Polarized x-rays from a magnetar

Roberto Taverna¹, Roberto Turolla^{1

2}, Fabio Muleri³, Jeremy Heyl⁴, Silvia Zane², Luca Baldini^{5

6}, Denis González-Caniulef⁴, Matteo Bachetti⁷, John Rankin³, Ilaria Caiazzo⁸, Niccolò Di Lalla⁹, Victor Doroshenko¹⁰, Manel Errando¹¹, Ephraim Gau¹¹, Demet Kırmızıbayrak⁴, Henric Krawczynski¹¹, Michela Negro^{12

13

14}, Mason Ng¹⁵, Nicola Omodei⁹, Andrea Possenti⁷, Toru Tamagawa^{16

17

18}, Keisuke Uchiyama^{17

18}, Martin C Weisskopf¹⁹, Ivan Agudo²⁰, Lucio A Antonelli^{21

22}, Wayne H Baumgartner¹⁹, Ronaldo Bellazzini⁶, Stefano Bianchi²³, Stephen D Bongiorno¹⁹, Raffaella Bonino^{24

25}, Alessandro Brez⁶, Niccolò Bucciantini^{26

27

28}, Fiamma Capitanio³, Simone Castellano⁶, Elisabetta Cavazzuti²⁹, Stefano Ciprini^{22

30}, Enrico Costa³, Alessandra De Rosa³, Ettore Del Monte³, Laura Di Gesu²⁹, Alessandro Di Marco³, Immacolata Donnarumma²⁹, Michal Dovčiak³¹, Steven R Ehlert¹⁹, Teruaki Enoto¹⁶, Yuri Evangelista³, Sergio Fabiani³, Riccardo Ferrazzoli³, Javier A Garcia³², Shuichi Gunji³³, Kiyoshi Hayashida³⁴, Wataru Iwakiri³⁵, Svetlana G Jorstad^{36

37}, Vladimir Karas³¹, Takao Kitaguchi¹⁶, Jeffery J Kolodziejczak¹⁹, Fabio La Monaca³, Luca Latronico²⁴, Ioannis Liodakis³⁸, Simone Maldera²⁴, Alberto Manfreda⁶, Frédéric Marin³⁹, Andrea Marinucci²⁹, Alan P Marscher³⁶, Herman L Marshall¹⁵, Giorgio Matt²³, Ikuyuki Mitsuishi⁴⁰, Tsunefumi Mizuno⁴¹, Stephen C-Y Ng⁴², Stephen L O'Dell¹⁹, Chiara Oppedisano²⁴, Alessandro Papitto²¹, George G Pavlov⁴³, Abel L Peirson⁹, Matteo Perri^{21

22}, Melissa Pesce-Rollins⁶, Maura Pilia⁷, Juri Poutanen^{44

45}, Simonetta Puccetti²², Brian D Ramsey¹⁹, Ajay Ratheesh³, Roger W Romani⁹, Carmelo Sgrò⁶, Patrick Slane⁴⁶, Paolo Soffitta³, Gloria Spandre⁶, Fabrizio Tavecchio⁴⁷, Yuzuru Tawara⁴⁰, Allyn F Tennant¹⁹, Nicholas E Thomas¹⁹, Francesco Tombesi⁴⁸, Alessio Trois⁷, Sergey S Tsygankov^{44

45}, Jacco Vink⁴⁹, Kinwah Wu², Fei Xie⁵⁰

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Padova, I-35131 Padova, Italy.
² Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London, Holmbury St Mary Dorking RH5 6NT, UK.
³ Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali, Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF), I-00133 Roma, Italy.
⁴ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1, Canada.
⁵ Dipartimento di Fisica Enrico Fermi, Università di Pisa, I-56127 Pisa, Italy.
⁶ Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) Sezione di Pisa, I-56127 Pisa, Italy.
⁷ Osservatorio Astronomico di Cagliari, INAF, I-09047 Selargius, Italy.
⁸ Theoretical AstroPhysics Including Relativity and Cosmology, Caltech, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
⁹ Deparment of Physics and Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
¹⁰ Institut für Astronomie und Astrophysik, Universität Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.
¹¹ Physics Department and McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA.
¹² Center for Space Sciences and Technology, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD 21250, USA.
¹³ NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA.
¹⁴ Center for Research and Exploration in Space Science and Technology, NASA/GSFC, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA.
¹⁵ Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
¹⁶ RIKEN Cluster for Pioneering Research, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan.
¹⁷ RIKEN Nishina Center, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan.
¹⁸ Department of Physics, Tokyo University of Science, 1-3 Kagurazaka, Shinjuku, Tokyo 162-8601, Japan.
¹⁹ NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), Huntsville, AL 35812, USA.
²⁰ Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía, 18008 Granada, Spain.
²¹ Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, INAF, 00040 Monte Porzio Catone, Italy.
²² Space Science Data Center (SSDC), Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI), 00133 Roma, Italy.
²³ Dipartimento di Matematica e Fisica, Università degli Studi Roma Tre, 00146 Roma, Italy.
²⁴ INFN Sezione di Torino, 10125 Torino, Italy.
²⁵ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Torino, 10125 Torino, Italy.
²⁶ Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, INAF, 50125 Firenze, Italy.
²⁷ Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università degli Studi di Firenze, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy.
²⁸ INFN Sezione di Firenze, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy.
²⁹ ASI, 00133 Roma, Italy.
³⁰ INFN Sezione di Roma Tor Vergata, 00133 Roma, Italy.
³¹ Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, 14100 Praha 4, Czech Republic.
³² Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Caltech, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
³³ Department of Physics, Yamagata University, 1-4-12 Kojirakawa-machi, Yamagata-shi 990-8560, Japan.
³⁴ Department of Earth and Space Science, Osaka University, 1-1 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan.
³⁵ Department of Physics, Chuo University, 1-13-27 Kasuga, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 112-8551, Japan.
³⁶ Institute for Astrophysical Research, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
³⁷ Laboratory of Observational Astrophysics, St. Petersburg University, St. Petersburg 199034, Russia.
³⁸ Finnish Centre for Astronomy with the European Southern Observatory, University of Turku, 20014 Turku, Finland.
³⁹ Observatoire Astronomique de Strasbourg, Université de Strasbourg, 67000 Strasbourg, France.
⁴⁰ Division of Particle and Astrophysical Science, Graduate School of Science, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, Aichi 464-8602, Japan.
⁴¹ Hiroshima Astrophysical Science Center, Hiroshima University, 1-3-1 Kagamiyama, Higashi-Hiroshima, Hiroshima 739-8526, Japan.
⁴² Department of Physics, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong.
⁴³ Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16801, USA.
⁴⁴ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Turku, 20014 Turku, Finland.
⁴⁵ Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow 117997, Russia.
⁴⁶ Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
⁴⁷ Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, INAF, 23807 Merate, Italy.
⁴⁸ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Roma Tor Vergata, 00133 Roma, Italy.
⁴⁹ Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy, University of Amsterdam, 1098 XH Amsterdam, Netherlands.
⁵⁰ Guangxi Key Laboratory for Relativistic Astrophysics, School of Physical Science and Technology, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China.

PMID: 36356124
DOI: 10.1126/science.add0080

Polarized x-rays from a magnetar

Roberto Taverna et al. Science. 2022.

. 2022 Nov 11;378(6620):646-650.

doi: 10.1126/science.add0080. Epub 2022 Nov 3.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Padova, I-35131 Padova, Italy.
² Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London, Holmbury St Mary Dorking RH5 6NT, UK.
³ Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali, Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF), I-00133 Roma, Italy.
⁴ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1, Canada.
⁵ Dipartimento di Fisica Enrico Fermi, Università di Pisa, I-56127 Pisa, Italy.
⁶ Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) Sezione di Pisa, I-56127 Pisa, Italy.
⁷ Osservatorio Astronomico di Cagliari, INAF, I-09047 Selargius, Italy.
⁸ Theoretical AstroPhysics Including Relativity and Cosmology, Caltech, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
⁹ Deparment of Physics and Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
¹⁰ Institut für Astronomie und Astrophysik, Universität Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.
¹¹ Physics Department and McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA.
¹² Center for Space Sciences and Technology, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD 21250, USA.
¹³ NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA.
¹⁴ Center for Research and Exploration in Space Science and Technology, NASA/GSFC, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA.
¹⁵ Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
¹⁶ RIKEN Cluster for Pioneering Research, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan.
¹⁷ RIKEN Nishina Center, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan.
¹⁸ Department of Physics, Tokyo University of Science, 1-3 Kagurazaka, Shinjuku, Tokyo 162-8601, Japan.
¹⁹ NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), Huntsville, AL 35812, USA.
²⁰ Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía, 18008 Granada, Spain.
²¹ Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, INAF, 00040 Monte Porzio Catone, Italy.
²² Space Science Data Center (SSDC), Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI), 00133 Roma, Italy.
²³ Dipartimento di Matematica e Fisica, Università degli Studi Roma Tre, 00146 Roma, Italy.
²⁴ INFN Sezione di Torino, 10125 Torino, Italy.
²⁵ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Torino, 10125 Torino, Italy.
²⁶ Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, INAF, 50125 Firenze, Italy.
²⁷ Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università degli Studi di Firenze, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy.
²⁸ INFN Sezione di Firenze, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy.
²⁹ ASI, 00133 Roma, Italy.
³⁰ INFN Sezione di Roma Tor Vergata, 00133 Roma, Italy.
³¹ Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, 14100 Praha 4, Czech Republic.
³² Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Caltech, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
³³ Department of Physics, Yamagata University, 1-4-12 Kojirakawa-machi, Yamagata-shi 990-8560, Japan.
³⁴ Department of Earth and Space Science, Osaka University, 1-1 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan.
³⁵ Department of Physics, Chuo University, 1-13-27 Kasuga, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 112-8551, Japan.
³⁶ Institute for Astrophysical Research, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
³⁷ Laboratory of Observational Astrophysics, St. Petersburg University, St. Petersburg 199034, Russia.
³⁸ Finnish Centre for Astronomy with the European Southern Observatory, University of Turku, 20014 Turku, Finland.
³⁹ Observatoire Astronomique de Strasbourg, Université de Strasbourg, 67000 Strasbourg, France.
⁴⁰ Division of Particle and Astrophysical Science, Graduate School of Science, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, Aichi 464-8602, Japan.
⁴¹ Hiroshima Astrophysical Science Center, Hiroshima University, 1-3-1 Kagamiyama, Higashi-Hiroshima, Hiroshima 739-8526, Japan.
⁴² Department of Physics, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong.
⁴³ Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16801, USA.
⁴⁴ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Turku, 20014 Turku, Finland.
⁴⁵ Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow 117997, Russia.
⁴⁶ Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
⁴⁷ Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, INAF, 23807 Merate, Italy.
⁴⁸ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Roma Tor Vergata, 00133 Roma, Italy.
⁴⁹ Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy, University of Amsterdam, 1098 XH Amsterdam, Netherlands.
⁵⁰ Guangxi Key Laboratory for Relativistic Astrophysics, School of Physical Science and Technology, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China.

PMID: 36356124
DOI: 10.1126/science.add0080

Abstract

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.

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Polarized x-rays from a magnetar

Affiliations

Polarized x-rays from a magnetar

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

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