023. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society.

Journal keyword(s): Pulsars - Starlight polarization - Neutron stars - High mass x-ray binary stars - Magnetic fields - Accretion

Simbad objects: 4

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Number of rows : 4
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* 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
2 V* V779 Cen HXB 11 21 15.0920532528 -60 37 25.630264596   14.4 12.27     O9III/Veq 1159 0
3 V* KZ TrA LXB 16 32 16.79 -67 27 39.3 17.40 18.60 18.5     ~ 626 1
4 V* HZ Her LXB 16 57 49.8110126616 +35 20 32.486555472 11.90 14.89 13.63 13.88   B3/6ep 2172 0

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