TY - JOUR

T1 - Polarized x-rays from a magnetar

AU - Taverna, Roberto

AU - Turolla, Roberto

AU - Muleri, Fabio

AU - Heyl, Jeremy

AU - Zane, Silvia

AU - Baldini, Luca

AU - González-Caniulef, Denis

AU - Bachetti, Matteo

AU - Rankin, John

AU - Caiazzo, Ilaria

AU - Di Lalla, Niccolò

AU - Doroshenko, Victor

AU - Errando, Manel

AU - Gau, Ephraim

AU - Kırmızıbayrak, Demet

AU - Krawczynski, Henric

AU - Negro, Michela

AU - Ng, Mason

AU - Omodei, Nicola

AU - Possenti, Andrea

AU - Tamagawa, Toru

AU - Uchiyama, Keisuke

AU - Weisskopf, Martin C.

AU - Agudo, Ivan

AU - Antonelli, Lucio A.

AU - Baumgartner, Wayne H.

AU - Bellazzini, Ronaldo

AU - Bianchi, Stefano

AU - Bongiorno, Stephen D.

AU - Bonino, Raffaella

AU - Brez, Alessandro

AU - Bucciantini, Niccolò

AU - Capitanio, Fiamma

AU - Castellano, Simone

AU - Cavazzuti, Elisabetta

AU - Ciprini, Stefano

AU - Costa, Enrico

AU - De Rosa, Alessandra

AU - Del Monte, Ettore

AU - Di Gesu, Laura

AU - Di Marco, Alessandro

AU - Donnarumma, Immacolata

AU - Dovčiak, Michal

AU - Ehlert, Steven R.

AU - Enoto, Teruaki

AU - Evangelista, Yuri

AU - Fabiani, Sergio

AU - Ferrazzoli, Riccardo

AU - Garcia, Javier A.

AU - Gunji, Shuichi

AU - Hayashida, Kiyoshi

AU - Iwakiri, Wataru

AU - Jorstad, Svetlana G.

AU - Karas, Vladimir

AU - Kitaguchi, Takao

AU - Kolodziejczak, Jeffery J.

AU - La Monaca, Fabio

AU - Latronico, Luca

AU - Liodakis, Ioannis

AU - Maldera, Simone

AU - Manfreda, Alberto

AU - Marin, Frédéric

AU - Marinucci, Andrea

AU - Marscher, Alan P.

AU - Marshall, Herman L.

AU - Matt, Giorgio

AU - Mitsuishi, Ikuyuki

AU - Mizuno, Tsunefumi

AU - Ng, Stephen C.-Y.

AU - O’Dell, Stephen L.

AU - Oppedisano, Chiara

AU - Papitto, Alessandro

AU - Pavlov, George G.

AU - Peirson, Abel L.

AU - Perri, Matteo

AU - Pesce-Rollins, Melissa

AU - Pilia, Maura

AU - Poutanen, Juri

AU - Puccetti, Simonetta

AU - Ramsey, Brian D.

AU - Ratheesh, Ajay

AU - Romani, Roger W.

AU - Sgrò, Carmelo

AU - Slane, Patrick

AU - Soffitta, Paolo

AU - Spandre, Gloria

AU - Tavecchio, Fabrizio

AU - Tawara, Yuzuru

AU - Tennant, Allyn F.

AU - Thomas, Nicholas E.

AU - Tombesi, Francesco

AU - Trois, Alessio

AU - Tsygankov, Sergey S.

AU - Vink, Jacco

AU - Wu, Kinwah

AU - Xie, Fei

N1 - doi: 10.1126/science.add0080

PY - 2022

Y1 - 2022

N2 - Magnetars are neutron stars with ultrastrong magnetic fields, which can be observed in x-rays. Polarization measurements could provide information on their magnetic fields and surface properties. We observed polarized x-rays from the magnetar 4U 0142+61 using the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer and found a linear polarization degree of 13.5 ± 0.8% averaged over the 2? to 8?kilo?electron volt band. The polarization changes with energy: The degree is 15.0 ± 1.0% at 2 to 4 kilo?electron volts, drops below the instrumental sensitivity ~4 to 5 kilo?electron volts, and rises to 35.2 ± 7.1% at 5.5 to 8 kilo?electron volts. The polarization angle also changes by 90° at ~4 to 5 kilo?electron volts. These results are consistent with a model in which thermal radiation from the magnetar surface is reprocessed by scattering off charged particles in the magnetosphere. Magnetars are young neutron stars with high magnetic fields that are usually observed at x-ray wavelengths. The emission mechanism and geometry of the emitting region have been unclear. Taverna et al. measured the x-ray polarization of the magnetar 4U 0142+61. The polarization degree and angle change as a function of x-ray energy, indicating two different emission regions. The authors preferred a model in which most of the x-rays are emitted by an equatorial band on the surface of the neutron star, with some of the photons then being scattered to higher energies by collisions with electrons in the surrounding magnetic field. ?KTS Measurements of a magnetar?s x-ray polarization constrain models of the emission mechanism.

AB - Magnetars are neutron stars with ultrastrong magnetic fields, which can be observed in x-rays. Polarization measurements could provide information on their magnetic fields and surface properties. We observed polarized x-rays from the magnetar 4U 0142+61 using the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer and found a linear polarization degree of 13.5 ± 0.8% averaged over the 2? to 8?kilo?electron volt band. The polarization changes with energy: The degree is 15.0 ± 1.0% at 2 to 4 kilo?electron volts, drops below the instrumental sensitivity ~4 to 5 kilo?electron volts, and rises to 35.2 ± 7.1% at 5.5 to 8 kilo?electron volts. The polarization angle also changes by 90° at ~4 to 5 kilo?electron volts. These results are consistent with a model in which thermal radiation from the magnetar surface is reprocessed by scattering off charged particles in the magnetosphere. Magnetars are young neutron stars with high magnetic fields that are usually observed at x-ray wavelengths. The emission mechanism and geometry of the emitting region have been unclear. Taverna et al. measured the x-ray polarization of the magnetar 4U 0142+61. The polarization degree and angle change as a function of x-ray energy, indicating two different emission regions. The authors preferred a model in which most of the x-rays are emitted by an equatorial band on the surface of the neutron star, with some of the photons then being scattered to higher energies by collisions with electrons in the surrounding magnetic field. ?KTS Measurements of a magnetar?s x-ray polarization constrain models of the emission mechanism.

U2 - 10.1126/science.add0080

DO - 10.1126/science.add0080

M3 - статья

VL - 378

SP - 646

EP - 650

JO - Science

JF - Science

SN - 0036-8075

IS - 6620

ER -