Shedding new light on the Crab with polarized X-rays

Abstract Strong magnetic fields, synchrotron emission, and Compton scattering are omnipresent in compact celestial X-ray sources. Emissions in the X-ray energy band are consequently expected to be linearly polarized. X-ray polarimetry provides a unique diagnostic to study the location and fundamenta...

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Autores principales:	M. Chauvin, H.-G. Florén, M. Friis, M. Jackson, T. Kamae, J. Kataoka, T. Kawano, M. Kiss, V. Mikhalev, T. Mizuno, N. Ohashi, T. Stana, H. Tajima, H. Takahashi, N. Uchida, M. Pearce
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2017
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/bcac59adb6f8425f8f21f6e4f922faaa
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:bcac59adb6f8425f8f21f6e4f922faaa2021-12-02T11:53:05ZShedding new light on the Crab with polarized X-rays10.1038/s41598-017-07390-72045-2322https://doaj.org/article/bcac59adb6f8425f8f21f6e4f922faaa2017-08-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-07390-7https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Strong magnetic fields, synchrotron emission, and Compton scattering are omnipresent in compact celestial X-ray sources. Emissions in the X-ray energy band are consequently expected to be linearly polarized. X-ray polarimetry provides a unique diagnostic to study the location and fundamental mechanisms behind emission processes. The polarization of emissions from a bright celestial X-ray source, the Crab, is reported here for the first time in the hard X-ray band (~20–160 keV). The Crab is a complex system consisting of a central pulsar, a diffuse pulsar wind nebula, as well as structures in the inner nebula including a jet and torus. Measurements are made by a purpose-built and calibrated polarimeter, PoGO+. The polarization vector is found to be aligned with the spin axis of the pulsar for a polarization fraction, PF = (20.9 ± 5.0)%. This is higher than that of the optical diffuse nebula, implying a more compact emission site, though not as compact as, e.g., the synchrotron knot. Contrary to measurements at higher energies, no significant temporal evolution of phase-integrated polarisation parameters is observed. The polarization parameters for the pulsar itself are measured for the first time in the X-ray energy band and are consistent with observations at optical wavelengths.M. ChauvinH.-G. FlorénM. FriisM. JacksonT. KamaeJ. KataokaT. KawanoM. KissV. MikhalevT. MizunoN. OhashiT. StanaH. TajimaH. TakahashiN. UchidaM. PearceNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 7, Iss 1, Pp 1-6 (2017)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q M. Chauvin H.-G. Florén M. Friis M. Jackson T. Kamae J. Kataoka T. Kawano M. Kiss V. Mikhalev T. Mizuno N. Ohashi T. Stana H. Tajima H. Takahashi N. Uchida M. Pearce Shedding new light on the Crab with polarized X-rays
description	Abstract Strong magnetic fields, synchrotron emission, and Compton scattering are omnipresent in compact celestial X-ray sources. Emissions in the X-ray energy band are consequently expected to be linearly polarized. X-ray polarimetry provides a unique diagnostic to study the location and fundamental mechanisms behind emission processes. The polarization of emissions from a bright celestial X-ray source, the Crab, is reported here for the first time in the hard X-ray band (~20–160 keV). The Crab is a complex system consisting of a central pulsar, a diffuse pulsar wind nebula, as well as structures in the inner nebula including a jet and torus. Measurements are made by a purpose-built and calibrated polarimeter, PoGO+. The polarization vector is found to be aligned with the spin axis of the pulsar for a polarization fraction, PF = (20.9 ± 5.0)%. This is higher than that of the optical diffuse nebula, implying a more compact emission site, though not as compact as, e.g., the synchrotron knot. Contrary to measurements at higher energies, no significant temporal evolution of phase-integrated polarisation parameters is observed. The polarization parameters for the pulsar itself are measured for the first time in the X-ray energy band and are consistent with observations at optical wavelengths.
format	article
author	M. Chauvin H.-G. Florén M. Friis M. Jackson T. Kamae J. Kataoka T. Kawano M. Kiss V. Mikhalev T. Mizuno N. Ohashi T. Stana H. Tajima H. Takahashi N. Uchida M. Pearce
author_facet	M. Chauvin H.-G. Florén M. Friis M. Jackson T. Kamae J. Kataoka T. Kawano M. Kiss V. Mikhalev T. Mizuno N. Ohashi T. Stana H. Tajima H. Takahashi N. Uchida M. Pearce
author_sort	M. Chauvin
title	Shedding new light on the Crab with polarized X-rays
title_short	Shedding new light on the Crab with polarized X-rays
title_full	Shedding new light on the Crab with polarized X-rays
title_fullStr	Shedding new light on the Crab with polarized X-rays
title_full_unstemmed	Shedding new light on the Crab with polarized X-rays
title_sort	shedding new light on the crab with polarized x-rays
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2017
url	https://doaj.org/article/bcac59adb6f8425f8f21f6e4f922faaa
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Shedding new light on the Crab with polarized X-rays

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