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Start Over Author "Castellano, S" Topic fos: physical sciences
19 results on '"Castellano, S"'

1. Discovery of strongly variable X-ray polarization in the neutron star low-mass X-ray binary transient XTE J1701$-$462

Author

Cocchi, M., Gnarini, A., Fabiani, S., Ursini, F., Poutanen, J., Capitanio, F., Bobrikova, A., Farinelli, R., Paizis, A., Sidoli, L., Veledina, A., Bianchi, S., Di Marco, A., Ingram, A., Kajava, J. J. E., La Monaca, F., Matt, G., Malacaria, C., Mikusincova, R., Rankin, J., Zane, S., Agudo, I., Antonelli, L. A., Bachetti, M., Baldini, L., Baumgartner, W. H., Bellazzini, R., 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., Doroshenko, V., Dovciak, M., Ehlert, S. R., Enoto, T., Evangelista, Y., Ferrazzoli, R., Garcia, J. A., Gunji, S., Hayashida, K., Heyl, J., 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., Mitsuishi, I., Mizuno, T., Muleri, F., Negro, M., C. -Y., Ng, 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., 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., Tsygankov, S. S., Turolla, R., Vink, J., Weisskopf, M. C., Wu, K., Xie, F., Cocchi, M., Gnarini, A., Fabiani, S., Ursini, F., Poutanen, J., Capitanio, F., Bobrikova, A., Farinelli, R., Paizis, A., Sidoli, L., Veledina, A., Bianchi, S., Di Marco, A., Ingram, A., Kajava, J. J. E., La Monaca, F., Matt, G., Malacaria, C., Mikusincova, R., Rankin, J., Zane, S., Agudo, I., Antonelli, L. A., Bachetti, M., Baldini, L., Baumgartner, W. H., Bellazzini, R., 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., Doroshenko, V., Dovciak, M., Ehlert, S. R., Enoto, T., Evangelista, Y., Ferrazzoli, R., Garcia, J. A., Gunji, S., Hayashida, K., Heyl, J., 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., 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., 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., Tsygankov, S. S., Turolla, R., Vink, J., Weisskopf, M. C., Wu, K., and Xie, F.

Subjects
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE), Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics, FOS: Physical sciences, Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena, Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)
Abstract

After about 16 years since its first outburst, the transient neutron star low-mass X-ray binary XTE J1701$-$462 turned on again in September 2022, allowing for the first study of its X-ray polarimetric characteristics by a dedicated observing program with the Imaging X-ray Polarimeter Explorer (IXPE). Polarimetric studies of XTE J1701$-$462 have been expected to improve our understanding of accreting weakly magnetized neutron stars, in particular, the physics and the geometry of the hot inner regions close to the compact object. The IXPE data of two triggered observations were analyzed using time-resolved spectroscopic and polarimetric techniques, following the source along its Z-track of the color-color diagram. During the first pointing on 2022 September 29, an average 2-8 keV polarization degree of 4.6$\pm$ 0.4\% was measured, the highest value found up to now for this class of sources. Conversely, only a $\sim$0.6\% average degree was obtained during the second pointing ten days later. The polarimetric signal appears to be strictly related to the higher energy blackbody component associated with the boundary layer (BL) emission and its reflection from the inner accretion disk, and it is as strong as 6.1\% and 1.2\% ($>95\%$ significant) above 3-4 keV for the two measurements, respectively. The variable polarimetric signal is apparently related to the spectral characteristics of XTE J1701$-$462, which is the strongest when the source was in the horizontal branch of its Z-track and the weakest in the normal branch. These IXPE results provide new important observational constraints on the physical models and geometry of the Z-sources. Here, we discuss the possible reasons for the presence of strong and variable polarization among these sources., 7 pages, 8 figures; published in A&A 674, L10 (2023)

Published
2023
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2. X-ray polarimetry and spectroscopy of the neutron star low-mass X-ray binary GX 9+9: an in-depth study with IXPE and NuSTAR

Author

Ursini, F., Farinelli, R., Gnarini, A., Poutanen, J., Bianchi, S., Capitanio, F., Di Marco, A., Fabiani, S., La Monaca, F., Malacaria, C., Matt, G., Mikušincová, R., Cocchi, M., Kaaret, P., Kajava, J. J. E., Pilia, M., Zhang, W., Agudo, I., Antonelli, L. A., Bachetti, M., Baldini, L., Baumgartner, W. H., Bellazzini, R., 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., Doroshenko, V., Dovčiak, M., Ehlert, S. R., Enoto, T., Evangelista, Y., Ferrazzoli, R., Garcia, J. A., Gunji, S., Hayashida, K., Heyl, J., Iwakiri, W., Jorstad, S. G., 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., 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., Possenti, A., Puccetti, S., Ramsey, B. D., Rankin, J., Ratheesh, A., Roberts, O. J., Romani, R. W., Sgrò, 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., Tsygankov, S. S., Turolla, R., Vink, J., Weisskopf, M. C., Wu, K., Xie, F., and Zane, S.

Subjects
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE), Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics, FOS: Physical sciences, Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena, Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)
Abstract

We report on a comprehensive analysis of simultaneous X-ray polarimetric and spectral data of the bright atoll source GX 9+9 with the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) and NuSTAR. The source is significantly polarized in the 4--8 keV band, with a degree of $2.2\% \pm 0.5\%$ (uncertainty at the 68% confidence level). The NuSTAR broad-band spectrum clearly shows an iron line, and is well described by a model including thermal disk emission, a Comptonized component, and reflection. From a spectro-polarimetric fit, we obtain an upper limit to the polarization degree of the disk of 4% (at 99% confidence level), while the contribution of Comptonized and reflected radiation cannot be conclusively separated. However, the polarization is consistent with resulting from a combination of Comptonization in a boundary or spreading layer, plus reflection off the disc, which gives a significant contribution in any realistic scenario., 10 pages, accepted for publication in A&A

Published
2023

3. Complex variations of X-ray polarization in the X-ray pulsar LS V +44 17/RX J0440.9+4431

Author

Doroshenko, V., Poutanen, J., Heyl, J., Tsygankov, S. S., Berdyugin, A. V., Caiazzo, I., Forsblom, S. V., Gonz\ález-Caniulef, D., Kravtsov, V., Loktev, V. V., Lutovinov, A. A., Malacaria, C., Mereminskiy, I. A., Molkov, S. V., Mushtukov, A., Nitindala, A. P., Salganik, A., Santangelo, A., Suleimanov, V. F., Turolla, R., Veledina, A., 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., Capitanio, F., Castellano, S., Cavazzuti, E., Chen, C., Ciprini, S., Costa, E., De Rosa, A., Del Monte, E., Di Gesu, L., Di Lalla, N., Di Marco, A., Donnarumma, I., Dovčiak, 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., La Monaca, F., 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., O'Dell, S. L., Omodei, N., Oppedisano, C., Papitto, A., Pavlov, G. G., Peirson, A. L., Perri, M., Pesce-Rollins, M., Petrucci, P., Pilia, M., Possenti, A., Puccetti, S., Ramsey, B. D., Rankin, J., Ratheesh, A., Roberts, O. J., Romani, R. W., Sgrò, C., Slane, P., Soffitta, P., Spandre, G., Swartz, D. A., Tamagawa, T., Tavecchio, F., Taverna, R., Tawara, Y., Tent, A. F., Thomas, N. E., Tombesi, F., Trois, A., Vink, J., Weisskopf, M. C., Wu, K., Xie, F., and Zane, S.

Subjects
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE), FOS: Physical sciences, Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract

We report on \ixpe observations of the Be-transient X-ray pulsar LS V +44 17/RX J0440.9+4431 at two luminosity levels during the giant outburst in January--February 2023. Considering the observed spectral variability and changes in the pulse profiles, the source was likely caught in super- and sub-critical states with significantly different emission region geometry, associated with the presence of accretion columns and hot spots, respectively. We focus here on the pulse-phase resolved polarimetric analysis and find that the observed dependencies of the polarization degree and polarization angle (PA) on pulse phase are indeed drastically different for the two observations. The observed differences, if interpreted within the framework of the rotating vector model (RVM), imply dramatic variations of the spin axis inclination and the position angle and the magnetic colatitude by tens of degrees within just a few days separating the observations. We suggest that the apparent changes in the observed PA phase dependence are predominantly related to the presence of a polarized unpulsed component in addition to the polarized radiation associated with the pulsar itself. We show that the observed PA phase dependence in both observations can then be explained with a single set of RVM parameters defining the pulsar's geometry. We also suggest that the additional polarized component is likely produced by scattering of the pulsar radiation off the equatorial disk wind., 9 pages, 5 figures, submitted to A&A

Published
2023

4. X-ray polarimetry of X-ray pulsar X Persei: another orthogonal rotator?

Author

Mushtukov, A. A., Tsygankov, S. S., Poutanen, J., Doroshenko, V., Salganik, A., Costa, E., Di Marco, A., Heyl, J., La Monaca, F., Lutovinov, A. A., Mereminsky, I. A., Papitto, A., Semena, A. N., Shtykovsky, A. E., Suleimanov, V. F., Forsblom, S. V., González-Caniulef, D., Malacaria, C., Sunyaev, R. A., 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., Capitanio, F., Castellano, S., Cavazzuti, E., Chen, C. -T., Ciprini, S., De Rosa, A., Del Monte, E., Di Gesu, L., Di Lalla, N., Donnarumma, I., Dovčiak, 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., 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., 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., Sgrò, 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.

Subjects
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE), Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics, FOS: Physical sciences, Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena, Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)
Abstract

X Persei is a persistent low-luminosity X-ray pulsar of period of $\sim$835 s in a Be binary system. The field strength at the neutron star surface is not known precisely, but indirect signs indicate a magnetic field above $10^{13}$ G, which makes the object one of the most magnetized known X-ray pulsars. Here we present the results of observations X Persei performed with the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE). The X-ray polarization signal was found to be strongly dependent on the spin phase of the pulsar. The energy-averaged polarization degree in 3-8 keV band varied from several to $\sim$20 per cent over the pulse with a positive correlation with the pulsed X-ray flux. The polarization angle shows significant variation and makes two complete revolutions during the pulse period resulting in nearly nil pulse-phase averaged polarization. Applying the rotating vector model to the IXPE data we obtain the estimates for the rotation axis inclination and its position angle on the sky as well as for the magnetic obliquity. The derived inclination is close to the orbital inclination reported earlier for X Persei. The polarimetric data imply a large angle between the rotation and magnetic dipole axes, which is similar to the result reported recently for the X-ray pulsar GRO J1008$-$57. After eliminating the effect of polarization angle rotation over the pulsar phase using the best-fitting rotating vector model, the strong dependence of the polarization degree with energy was discovered with its value increasing from 0% at $\sim$2 keV to 30% at 8 keV., 11 pages, 7 figures, submitted to MNRAS

Published
2023

5. Uncovering the geometry of the hot X-ray corona in the Seyfert galaxy NGC4151 with IXPE

Author

Gianolli, V. E., Kim, D. E., Bianchi, S., Agís-González, B., Madejski, G., Marin, F., Marinucci, A., Matt, G., Middei, R., Petrucci, P-O., Soffitta, P., Tagliacozzo, D., Tombesi, F., Ursini, F., Barnouin, T., De Rosa, A., Di Gesu, L., Ingram, A., Loktev, V., Panagiotou, C., Podgorny, J., Poutanen, J., Puccetti, S., Ratheesh, A., Veledina, A., Zhang, W., Agudo, I., Antonelli, L. A., Bachetti, M., Baldini, L., Baumgartner, W. H., Bellazzini, R., Bongiorno, S. D., Bonino, R., Brez, A., Bucciantini, N., Capitanio, F., Castellano, S., Cavazzuti, E., Chen, C. -T., Ciprini, S., Costa, E., Del Monte, E., Di Lalla, N., Di Marco, A., Donnarumma, I., Doroshenko, V., Dovčiak, M., Ehlert, S. R., Enoto, T., Evangelista, Y., Fabiani, S., Ferrazzoli, R., García, J. A., Gunji, S., Heyl, J., Iwakiri, W., Jorstad, S. G., Kaaret, P., Karas, V., Kislat, F., Kitaguchi, T., Kolodziejczak, J. J., Krawczynski, H., La Monaca, F., Latronico, L., Liodakis, I., Maldera, S., Manfreda, A., Marscher, A. P., Marshall, H. L., Massaro, F., Mitsuishi, I., Mizuno, T., Muleri, F., Negro, M., Ng, C. -Y., ODell, S. L., Omodei, N., Oppedisano, C., Papitto, A., Pavlov, G. G., Peirson, A. L., Perri, M., Pesce-Rollins, M., Pilia, M., Possenti, A., Ramsey, B. D., Rankin, J., Roberts, O. J., Romani, R. W., Sgrò, C., Slane, P., Spandre, G., Swartz, D. A., Tamagawa, T., Tavecchio, F., Taverna, R., Tawara, Y., Tennant, A. F., Thomas, N. E., Trois, A., Tsygankov, S. S., Turolla, R., Vink, J., Weisskopf, M. C., Wu, K., Xie, F., and Zane, S.

Subjects
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE), Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA), FOS: Physical sciences, Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies
Abstract

We present an X-ray spectro-polarimetric analysis of the bright Seyfert galaxy NGC4151. The source has been observed with the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) for 700 ks, complemented with simultaneous XMM-Newton (50 ks) and NuSTAR (100 ks) pointings. A polarization degree ${\Pi} = 4.9 {\pm} 1.1 \%$ and angle ${\Psi}= 86{\deg} {\pm} 7{\deg}$ east of north ($68\%$ confidence level) are measured in the 2-8 keV energy range. The spectro-polarimetric analysis shows that the polarization could be entirely due to reflection. Given the low reflection flux in the IXPE band, this requires however a reflection with a very large ($> 38 \%$) polarization degree. Assuming more reasonable values, a polarization degree of the hot corona ranging from ${\sim}4$ to ${\sim}8\%$ is found. The observed polarization degree excludes a spherical lamppost geometry for the corona, suggesting instead a slab-like geometry, possibly a wedge, as determined via Monte Carlo simulations. This is further confirmed by the X-ray polarization angle, which coincides with the direction of the extended radio emission in this source, supposed to match the disc axis. NGC4151 is the first AGN with an X-ray polarization measure for the corona, illustrating the capabilities of X-ray polarimetry and IXPE in unveiling its geometry., Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures

Published
2023

6. The X-ray polarisation of the Seyfert 1 galaxy IC 4329A

Author

Ingram, A., Ewing, M., Marinucci, A., Tagliacozzo, D., Rosario, D. J., Veledina, A., Kim, D. E., Marin, F., Bianchi, S., Poutanen, J., Matt, G., Marshall, H. L., Ursini, F., De Rosa, A., Petrucci, P-O., Madejski, G., Barnouin, T., Di Gesu, L., Dovvciak, M., Gianolli, V. E., Krawczynski, H., Loktev, V., Middei, R., Podgorny, J., Puccetti, S., Ratheesh, A., Soffitta, P., Tombesi, F., Ehlert, S. R., Massaro, F., Agudo, I., Antonelli, L. A., Bachetti, M., Baldini, L., Baumgartner, W. H., Bellazzini, R., Bongiorno, S. D., Bonino, R., Brez, A., Bucciantini, N., Capitanio, F., Castellano, S., Cavazzuti, E., Chen, C. -T., Ciprini, S., Costa, E., Del Monte, E., Di Lalla, N., Di Marco, A., Donnarumma, I., Doroshenko, V., Enoto, T., Evangelista, Y., Fabiani, S., Ferrazzoli, R., Garcia, J. A., Gunji, S., Heyl, J., Iwakiri, W., Jorstad, S. G., Kaaret, P., Karas, V., Kislat, F., Kitaguchi, T., Kolodziejczak, J. J., La Monaca, F., Latronico, L., Liodakis, I., Maldera, S., Manfreda, A., Marscher, A. P., Mitsuishi, I., Mizuno, T., Muleri, F., Negro, M., Ng, C. -Y., ODell, S. L., Omodei, N., Oppedisano, C., Papitto, A., Pavlov, G. G., Peirson, A. L., Perri, M., Pesce-Rollins, M., Pilia, M., Possenti, A., Ramsey, B. D., Rankin, J., Roberts, O. J., Romani, R. W., Sgro, C., Slane, P., Spandre, G., Swartz, D. A., Tamagawa, T., Tavecchio, F., Taverna, R., Tawara, Y., Tennant, A. F., Thomas, N. E., Trois, A., Tsygankov, S. S., Turolla, R., Vink, J., Weisskopf, M. C., Wu, K., Xie, F., and Zane, S.

Subjects
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE), FOS: Physical sciences, Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract

We present an X-ray spectro-polarimetric analysis of the bright Seyfert galaxy IC 4329A. The Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) observed the source for ~500 ks, supported by XMM-Newton (~60 ks) and NuSTAR (~80 ks) exposures. We detect polarisation in the 2-8 keV band with 2.97 sigma confidence. We report a polarisation degree of $3.3\pm1.1$ per cent and a polarisation angle of $78\pm10$ degrees (errors are 1 sigma confidence). The X-ray polarisation is consistent with being aligned with the radio jet, albeit partially due to large uncertainties on the radio position angle. We jointly fit the spectra from the three observatories to constrain the presence of a relativistic reflection component. From this, we obtain constraints on the inclination angle to the inner disc (< 39 degrees at 99 per cent confidence) and the disc inner radius (< 11 gravitational radii at 99 per cent confidence), although we note that modelling systematics in practice add to the quoted statistical error. Our spectro-polarimetric modelling indicates that the 2-8 keV polarisation is consistent with being dominated by emission directly observed from the X-ray corona, but the polarisation of the reflection component is completely unconstrained. Our constraints on viewer inclination and polarisation degree tentatively favour more asymmetric, possibly out-flowing, coronal geometries that produce more highly polarised emission, but the coronal geometry is unconstrained at the 3 sigma level., Submitted to MNRAS, 12 pages, 7 figures

Published
2023
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7. The geometry of the hot corona in MCG-05-23-16 constrained by X-ray polarimetry

Author

Tagliacozzo, D., Marinucci, A., Ursini, F., Matt, G., Bianchi, S., Baldini, L., Barnouin, T., Rodriguez, N. Cavero, De Rosa, A., Di Gesu, L., Dovciak, M., Harper, D., Ingram, A., Karas, V., Kim, D. E., Krawczynski, H., Madejski, G., Marin, F., Middei, R., Marshall, H. L., Muleri, F., Panagiotou, C., Petrucci, P. O., Podgorny, J., Poutanen, J., Puccetti, S., Soffitta, P., Tombesi, F., Veledina, A., Zhang, W., Agudo, I., Antonelli, L. A., Bachetti, M., Baumgartner, W. H., Bellazzini, R., Bongiorno, S. D., Bonino, R., Brez, A., Bucciantini, N., Capitanio, F., Castellano, S., Cavazzuti, E., Chen, C. T., Ciprini, S., Costa, E., Del Monte, E., Di Lalla, N., Di Marco, A., Donnarumma, I., Doroshenko, V., Ehlert, S. R., Enoto, T., Evangelista, Y., Fabiani, S., Ferrazzoli, R., Garcia, J. A., Gunji, S., Heyl, J., Iwakiri, W., Jorstad, S. G., Kaaret, P., Kislat, F., Kitaguchi, T., Kolodziejczak, J. J., La Monaca, F., Latronico, L., Liodakis, I., Maldera, S., Manfreda, A., Marscher, A. P., Massaro, F., 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., Rollins, M. Pesce, Pilia, M., Possenti, A., Ramsey, B. D., Rankin, J., Ratheesh, A., Roberts, O. J., Romani, R. W., Sgrò, C., Slane, P., Spandre, G., Swartz, D. A., Tamagawa, T., Tavecchio, F., Taverna, R., Tawara, Y., Tennant, A. F., Thomas, N. E., Trois, A., Tsygankov, S. S., Turolla, R., Vink, J., Weisskopf, M. C., Wu, K., Xie, F., and Zane, S.

Subjects
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE), FOS: Physical sciences, Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract

We report on the second observation of the radio-quiet active galactic nucleus (AGN) MCG-05-23-16 performed with the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE). The observation started on 2022 November 6 for a net observing time of 640 ks, and was partly simultaneous with NuSTAR (86 ks). After combining these data with those obtained in the first IXPE pointing on May 2022 (simultaneous with XMM-Newton and NuSTAR) we find a 2-8 keV polarization degree $\Pi$ = 1.6 $\pm$ 0.7 (at 68 per cent confidence level), which corresponds to an upper limit $\Pi$ = 3.2 per cent (at 99 per cent confidence level). We then compare the polarization results with Monte Carlo simulations obtained with the MONK code, with which different coronal geometries have been explored (spherical lamppost, conical, slab and wedge). Furthermore, the allowed range of inclination angles is found for each geometry. If the best fit inclination value from a spectroscopic analysis is considered, a cone-shaped corona along the disc axis is disfavoured., Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, 3 table. Submitted to MNRAS

Published
2023
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8. IXPE observations of the quintessential wind-accreting X-ray pulsar Vela X-1

Author

Forsblom, Sv, Poutanen, J, Tsygankov, Ss, Bachetti, M, Marco, Ad, Doroshenko, V, Heyl, J, Monaca, Fl, Malacaria, C, Marshall, Hl, Muleri, F, Mushtukov, Aa, Pilia, M, Rogantini, D, Suleimanov, Vf, Taverna, R, Xie, F, Agudo, I, Antonelli, La, Baldini, L, Baumgartner, Wh, Bellazzini, R, Bianchi, S, Bongiorno, Sd, Bonino, R, Brez, A, Bucciantini, N, Capitanio, F, Castellano, S, Cavazzuti, E, Chen, Ct, Ciprini, S, Costa, E, De Rosa, A, Del Monte, E, Di Gesu, L, Di Lalla, N, Donnarumma, I, Dovciak, M, Ehlert, Sr, Enoto, T, Evangelista, Y, Fabiani, S, Ferrazzoli, R, Garcia, Ja, Gunji, S, Hayashida, K, Iwakiri, W, Jorstad, Sg, Kaaret, P, Karas, V, Kitaguchi, T, Kolodziejczak, Jj, Krawczynski, H, Latronico, L, Liodakis, I, Maldera, S, Manfreda, A, Marin, F, Marinucci, A, Marscher, Ap, Matt, G, Mitsuishi, I, Mizuno, T, Negro, M, Cy, Ng, O'Dell, Sl, Omodei, N, Oppedisano, C, Papitto, A, Pavlov, Gg, Peirson, Al, Perri, M, Pesce-Rollins, M, Petrucci, Po, Possenti, A, Puccetti, S, Ramsey, Bd, Rankin, J, Ratheesh, A, Roberts, Oj, Romani, Rw, Sgro, C, Slane, P, Soffitta, P, Spandre, G, Sunyaev, Ra, Swartz, Da, Tamagawa, T, Tavecchio, F, Tawara, Y, Tennant, Af, Thomas, Ne, Tombesi, F, Trois, A, Turolla, R, Vink, J, Weisskopf, Mc, Kw, Wu, Zane, S, Ixpe, Collaboration, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (España), Academy of Finland, German Research Foundation, Forsblom, Sofia V., Poutanen, Juri, Tsygankov, Sergey S., Bachetti, Matteo, Marco, Alessandro Di, Doroshenko, Victor, Heyl, Jeremy, Monaca, Fabio La, Malacaria, Christian, Marshall, Herman L., Muleri, Fabio, Mushtukov, Alexander A., Pilia, Maura, Rogantini, Daniele, Suleimanov, Valery F., Taverna, Roberto, Xie, Fei, Agudo, Iván, Antonelli, Lucio A., Baldini, Luca, Baumgartner, Wayne H., Bellazzini, Ronaldo, Bianchi, Stefano, Bongiorno, Stephen D., Bonino, Raffaella, Brez, Alessandro, Bucciantini, Niccolò, Capitanio, Fiamma, Castellano, Simone, Cavazzuti, Elisabetta, Chen, Chien-Ting, Ciprini, Stefano, Costa, Enrico, De Rosa, Alessandra, Del Monte, Ettore, Di Gesu, Laura, Di Lalla, Niccolò, Donnarumma, Immacolata, Dovčiak, Michal, Ehlert, Steven R., Enoto, Teruaki, Evangelista, Yuri, Fabiani, Sergio, Ferrazzoli, Riccardo, Garcia, Javier A., Gunji, Shuichi, Hayashida, Kiyoshi, Iwakiri, Wataru, Jorstad, Svetlana G., Kaaret, Philip, Karas, Vladimir, Kitaguchi, Takao, Kolodziejczak, Jeffery J., Krawczynski, Henric, Latronico, Luca, Liodakis, Ioanni, Maldera, Simone, Manfreda, Alberto, Marin, Frédéric, Marinucci, Andrea, Marscher, Alan P., Matt, Giorgio, Mitsuishi, Ikuyuki, Mizuno, Tsunefumi, Negro, Michela, Ng, Chi-Yung, O’Dell, Stephen L., Omodei, Nicola, Oppedisano, Chiara, Papitto, Alessandro, Pavlov, George G., Peirson, Abel L., Perri, Matteo, Pesce-Rollins, Melissa, Petrucci, Pierre-Olivier, Possenti, Andrea, Puccetti, Simonetta, Ramsey, Brian D., Rankin, John, Ratheesh, Ajay, Roberts, Oliver J., Romani, Roger W., Sgrò, Carmelo, Slane, Patrick, Soffitta, Paolo, Spandre, Gloria, Sunyaev, Rashid A., Swartz, Douglas A., Tamagawa, Toru, Tavecchio, Fabrizio, Tawara, Yuzuru, Tennant, Allyn F., Thomas, Nicholas E., Tombesi, Francesco, Trois, Alessio, Turolla, Roberto, Vink, Jacco, Weisskopf, Martin C., Wu, Kinwah, and Zane, Silvia

Subjects
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE), Space and Planetary Science, FOS: Physical sciences, Astronomy and Astrophysics, Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract

Full list of authors: Forsblom, Sofia; Poutanen, Juri S.; Tsygankov, Sergey; Bachetti, Matteo; Marco, Alessandro Di; Doroshenko, Victor; Heyl, Jeremy; Monaca, Fabio La; Malacaria, Christian L.; Marshall, Herman; Muleri, Fabio A.; Mushtukov, Alexander; Pilia, Maura; Rogantini, Daniele F.; Suleimanov, Valery; Taverna, Roberto; Xie, Fei; Agudo, Ivan A.; Antonelli, Lucio; Baldini, Luca H.; Baumgartner, Wayne; Bellazzini, Ronaldo; Bianchi, Stefano D.; Bongiorno, Stephen; Bonino, Raffaella; Brez, Alessandro; Bucciantini, Niccolo; Capitanio, Fiamma; Castellano, Simone; Cavazzuti, Elisabetta; Chen, Chien-Ting; Ciprini, Stefano; Costa, Enrico; De Rosa, Alessandra; Del Monte, Ettore; Di Gesu, Laura; Di Lalla, Niccolo; Donnarumma, Immacolata; Dovciak, Michal R.; Ehlert, Steven; Enoto, Teruaki; Evangelista, Yuri; Fabiani, Sergio; Ferrazzoli, Riccardo A.; Garcia, Javier; Gunji, Shuichi; Hayashida, Kiyoshi; Iwakiri, Wataru G.; Jorstad, Svetlana; Kaaret, Philip; Karas, Vladimir; Kitaguchi, Takao J.; Kolodziejczak, Jeffery; Krawczynski, Henric; Latronico, Luca; Liodakis, Ioannis; Maldera, Simone; Manfreda, Alberto; Marin, Frederic; Marinucci, Andrea P.; Marscher, Alan; Matt, Giorgio; Mitsuishi, Ikuyuki; Mizuno, Tsunefumi; Negro, Michela; Ng, Chi-Yung L.; O'Dell, Stephen; Omodei, Nicola; Oppedisano, Chiara; Papitto, Alessandro G.; Pavlov, George L.; Peirson, Abel; Perri, Matteo; Pesce-Rollins, Melissa; Petrucci, Pierre-Olivier; Possenti, Andrea; Puccetti, Simonetta D.; Ramsey, Brian; Rankin, John; Ratheesh, Ajay J.; Roberts, Oliver W.; Romani, Roger; Sgro, Carmelo; Slane, Patrick; Soffitta, Paolo; Spandre, Gloria A.; Sunyaev, Rashid A.; Swartz, Douglas; Tamagawa, Toru; Tavecchio, Fabrizio; Tawara, Yuzuru F.; Tennant, Allyn E.; Thomas, Nicholas; Tombesi, Francesco; Trois, Alessio; Turolla, Roberto; Vink, Jacco C.; Weisskopf, Martin; Wu, Kinwah; Zane, Silvia; IXPE Collaboration.--This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited., 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 −47fdg3 ± 5fdg4. 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°. © 2023. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society., The Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) is a joint US and Italian mission. The US contribution is supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and led and managed by its Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), with industry partner Ball Aerospace (contract NNM15AA18C). The Italian contribution is supported by the Italian Space Agency (Agenzia Spaziale Italiana, ASI) through contract ASI-OHBI-2017-12-I.0, agreements ASI-INAF-2017-12-H0 and ASI-INFN-2017.13-H0, and its Space Science Data Center (SSDC) with agreements ASI-INAF-2022-14-HH.0 and ASI-INFN 2021-43-HH.0, and by the Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF) and the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) in Italy. This research used data products provided by the IXPE Team (MSFC, SSDC, INAF, and INFN) and distributed with additional software tools by the High-Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center (HEASARC), at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). We acknowledge support from the RSF grant 19-12-00423 (SST), the Academy of Finland grants 333112, 349144, 349373, and 349906 (JP, SST), the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) travel grant 57525212 (VD, VFS), and the German Research Foundation (DFG) grant WE 1312/53-1 (VFS)., With funding from the Spanish government through the "Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence" accreditation (CEX2021-001131-S).

Published
2023
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9. DAMA/LIBRA results and perspectives, Bled 2013

Author

Bernabei, R., Belli, P., d'Angelo, S., Di Marco, A., Montecchia, F., Cappella, F., d'Angelo, A., Incicchitti, A., Caracciolo, V., Castellano, S., Cerulli, R., Dai, C. J., He, H. L., Ma, X. H., Sheng, X. D., Wang, R. G., and Ye, Z. P.

Subjects
High Energy Physics - Experiment (hep-ex), Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors, FOS: Physical sciences, Instrumentation and Detectors (physics.ins-det), High Energy Physics - Experiment
Abstract

The DAMA/LIBRA experiment is composed by about 250 kg of highly radiopure NaI(Tl). It is in operation at the underground Gran Sasso National Laboratory of the INFN. The main aim of the experiment is to investigate the Dark Matter (DM) particles in the Galactic halo by exploiting the model independent DM annual modulation signature. The DAMA/LIBRA experiment and the former DAMA/NaI (the first generation experiment having an exposed mass of about 100 kg) have released results corresponding to a total exposure of 1.17 ton $\times$ yr over 13 annual cycles; they have provided a model independent evidence of the presence of DM particles in the galactic halo at 8.9 $\sigma$ C.L.. The results of a further annual cycle, concluding the DAMA/LIBRA--phase1, have been released after this Workshop and are not included here. In the fall 2010 an important upgrade of the experiment have been performed. All the PMTs of the NaI(Tl) detectors have been replaced with new ones having higher quantum efficiency with the aim to decrease the software energy threshold considered in the data analysis. The perspectives of the running DAMA/LIBRA--phase2 will be shortly summarized., Comment: Appeared in Proceedings to the 16th Workshop "What Comes Beyond the Standard Models?", Bled 14-21 of July 2013, Vol. 14, No. 2, DMFA Zaloznistvo, Ljubljana, Dec. 2013

Published
2014

10. X-ray pulsar GRO J1008-57 as an orthogonal rotator

Author

Tsygankov, Sergey S., Doroshenko, Victor, Mushtukov, Alexander A., Poutanen, Juri, Di Marco, Alessandro, Heyl, Jeremy, La Monaca, Fabio, Forsblom, Sofia, Malacaria, Christian, Marshall, Herman L., Suleimanov, Valery F., Svoboda, Jiri, Taverna, Roberto, Ursini, Francesco, Agudo, Iván, Antonelli, Lucio A., Bachetti, Matteo, Baldini, Luca, Baumgartner, Wayne H., Bellazzini, Ronaldo, Bianchi, Stefano, Bongiorno, Stephen D., Bonino, Raffaella, Brez, Alessandro, Bucciantini, Niccolò, Capitanio, Fiamma, Castellano, Simone, Cavazzuti, Elisabetta, Chen, Chien-Ting, Ciprini, Stefano, Costa, Enrico, De Rosa, Alessandra, Del Monte, Ettore, Di Gesu, Laura, Di Lalla, Niccolò, Donnarumma, Immacolata, Dovčiak, Michal, Ehlert, Steven R., Enoto, Teruaki, Evangelista, Yuri, Fabiani, Sergio, Ferrazzoli, Riccardo, Garcia, Javier A., Gunji, Shuichi, Hayashida, Kiyoshi, Iwakiri, Wataru, Jorstad, Svetlana G., Kaaret, Philip, Karas, Vladimir, Kislat, Fabian, Kitaguchi, Takao, Kolodziejczak, Jeffery J., Krawczynski, Henric, Latronico, Luca, Liodakis, Ioannis, Maldera, Simone, Manfreda, Alberto, Marin, Frédéric, Marinucci, Andrea, Marscher, Alan P., Massaro, Francesco, Matt, Giorgio, Mitsuishi, Ikuyuki, Mizuno, Tsunefumi, Muleri, Fabio, Negro, Michela, Ng, Chi-Yung, O'Dell, Stephen L., Omodei, Nicola, Oppedisano, Chiara, Papitto, Alessandro, Pavlov, George G., Peirson, Abel Lawrence, Perri, Matteo, Pesce-Rollins, Melissa, Petrucci, Pierre-Olivier, Pilia, Maura, Possenti, Andrea, Puccetti, Simonetta, Ramsey, Brian D., Rankin, John, Ratheesh, Ajay, Roberts, Oliver J., Romani, Roger W., Sgrò, Carmelo, Slane, Patrick, Soffitta, Paolo, Spandre, Gloria, Swartz, Douglas A., Tamagawa, Toru, Tavecchio, Fabrizio, Tawara, Yuzuru, Tennant, Allyn F., Thomas, Nicholas E., Tombesi, Francesco, Trois, Alessio, Turolla, Roberto, Vink, Jacco, Weisskopf, Martin C., Wu, Kinwah, Xie, Fei, Zane, Silvia, Tsygankov, S. S., Doroshenko, V., Mushtukov, A. A., Poutanen, J., Di Marco, A., Heyl, J., La Monaca, F., Forsblom, S. V., Malacaria, C., Marshall, H. L., Suleimanov, V. F., Svoboda, J., Taverna, R., Ursini, F., 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., 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., Kislat, F., Kitaguchi, T., Kolodziejczak, J. J., Krawczynski, H., Latronico, L., Liodakis, I., Maldera, S., Manfreda, A., Marin, F., Marinucci, A., Marscher, A. P., Massaro, F., Matt, G., Mitsuishi, I., Mizuno, T., Muleri, F., Negro, M., Ng, C. -Y., Oa'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., 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.

Subjects
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE), Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics, FOS: Physical sciences, Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena, Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)
Abstract

X-ray polarimetry is a unique way to probe the geometrical configuration of highly magnetized accreting neutron stars (X-ray pulsars). GRO J1008$-$57 is the first transient X-ray pulsar observed at two different flux levels by the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) during its outburst in November 2022. We find the polarization properties of GRO J1008$-$57 to be independent of its luminosity, with the polarization degree varying between nondetection and about 15% over the pulse phase. Fitting the phase-resolved spectro-polarimetric data with the rotating vector model allowed us to estimate the pulsar inclination (130 deg, which is in good agreement with the orbital inclination), the position angle (75 deg) of the pulsar spin axis, and the magnetic obliquity (74 deg). This makes GRO J1008$-$57 the first confidently identified nearly orthogonal rotator among X-ray pulsars. We discuss our results in the context of the neutron star atmosphere models and theories of the axis alignment of accreting pulsars., Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, A&A, in press

Published
2023

11. X-Ray Polarimetry Reveals the Magnetic-field Topology on Sub-parsec Scales in Tycho’s Supernova Remnant

Author

Riccardo Ferrazzoli, Patrick Slane, Dmitry Prokhorov, Ping Zhou, Jacco Vink, Niccolò Bucciantini, Enrico Costa, Niccolò Di Lalla, Alessandro Di Marco, Paolo Soffitta, Martin C. Weisskopf, Kazunori Asakura, Luca Baldini, Jeremy Heyl, Philip E. Kaaret, Frédéric Marin, Tsunefumi Mizuno, C.-Y. Ng, Melissa Pesce-Rollins, Stefano Silvestri, Carmelo Sgrò, Douglas A. Swartz, Toru Tamagawa, Yi-Jung Yang, Iván Agudo, Lucio A. Antonelli, Matteo Bachetti, Wayne H. Baumgartner, Ronaldo Bellazzini, Stefano Bianchi, Stephen D. Bongiorno, Raffaella Bonino, Alessandro Brez, Fiamma Capitanio, Simone Castellano, Elisabetta Cavazzuti, Chien-Ting Chen, Stefano Ciprini, Alessandra De Rosa, Ettore Del Monte, Laura Di Gesu, Immacolata Donnarumma, Victor Doroshenko, Michal Dovčiak, Steven R. Ehlert, Teruaki Enoto, Yuri Evangelista, Sergio Fabiani, Javier A. Garcia, Shuichi Gunji, Kiyoshi Hayashida, Wataru Iwakiri, Svetlana G. Jorstad, Fabian Kislat, Vladimir Karas, Takao Kitaguchi, Jeffery J. Kolodziejczak, Henric Krawczynski, Fabio La Monaca, Luca Latronico, Ioannis Liodakis, Simone Maldera, Alberto Manfreda, Andrea Marinucci, Alan P. Marscher, Herman L. Marshall, Giorgio Matt, Ikuyuki Mitsuishi, Fabio Muleri, Michela Negro, Stephen L. O’Dell, Nicola Omodei, Chiara Oppedisano, Alessandro Papitto, George G. Pavlov, Abel L. Peirson, Matteo Perri, Pierre-Olivier Petrucci, Maura Pilia, Andrea Possenti, Juri Poutanen, Simonetta Puccetti, Brian D. Ramsey, John Rankin, Ajay Ratheesh, Oliver Roberts, Roger W. Romani, Gloria Spandre, Fabrizio Tavecchio, Roberto Taverna, Yuzuru Tawara, Allyn F. Tennant, Nicholas E. Thomas, Francesco Tombesi, Alessio Trois, Sergey S. Tsygankov, Roberto Turolla, Kinwah Wu, Fei Xie, Silvia Zane, Ferrazzoli, R., Slane, P., Prokhorov, D., Zhou, P., Vink, J., Bucciantini, N., Costa, E., Di Lalla, N., Di Marco, A., Soffitta, P., Weisskopf, M. C., Asakura, K., Baldini, L., Heyl, J., Kaaret, P. E., Marin, F., Mizuno, T., Ng, C. -Y., Pesce-Rollins, M., Silvestri, S., Sgro, C., Swartz, D. A., Tamagawa, T., Yang, Y. -J., Agudo, I., Antonelli, L. A., Bachetti, M., Baumgartner, W. H., Bellazzini, R., Bianchi, S., Bongiorno, S. D., Bonino, R., Brez, A., Capitanio, F., Castellano, S., Cavazzuti, E., Chen, C. -T., Ciprini, S., De Rosa, A., Del Monte, E., Di Gesu, L., Donnarumma, I., Doroshenko, V., Dovciak, M., Ehlert, S. R., Enoto, T., Evangelista, Y., Fabiani, S., Garcia, J. A., Gunji, S., Hayashida, K., Iwakiri, W., Jorstad, S. G., Kislat, F., Karas, V., Kitaguchi, T., Kolodziejczak, J. J., Krawczynski, H., La Monaca, F., Latronico, L., Liodakis, I., Maldera, S., Manfreda, A., Marinucci, A., Marscher, A. P., Marshall, H. L., Matt, G., Mitsuishi, I., Muleri, F., Negro, M., O'Dell, S. L., Omodei, N., Oppedisano, C., Papitto, A., Pavlov, G. G., Peirson, A. L., Perri, M., Petrucci, P. -O., Pilia, M., Possenti, A., Poutanen, J., Puccetti, S., Ramsey, B. D., Rankin, J., Ratheesh, A., Roberts, O., Romani, R. W., Spandre, G., Tavecchio, F., Taverna, R., Tawara, Y., Tennant, A. F., Thomas, N. E., Tombesi, F., Trois, A., Tsygankov, S. S., Turolla, R., Wu, K., Xie, F., Zane, S., Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (España), and European Commission

Subjects
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE), Space and Planetary Science, FOS: Physical sciences, Astronomy and Astrophysics, Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract

Full list of authors: Ferrazzoli, Riccardo; Slane, Patrick; Prokhorov, Dmitry; Zhou, Ping; Vink, Jacco; Bucciantini, Niccolo; Costa, Enrico; Di Lalla, Niccolo; Di Marco, Alessandro; Soffitta, Paolo; Weisskopf, Martin C.; Asakura, Kazunori; Baldini, Luca; Heyl, Jeremy; Kaaret, Philip E.; Marin, Frederic; Mizuno, Tsunefumi; Ng, C. -Y.; Pesce-Rollins, Melissa; Silvestri, Stefano; Sgro, Carmelo; Swartz, Douglas A.; Tamagawa, Toru; Yang, Yi-Jung; Agudo, Ivan; Antonelli, Lucio A.; Bachetti, Matteo; Baumgartner, Wayne H.; Bellazzini, Ronaldo; Bianchi, Stefano; Bongiorno, Stephen D.; Bonino, Raffaella; Brez, Alessandro; Capitanio, Fiamma; Castellano, Simone; Cavazzuti, Elisabetta; Chen, Chien-Ting; Ciprini, Stefano; De Rosa, Alessandra; Del Monte, Ettore; Di Gesu, Laura; Donnarumma, Immacolata; Doroshenko, Victor; Dovciak, Michal; Ehlert, Steven R.; Enoto, Teruaki; Evangelista, Yuri; Fabiani, Sergio; Garcia, Javier A.; Gunji, Shuichi; Hayashida, Kiyoshi; Iwakiri, Wataru; Jorstad, Svetlana G.; Kislat, Fabian; Karas, Vladimir; Kitaguchi, Takao; Kolodziejczak, Jeffery J.; Krawczynski, Henric; La Monaca, Fabio; Latronico, Luca; Liodakis, Ioannis; Maldera, Simone; Manfreda, Alberto; Marinucci, Andrea; Marscher, Alan P.; Marshall, Herman L.; Matt, Giorgio; Mitsuishi, Ikuyuki; Muleri, Fabio; Negro, Michela; O'Dell, Stephen L.; Omodei, Nicola; Oppedisano, Chiara; Papitto, Alessandro; Pavlov, George G.; Peirson, Abel L.; Perri, Matteo; Petrucci, Pierre-Olivier; Pilia, Maura; Possenti, Andrea; Poutanen, Juri; Puccetti, Simonetta; Ramsey, Brian D.; Rankin, John; Ratheesh, Ajay; Roberts, Oliver; Romani, Roger W.; Spandre, Gloria; Tavecchio, Fabrizio; Taverna, Roberto; Tawara, Yuzuru; Tennant, Allyn F.; Thomas, Nicholas E.; Tombesi, Francesco; Trois, Alessio; Tsygankov, Sergey S.; Turolla, Roberto; Wu, Kinwah; Xie, Fei; Zane, Silvia.--This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited., Supernova remnants are commonly considered to produce most of the Galactic cosmic rays via diffusive shock acceleration. However, many questions regarding the physical conditions at shock fronts, such as the magnetic-field morphology close to the particle acceleration sites, remain open. Here we report the detection of a localized polarization signal from some synchrotron X-ray emitting regions of Tycho's supernova remnant made by the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer. The derived degree of polarization of the X-ray synchrotron emission is 9% ± 2% averaged over the whole remnant, and 12% ± 2% at the rim, higher than the value of polarization of 7%–8% observed in the radio band. In the west region, the degree of polarization is 23% ± 4%. The degree of X-ray polarization in Tycho is higher than for Cassiopeia A, suggesting a more ordered magnetic field or a larger maximum turbulence scale. The measured tangential direction of polarization corresponds to the radial magnetic field, and is consistent with that observed in the radio band. These results are compatible with the expectation of turbulence produced by an anisotropic cascade of a radial magnetic field near the shock, where we derive a magnetic-field amplification factor of 3.4 ± 0.3. The fact that this value is significantly smaller than those expected from acceleration models is indicative of highly anisotropic magnetic-field turbulence, or that the emitting electrons either favor regions of lower turbulence, or accumulate close to where the orientation of the magnetic field is preferentially radially oriented due to hydrodynamical instabilities. © 2023. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society., J. Vink & D.Prokhorov are supported by funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No. 101004131 (SHARP). P.S. acknowledges support from NASA contract NAS8-03060. P.Z. acknowledges the support from NWO Veni Fellowship grant No. 639.041.647 and NSFC grant No. 12273010 C.-Y.N. and Y.J.Y. are supported by a GRF grant of the Hong Kong Government under HKU 17305419., With funding from the Spanish government through the "Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence" accreditation (CEX2021-001131-S).

Published
2023

12. The IXPE View of GRB 221009A

Author

Michela Negro, Niccolò Di Lalla, Nicola Omodei, Péter Veres, Stefano Silvestri, Alberto Manfreda, Eric Burns, Luca Baldini, Enrico Costa, Steven R. Ehlert, Jamie A. Kennea, Ioannis Liodakis, Herman L. Marshall, Sandro Mereghetti, Riccardo Middei, Fabio Muleri, Stephen L. O’Dell, Oliver J. Roberts, Roger W. Romani, Carmelo Sgró, Masanobu Terashima, Andrea Tiengo, Domenico Viscolo, Alessandro Di Marco, Fabio La Monaca, Luca Latronico, Giorgio Matt, Matteo Perri, Simonetta Puccetti, Juri Poutanen, Ajay Ratheesh, Daniele Rogantini, Patrick Slane, Paolo Soffitta, Elina Lindfors, Kari Nilsson, Anni Kasikov, Alan P. Marscher, Fabrizio Tavecchio, Nicoló Cibrario, Shuichi Gunji, Christian Malacaria, Alessandro Paggi, Yi-Jung Yang, Silvia Zane, Martin C. Weisskopf, Iván Agudo, Lucio A. Antonelli, Matteo Bachetti, Wayne H. Baumgartner, Ronaldo Bellazzini, Stefano Bianchi, Stephen D. Bongiorno, Raffaella Bonino, Alessandro Brez, Niccolò Bucciantini, Fiamma Capitanio, Simone Castellano, Elisabetta Cavazzuti, Chien-Ting Chen, Stefano Ciprini, Alessandra De Rosa, Ettore Del Monte, Laura Di Gesu, Immacolata Donnarumma, Victor Doroshenko, Michal Dovc̆iak, Teruaki Enoto, Yuri Evangelista, Sergio Fabiani, Riccardo Ferrazzoli, Javier A. Garcia, Kiyoshi Hayashida, Jeremy Heyl, Wataru Iwakiri, Svetlana G. Jorstad, Philip Kaaret, Vladimir Karas, Fabian Kislat, Takao Kitaguchi, Jeffery J. Kolodziejczak, Henric Krawczynski, Simone Maldera, Frédéric Marin, Andrea Marinucci, Ikuyuki Mitsuishi, Tsunefumi Mizuno, C.-Y. Ng, Chiara Oppedisano, Alessandro Papitto, George G. Pavlov, Abel L. Peirson, Melissa Pesce-Rollins, Pierre-Olivier Petrucci, Maura Pilia, Andrea Possenti, Brian D. Ramsey, John Rankin, Gloria Spandre, Douglas A. Swartz, Toru Tamagawa, Roberto Taverna, Yuzuru Tawara, Allyn F. Tennant, Nicholas E. Thomas, Francesco Tombesi, Alessio Trois, Sergey S. Tsygankov, Roberto Turolla, Jacco Vink, Kinwah Wu, Fei Xie, Negro, M., Di Lalla, N., Omodei, N., Veres, P., Silvestri, S., Manfreda, A., Burns, E., Baldini, L., Costa, E., Ehlert, S. R., Kennea, J. A., Liodakis, I., Marshall, H. L., Mereghetti, S., Middei, R., Muleri, F., O'Dell, S. L., Roberts, O. J., Romani, R. W., Sgro, C., Terashima, M., Tiengo, A., Viscolo, D., Di Marco, A., La Monaca, F., Latronico, L., Matt, G., Perri, M., Puccetti, S., Poutanen, J., Ratheesh, A., Rogantini, D., Slane, P., Soffitta, P., Lindfors, E., Nilsson, K., Kasikov, A., Marscher, A. P., Tavecchio, F., Cibrario, N., Gunji, S., Malacaria, C., Paggi, A., Yang, Y. -J., Zane, S., Weisskopf, M. C., Agudo, I., Antonelli, L. A., Bachetti, M., 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., De Rosa, A., Del Monte, E., Di Gesu, L., Donnarumma, I., Doroshenko, V., Dovciak, M., Enoto, T., Evangelista, Y., Fabiani, S., Ferrazzoli, R., Garcia, J. A., Hayashida, K., Heyl, J., Iwakiri, W., Jorstad, S. G., Kaaret, P., Karas, V., Kislat, F., Kitaguchi, T., Kolodziejczak, J. J., Krawczynski, H., Maldera, S., Marin, F., Marinucci, A., Mitsuishi, I., Mizuno, T., Ng, C. -Y., Oppedisano, C., Papitto, A., Pavlov, G. G., Peirson, A. L., Pesce-Rollins, M., Petrucci, P. -O., Pilia, M., Possenti, A., Ramsey, B. D., Rankin, J., Spandre, G., Swartz, D. A., Tamagawa, T., Taverna, R., Tawara, Y., Tennant, A. F., Thomas, N. E., Tombesi, F., Trois, A., Tsygankov, S. S., Turolla, R., Vink, J., Wu, K., and Xie, F.

Subjects
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE), Space and Planetary Science, FOS: Physical sciences, Astronomy and Astrophysics, Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract

We present the IXPE observation of GRB 221009A which includes upper limits on the linear polarization degree of both prompt and afterglow emission in the soft X-ray energy band. GRB 221009A is an exceptionally bright gamma-ray burst (GRB) that reached Earth on 2022 October 9 after travelling through the dust of the Milky Way. The Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) pointed at GRB 221009A on October 11 to observe, for the first time, the 2-8 keV X-ray polarization of a GRB afterglow. We set an upper limit to the polarization degree of the afterglow emission of 13.8% at a 99% confidence level. This result provides constraints on the jet opening angle and the viewing angle of the GRB, or alternatively, other properties of the emission region. Additionally, IXPE captured halo-rings of dust-scattered photons which are echoes of the GRB prompt emission. The 99% confidence level upper limit to the prompt polarization degree depends on the background model assumption and it ranges between ~55% to ~82%. This single IXPE pointing provides both the first assessment of X-ray polarization of a GRB afterglow and the first GRB study with polarization observations of both the prompt and afterglow phases., Comment: Accepted by Astrophysical Journal Letters

Published
2023

13. Accretion geometry of the neutron star low mass X-ray binary Cyg X-2 from X-ray polarization measurements

Author

R Farinelli, S Fabiani, J Poutanen, F Ursini, C Ferrigno, S Bianchi, M Cocchi, F Capitanio, A De Rosa, A Gnarini, F Kislat, G Matt, R Mikusincova, F Muleri, I Agudo, L A Antonelli, M Bachetti, L Baldini, W H Baumgartner, R Bellazzini, S D Bongiorno, R Bonino, A Brez, N Bucciantini, S Castellano, E Cavazzuti, S Ciprini, E Costa, E Del Monte, L Di Gesu, N Di Lalla, A Di Marco, I Donnarumma, V Doroshenko, M Dovčiak, S R Ehlert, T Enoto, Y Evangelista, R Ferrazzoli, J A Garcia, S Gunji, K Hayashida, J Heyl, W Iwakiri, S G Jorstad, V Karas, T Kitaguchi, J J Kolodziejczak, H Krawczynski, F La Monaca, L Latronico, I Liodakis, S Maldera, A Manfreda, F Marin, A P Marscher, H L Marshall, I Mitsuishi, T Mizuno, C-Y Ng, S L O’Dell, N Omodei, C Oppedisano, A Papitto, G G Pavlov, A L Peirson, M Perri, M Pesce-Rollins, P O Petrucci, M Pilia, A Possenti, S Puccetti, B D Ramsey, J Rankin, A Ratheesh, R W Romani, C Sgrò, P Slane, P Soffitta, G Spandre, T Tamagawa, F Tavecchio, R Taverna, Y Tawara, A F Tennant, N E Thomas, F Tombesi, A Trois, S S Tsygankov, R Turolla, J Vink, M C Weisskopf, K Wu, F Xie, S Zane, Farinelli, R, Fabiani, S, Poutanen, J, Ursini, F, Ferrigno, C, Bianchi, S, Cocchi, M, Capitanio, F, De Rosa, A, Gnarini, A, Kislat, F, Matt, G, Mikusincova, R, Muleri, F, Agudo, I, Antonelli, L A, Bachetti, M, Baldini, L, Baumgartner, W H, Bellazzini, R, Bongiorno, S D, Bonino, R, Brez, A, Bucciantini, N, Castellano, S, Cavazzuti, E, Ciprini, S, Costa, E, Del Monte, E, Di Gesu, L, Di Lalla, N, Di Marco, A, Donnarumma, I, Doroshenko, V, Dovčiak, M, Ehlert, S R, Enoto, T, Evangelista, Y, Ferrazzoli, R, Garcia, J A, Gunji, S, Hayashida, K, Heyl, J, Iwakiri, W, Jorstad, S G, Karas, V, Kitaguchi, T, Kolodziejczak, J J, Krawczynski, H, Monaca, F La, Latronico, L, Liodakis, I, Maldera, S, Manfreda, A, Marin, F, Marscher, A P, Marshall, H L, Mitsuishi, I, Mizuno, T, 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, Romani, R W, Sgrò, C, Slane, P, Soffitta, P, Spandre, G, Tamagawa, T, Tavecchio, F, Taverna, R, Tawara, Y, Tennant, A F, Thomas, N E, Tombesi, F, Trois, A, Tsygankov, S S, Turolla, R, Vink, J, Weisskopf, M C, Wu, K, Xie, F, and Zane, S

Subjects
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE), Space and Planetary Science, Settore FIS/05, FOS: Physical sciences, Astronomy and Astrophysics, Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract

We report spectro-polarimetric results of an observational campaign of the bright neutron star low-mass X-ray binary Cyg X-2 simultaneously observed by IXPE, NICER and INTEGRAL. Consistently with previous results, the broad-band spectrum is characterized by a lower-energy component, attributed to the accretion disc with $kT_{\rm in} \approx$ 1 keV, plus unsaturated Comptonization in thermal plasma with temperature $kT_{\rm e} = 3$ keV and optical depth $\tau \approx 4$, assuming a slab geometry. We measure the polarization degree in the 2-8 keV band $P=1.8 \pm 0.3$ per cent and polarization angle $\phi = 140^{\circ} \pm 4^{\circ}$, consistent with the previous X-ray polarimetric measurements by OSO-8 as well as with the direction of the radio jet which was earlier observed from the source. While polarization of the disc spectral component is poorly constrained with the IXPE data, the Comptonized emission has a polarization degree $P =4.0 \pm 0.7$ per cent and a polarization angle aligned with the radio jet. Our results strongly favour a spreading layer at the neutron star surface as the main source of the polarization signal. However, we cannot exclude a significant contribution from reflection off the accretion disc, as indicated by the presence of the iron fluorescence line., Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

Published
2023

14. A Strong X-Ray Polarization Signal from the Magnetar 1RXS J170849.0-400910

Author

Silvia Zane, Roberto Taverna, Denis González–Caniulef, Fabio Muleri, Roberto Turolla, Jeremy Heyl, Keisuke Uchiyama, Mason Ng, Toru Tamagawa, Ilaria Caiazzo, Niccolò Di Lalla, Herman L. Marshall, Matteo Bachetti, Fabio La Monaca, Ephraim Gau, Alessandro Di Marco, Luca Baldini, Michela Negro, Nicola Omodei, John Rankin, Giorgio Matt, George G. Pavlov, Takao Kitaguchi, Henric Krawczynski, Fabian Kislat, Ruth Kelly, Iván Agudo, Lucio A. Antonelli, Wayne H. Baumgartner, Ronaldo Bellazzini, Stefano Bianchi, Stephen D. Bongiorno, Raffaella Bonino, Alessandro Brez, Niccolò Bucciantini, Fiamma Capitanio, Simone Castellano, Elisabetta Cavazzuti, Chieng-Ting Chen, Stefano Ciprini, Enrico Costa, Alessandra De Rosa, Ettore Del Monte, Laura Di Gesu, Immacolata Donnarumma, Victor Doroshenko, Michal Dovčiak, Steven R. Ehlert, Teruaki Enoto, Yuri Evangelista, Sergio Fabiani, Riccardo Ferrazzoli, Javier A. Garcia, Shuichi Gunji, Kiyoshi Hayashida, Wataru Iwakiri, Svetlana G. Jorstad, Philip Kaaret, Vladimir Karas, Jeffery J. Kolodziejczak, Luca Latronico, Ioannis Liodakis, Simone Maldera, Alberto Manfreda, Frédéric Marin, Andrea Marinucci, Alan P. Marscher, Francesco Massaro, Ikuyuki Mitsuishi, Tsunefumi Mizuno, C.-Y. Ng, Stephen L. O’Dell, Chiara Oppedisano, Alessandro Papitto, Abel L. Peirson, Matteo Perri, Melissa Pesce-Rollins, Pierre-Olivier Petrucci, Maura Pilia, Andrea Possenti, Juri Poutanen, Simonetta Puccetti, Brian D. Ramsey, Ajay Ratheesh, Oliver J. Roberts, Roger W. Romani, Carmelo Sgró, Patrick Slane, Paolo Soffitta, Gloria Spandre, Douglas A. Swartz, Fabrizio Tavecchio, Yuzuru Tawara, Allyn F. Tennant, Nicholas E. Thomas, Francesco Tombesi, Alessio Trois, Sergey S. Tsygankov, Jacco Vink, Martin C. Weisskopf, Kinwah Wu, Fei Xie, Zane, S., Taverna, R., Gonzalez-Caniulef, D., Muleri, F., Turolla, R., Heyl, J., Uchiyama, K., Ng, M., Tamagawa, T., Caiazzo, I., Di Lalla, N., Marshall, H. L., Bachetti, M., La Monaca, F., Gau, E., Di Marco, A., Baldini, L., Negro, M., Omodei, N., Rankin, J., Matt, G., Pavlov, G. G., Kitaguchi, T., Krawczynski, H., Kislat, F., Kelly, R., Agudo, I., Antonelli, L. A., 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., Donnarumma, I., Doroshenko, V., 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., Kolodziejczak, J. J., Latronico, L., Liodakis, I., Maldera, S., Manfreda, A., Marin, F., Marinucci, A., Marscher, A. P., Massaro, F., Mitsuishi, I., Mizuno, T., Ng, C. -Y., O'Dell, S. L., Oppedisano, C., Papitto, A., Peirson, A. L., Perri, M., Pesce-Rollins, M., Petrucci, P. -O., Pilia, M., Possenti, A., Poutanen, J., Puccetti, S., Ramsey, B. D., Ratheesh, A., Roberts, O. J., Romani, R. W., Sgro, C., Slane, P., Soffitta, P., Spandre, G., Swartz, D. A., Tavecchio, F., Tawara, Y., Tennant, A. F., Thomas, N. E., Tombesi, F., Trois, A., Tsygankov, S. S., Vink, J., Weisskopf, M. C., Wu, K., Xie, F., Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (España), and Ministero dell'Istruzione, dell'Università e della Ricerca

Subjects
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE), Space and Planetary Science, FOS: Physical sciences, Astronomy and Astrophysics, Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract

Full list of authors: Zane, Silvia; Taverna, Roberto; Gonzalez-Caniulef, Denis; Muleri, Fabio; Turolla, Roberto; Heyl, Jeremy; Uchiyama, Keisuke; Ng, Mason; Tamagawa, Toru; Caiazzo, Ilaria; Di Lalla, Niccolo; Marshall, Herman L.; Bachetti, Matteo; La Monaca, Fabio; Gau, Ephraim; Di Marco, Alessandro; Baldini, Luca; Negro, Michela; Omodei, Nicola; Rankin, John; Matt, Giorgio; Pavlov, George G.; Kitaguchi, Takao; Krawczynski, Henric; Kislat, Fabian; Kelly, Ruth; Agudo, Ivan; Antonelli, Lucio A.; Baumgartner, Wayne H.; Bellazzini, Ronaldo; Bianchi, Stefano; Bongiorno, Stephen D.; Bonino, Raffaella; Brez, Alessandro; Bucciantini, Niccolo; Capitanio, Fiamma; Castellano, Simone; Cavazzuti, Elisabetta; Chen, Chieng-Ting; Ciprini, Stefano; Costa, Enrico; De Rosa, Alessandra; Del Monte, Ettore; Di Gesu, Laura; Donnarumma, Immacolata; Doroshenko, Victor; Dovciak, Michal; Ehlert, Steven R.; Enoto, Teruaki; Evangelista, Yuri; Fabiani, Sergio; Ferrazzoli, Riccardo; Garcia, Javier A.; Gunji, Shuichi; Hayashida, Kiyoshi; Iwakiri, Wataru; Jorstad, Svetlana G.; Kaaret, Philip; Karas, Vladimir; Kolodziejczak, Jeffery J.; Latronico, Luca; Liodakis, Ioannis; Maldera, Simone; Manfreda, Alberto; Marin, Frederic; Marinucci, Andrea; Marscher, Alan P.; Massaro, Francesco; Mitsuishi, Ikuyuki; Mizuno, Tsunefumi; Ng, C. -y.; O'Dell, Stephen L.; Oppedisano, Chiara; Papitto, Alessandro; Peirson, Abel L.; Perri, Matteo; Pesce-Rollins, Melissa; Petrucci, Pierre-Olivier; Pilia, Maura; Possenti, Andrea; Poutanen, Juri; Puccetti, Simonetta; Ramsey, Brian D.; Ratheesh, Ajay; Roberts, Oliver J.; Romani, Roger W.; Sgro, Carmelo; Slane, Patrick; Soffitta, Paolo; Spandre, Gloria; Swartz, Douglas A.; Tavecchio, Fabrizio; Tawara, Yuzuru; Tennant, Allyn F.; Thomas, Nicholas E.; Tombesi, Francesco; Trois, Alessio; Tsygankov, Sergey S.; Vink, Jacco; Weisskopf, Martin C.; Wu, Kinwah; Xie, Fei.--This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited., Magnetars are the most strongly magnetized neutron stars, and one of the most promising targets for X-ray polarimetric measurements. We present here the first Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer observation of the magnetar 1RXS J170849.0-400910, jointly analyzed with a new Swift observation and archival NICER data. The total (energy- and phase-integrated) emission in the 2–8 keV energy range is linerarly polarized, at a ∼35% level. The phase-averaged polarization signal shows a marked increase with energy, ranging from ∼20% at 2–3 keV up to ∼80% at 6–8 keV, while the polarization angle remains constant. This indicates that radiation is mostly polarized in a single direction. The spectrum is well reproduced by a combination of either two thermal (blackbody) components or a blackbody and a power law. Both the polarization degree and angle also show a variation with the spin phase, and the former is almost anticorrelated with the source counts in the 2–8 and 2–4 keV bands. We discuss the possible implications and interpretations, based on a joint analysis of the spectral, polarization, and pulsation properties of the source. A scenario in which the surface temperature is not homogeneous, with a hotter cap covered by a gaseous atmosphere and a warmer region in a condensed state, provides a satisfactory description of both the phase- and energy-dependent spectro-polarimetric data. The (comparatively) small size of the two emitting regions, required to explain the observed pulsations, does not allow to reach a robust conclusion about the presence of vacuum birefringence effects. © 2023. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society., The Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) is a joint US and Italian mission. The US contribution is supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and led and managed by its Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), with industry partner Ball Aerospace (contract NNM15AA18C). The Italian contribution is supported by the Italian Space Agency (Agenzia Spaziale Italiana; ASI) through contract ASI-OHBI-2017-12-I.0, agreements ASI-INAF-2017-12-H0 and ASI-INFN-2017.13-H0, and its Space Science Data Center (SSDC) with agreements ASI-INAF-2022-14-HH.0 and ASI-INFN 2021-43-HH.0, and by the Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF) and the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) in Italy. This research used data products provided by the IXPE Team (MSFC, SSDC, INAF, and INFN). We thank K. C. Gendreau and Z. Arzoumanian for their help in scheduling NICER observations of the source. We acknowledge the use of public data from the Swift data archive, and we thank the Swift team for promptly scheduling a target of opportunity (ToO) observation. R.T. and R.T. acknowledge financial support from the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR) through grant PRIN 2017LJ39LM. D.G.-C., J.H., and I.C. acknowledge support from the Natural Sciences and Engineer Council of Canada and the Canadian Space Agency. M.N. acknowledges the support by NASA under award number 80GSFC21M0002. T.T. was supported by grant JSPS KAKENHI JP19H05609. H.K. and E.G. acknowledge NASA support under grants 80NSSC18K0264, 80NSSC22K1291, 80NSSC21K1817, and NNX16AC42G., With funding from the Spanish government through the "Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence" accreditation (CEX2021-001131-S).

Published
2023

15. Mapping the circumnuclear regions of the Circinus galaxy with the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer

Author

F Ursini, A Marinucci, G Matt, S Bianchi, F Marin, H L Marshall, R Middei, J Poutanen, D Rogantini, A De Rosa, L Di Gesu, J A García, A Ingram, D E Kim, H Krawczynski, S Puccetti, P Soffitta, J Svoboda, F Tombesi, M C Weisskopf, T Barnouin, M Perri, J Podgorny, A Ratheesh, A Zaino, I Agudo, L A Antonelli, M Bachetti, L Baldini, W H Baumgartner, R Bellazzini, S D Bongiorno, R Bonino, A Brez, N Bucciantini, F Capitanio, S Castellano, E Cavazzuti, S Ciprini, E Costa, E Del Monte, N Di Lalla, A Di Marco, I Donnarumma, V Doroshenko, M Dovciak, S R Ehlert, T Enoto, Y Evangelista, S Fabiani, R Ferrazzoli, S Gunji, J Heyl, W Iwakiri, S G Jorstad, V Karas, T Kitaguchi, J J Kolodziejczak, F La Monaca, L Latronico, I Liodakis, S Maldera, A Manfreda, A P Marscher, I Mitsuishi, T Mizuno, F Muleri, C Y Ng, S L O’Dell, N Omodei, C Oppedisano, A Papitto, G G Pavlov, A L Peirson, M Pesce-Rollins, P-O Petrucci, M Pilia, A Possenti, B D Ramsey, J Rankin, R W Romani, C Sgrò, P Slane, G Spandre, T Tamagawa, F Tavecchio, R Taverna, Y Tawara, A F Tennant, N E Thomas, A Trois, S S Tsygankov, R Turolla, J Vink, K Wu, F Xie, S Zane, Ursini, F, Marinucci, A, Matt, G, Bianchi, S, Marin, F, L Marshall, H, Middei, R, Poutanen, J, De Rosa, A, Di Gesu, L, A Garc??a, J, Ingram, A, E Kim, D, Krawczynski, H, Puccetti, S, Soffitta, P, Svoboda, J, Tombesi, F, C Weisskopf, M, Barnouin, T, Perri, M, Podgorny, J, Ratheesh, A, Zaino, A, Agudo, I, A Antonelli, L, Bachetti, M, Baldini, L, H Baumgartner, W, Bellazzini, R, D Bongiorno, S, Bonino, R, Brez, A, Bucciantini, N, Capitanio, F, Castellano, S, Cavazzuti, E, Ciprini, S, Costa, E, Del Monte, E, Di Lalla, N, Di Marco, A, Donnarumma, I, Doroshenko, V, Dovciak, M, R Ehlert, S, Enoto, T, Evangelista, Y, Fabiani, S, Ferrazzoli, R, Gunji, S, Heyl, J, Iwakiri, W, G Jorstad, S, Karas, V, Kitaguchi, T, J Kolodziejczak, J, La Monaca, F, Latronico, L, Liodakis, I, Maldera, S, Manfreda, A, P Marscher, A, Mitsuishi, I, Mizuno, T, Muleri, F, Y Ng, C, L O???Dell, S, Omodei, N, Oppedisano, C, Papitto, A, G Pavlov, G, L Peirson, A, Pesce-Rollins, M, Petrucci, P-O, Pilia, M, Possenti, A, D Ramsey, B, Rankin, J, W Romani, R, Sgr??, C, Slane, P, Spandre, G, Tamagawa, T, Tavecchio, F, Taverna, R, Tawara, Y, F Tennant, A, E Thomas, N, Trois, A, S Tsygankov, S, Turolla, R, Vink, J, Wu, K, Xie, F, Zane, S, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (España), Centre National D'Etudes Spatiales (France), and Agenzia Spaziale Italiana

Subjects
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE), Scattering, Galaxies: individual: Circinus, X-rays: galaxies, Galaxies: Seyfert, Settore FIS/05, Space and Planetary Science, Polarization, FOS: Physical sciences, Astronomy and Astrophysics, Galaxies: active, Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract

Full list of authors: Ursini, F.; Marinucci, A.; Matt, G.; Bianchi, S.; Marin, F.; Marshall, H. L.; Middei, R.; Poutanen, J.; Rogantini, D.; De Rosa, A.; Di Gesu, L.; Garcia, J. A.; Ingram, A.; Kim, D. E.; Krawczynski, H.; Puccetti, S.; Soffitta, P.; Svoboda, J.; Tombesi, F.; Weisskopf, M. C.; Barnouin, T.; Perri, M.; Podgorny, J.; Ratheesh, A.; Zaino, A.; Agudo, I; Antonelli, L. A.; Bachetti, M.; Baldini, L.; Baumgartner, W. H.; Bellazzini, R.; Bongiorno, S. D.; Bonino, R.; Brez, A.; Bucciantini, N.; Capitanio, F.; Castellano, S.; Cavazzuti, E.; Ciprini, S.; Costa, E.; Del Monte, E.; Di Lalla, N.; Di Marco, A.; Donnarumma, I; Doroshenko, V; Dovciak, M.; Ehlert, S. R.; Enoto, T.; Evangelista, Y.; Fabiani, S.; Ferrazzoli, R.; Gunji, S.; Heyl, J.; Iwakiri, W.; Jorstad, S. G.; Karas, V; Kitaguchi, T.; Kolodziejczak, J. J.; La Monaca, F.; Latronico, L.; Liodakis, I; Maldera, S.; Manfreda, A.; Marscher, A. P.; Mitsuishi, I; Mizuno, T.; Muleri, F.; Ng, C. Y.; O'Dell, S. L.; Omodei, N.; Oppedisano, C.; Papitto, A.; Pavlov, G. G.; Peirson, A. L.; Pesce-Rollins, M.; Petrucci, P-O; Pilia, M.; Possenti, A.; Ramsey, B. D.; Rankin, J.; Romani, R. W.; Sgro, C.; Slane, P.; Spandre, G.; Tamagawa, T.; Tavecchio, F.; Taverna, R.; Tawara, Y.; Tennant, A. F.; Thomas, N. E.; Trois, A.; Tsygankov, S. S.; Turolla, R.; Vink, J.; Wu, K.; Xie, F.; Zane, S., We report on the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) observation of the closest and X-ray brightest Compton-thick active galactic nucleus (AGN), the Circinus galaxy. We find the source to be significantly polarized in the 2–6 keV band. From previous studies, the X-ray spectrum is known to be dominated by reflection components, both neutral (torus) and ionized (ionization cones). Our analysis indicates that the polarization degree is 28 ± 7 per cent (at 68 per cent confidence level) for the neutral reflector, with a polarization angle of 18° ± 5°, roughly perpendicular to the radio jet. The polarization of the ionized reflection is unconstrained. A comparison with Monte Carlo simulations of the polarization expected from the torus shows that the neutral reflector is consistent with being an equatorial torus with a half-opening angle of 45°–55°. This is the first X-ray polarization detection in a Seyfert galaxy, demonstrating the power of X-ray polarimetry in probing the geometry of the circumnuclear regions of AGNs, and confirming the basic predictions of standard Unification Models. © 2022 The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Astronomical Society., The Imaging X ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) is a joint US and Italian mission. The US contribution is supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and led and managed by its Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), with industry partner Ball Aerospace (contract NNM15AA18C). The Italian contribution is supported by the Italian Space Agency (Agenzia Spaziale Italiana, ASI) through contract ASI-OHBI-2017-12-I.0, agreements ASI-INAF-2017-12-H0 and ASI-INFN-2017.13-H0, and its Space Science Data Center (SSDC) with agreements ASI-INAF-2022-14-HH.0 and ASI-INFN 2021-43-HH.0, and by the Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF) and the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) in Italy. This research used data products provided by the IXPE Team (MSFC, SSDC, INAF, and INFN) and distributed with additional software tools by the High-Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center (HEASARC), at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). JPou and SST were supported by the Academy of Finland grants 349373 and 349906. AIng acknowledges support from the Royal Society. MDov, JSvo, and VKar acknowledge the support from the GACR project 21-06825X. POP acknowledges financial support from the French High Energy Program (PNHE/CNRS) and from the French spatial agency (CNES)., With funding from the Spanish government through the "Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence" accreditation (CEX2021-001131-S).

Published
2022

16. Observations of 4U 1626–67 with the Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer

Author

Herman L. Marshall, Mason Ng, Daniele Rogantini, Jeremy Heyl, Sergey S. Tsygankov, Juri Poutanen, Enrico Costa, Silvia Zane, Christian Malacaria, Iván Agudo, Lucio A. Antonelli, Matteo Bachetti, Luca Baldini, Wayne H. Baumgartner, Ronaldo Bellazzini, Stefano Bianchi, Stephen D. Bongiorno, Raffaella Bonino, Alessandro Brez, Niccolò Bucciantini, Fiamma Capitanio, Simone Castellano, Elisabetta Cavazzuti, Stefano Ciprini, Alessandra De Rosa, Ettore Del Monte, Laura Di Gesu, Niccolò Di Lalla, Alessandro Di Marco, Immacolata Donnarumma, Victor Doroshenko, Michal Dovčiak, Steven R. Ehlert, Teruaki Enoto, Yuri Evangelista, Sergio Fabiani, Riccardo Ferrazzoli, Javier A. Garcia, Shuichi Gunji, Kiyoshi Hayashida, Wataru Iwakiri, Svetlana G. Jorstad, Vladimir Karas, Takao Kitaguchi, Jeffery J. Kolodziejczak, Henric Krawczynski, Fabio La Monaca, Luca Latronico, Ioannis Liodakis, Simone Maldera, Alberto Manfreda, Frédéric Marin, Andrea Marinucci, Alan P. Marscher, Giorgio Matt, Ikuyuki Mitsuishi, Tsunefumi Mizuno, Fabio Muleri, C.-Y. Ng, Stephen L. O’Dell, Nicola Omodei, Chiara Oppedisano, Alessandro Papitto, George G. Pavlov, Abel L. Peirson, Matteo Perri, Melissa Pesce-Rollins, Pierre-Olivier Petrucci, Maura Pilia, Andrea Possenti, Simonetta Puccetti, Brian D. Ramsey, John Rankin, Ajay Ratheesh, Roger W. Romani, Carmelo Sgrò, Patrick Slane, Paolo Soffitta, Gloria Spandre, Toru Tamagawa, Fabrizio Tavecchio, Roberto Taverna, Yuzuru Tawara, Allyn F. Tennant, Nicholas E. Thomas, Francesco Tombesi, Alessio Trois, Roberto Turolla, Jacco Vink, Martin C. Weisskopf, Kinwah Wu, Fei Xie, Norbert S. Schulz, Deepto Chakrabarty, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (España), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (US), Marshall, H. L., Ng, M., Rogantini, D., Heyl, J., Tsygankov, S. S., Poutanen, J., Costa, E., Zane, S., Malacaria, C., 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., Capitanio, F., Castellano, S., Cavazzuti, E., Ciprini, S., De Rosa, A., Monte, E. D., Gesu, L. D., Lalla, N. D., Marco, A. D., Donnarumma, I., Doroshenko, V., 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., Karas, V., Kitaguchi, T., Kolodziejczak, J. J., Krawczynski, H., Monaca, F. L., Latronico, L., Liodakis, I., Maldera, S., Manfreda, A., Marin, F., Marinucci, A., Marscher, A. P., Matt, G., Mitsuishi, I., Mizuno, T., Muleri, F., 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., Romani, R. W., Sgro, C., Slane, P., Soffitta, P., Spandre, G., 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., Chakrabarty, D., Schulz, N. S., High Energy Astrophys. & Astropart. Phys (API, FNWI), and Gravitation and Astroparticle Physics Amsterdam

Subjects
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE), Settore FIS/05, Space and Planetary Science, FOS: Physical sciences, Astronomy and Astrophysics, Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract

Full list of authors: Marshall, Herman L.; Ng, Mason; Rogantini, Daniele; Heyl, Jeremy; Tsygankov, Sergey S.; Poutanen, Juri; Costa, Enrico; Zane, Silvia; Malacaria, Christian; Agudo, Ivan; Antonelli, Lucio A.; Bachetti, Matteo; Baldini, Luca; Baumgartner, Wayne H.; Bellazzini, Ronaldo; Bianchi, Stefano; Bongiorno, Stephen D.; Bonino, Raffaella; Brez, Alessandro; Bucciantini, Niccolo; Capitanio, Fiamma; Castellano, Simone; Cavazzuti, Elisabetta; Ciprini, Stefano; De Rosa, Alessandra; Del Monte, Ettore; Di Gesu, Laura; Di Lalla, Niccolo; Di Marco, Alessandro; Donnarumma, Immacolata; Doroshenko, Victor; Dovciak, Michal; Ehlert, Steven R.; Enoto, Teruaki; Evangelista, Yuri; Fabiani, Sergio; Ferrazzoli, Riccardo; Garcia, Javier A.; Gunji, Shuichi; Hayashida, Kiyoshi; Iwakiri, Wataru; Jorstad, Svetlana G.; Karas, Vladimir; Kitaguchi, Takao; Kolodziejczak, Jeffery J.; Krawczynski, Henric; La Monaca, Fabio; Latronico, Luca; Liodakis, Ioannis; Maldera, Simone; Manfreda, Alberto; Marin, Frederic; Marinucci, Andrea; Marscher, Alan P.; Matt, Giorgio; Mitsuishi, Ikuyuki; Mizuno, Tsunefumi; Muleri, Fabio; Ng, C-Y; O'Dell, Stephen L.; Omodei, Nicola; Oppedisano, Chiara; Papitto, Alessandro; Pavlov, George G.; Peirson, Abel L.; Perri, Matteo; Pesce-Rollins, Melissa; Petrucci, Pierre-Olivier; Pilia, Maura; Possenti, Andrea; Puccetti, Simonetta; Ramsey, Brian D.; Rankin, John; Ratheesh, Ajay; Romani, Roger W.; Sgro, Carmelo; Slane, Patrick; Soffitta, Paolo; Spandre, Gloria; Tamagawa, Toru; Tavecchio, Fabrizio; Taverna, Roberto; Tawara, Yuzuru; Tennant, Allyn F.; Thomas, Nicholas E.; Tombesi, Francesco; Trois, Alessio; Turolla, Roberto; Vink, Jacco; Weisskopf, Martin C.; Wu, Kinwah; Xie, Fei; Schulz, Norbert S.; Chakrabarty, Deepto; IXPE Collaboration.--This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited., We present measurements of the polarization of X-rays in the 2–8 keV band from the pulsar in the ultracompact low-mass X-ray binary 4U 1626–67 using data from the Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE). The 7.66 s pulsations were clearly detected throughout the IXPE observations as well as in the NICER soft X-ray observations, which we used as the basis for our timing analysis and to constrain the spectral shape over the 0.4–10 keV energy band. Chandra HETGS high-resolution X-ray spectra were also obtained near the times of the IXPE observations for firm spectral modeling. We found an upper limit on the pulse-averaged linear polarization of, The US contribution is supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and led and managed by its Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), with industry partner Ball Aerospace (contract NNM15AA18C). The Italian contribution is supported by the Italian Space Agency (Agenzia Spaziale Italiana, ASI) through contract ASI-OHBI-2017-12-I.0 and agreements ASI-INAF-2017-12-H0 and ASI-INFN-2017.13-H0, and its Space Science Data Center (SSDC) with agreements ASI-INAF-2022-14-HH.0 and ASI-INFN 2021-43-HH.0, and by Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF) and Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) in Italy. This research used data products provided by the IXPE Team (MSFC, SSDC, INAF, and INFN) and distributed with additional software tools by the High-energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center (HEASARC), at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). Funding for this work was provided in part by contract 80MSFC17C0012 from the MSFC to MIT in support of the IXPE project. Support for this work was provided in part by NASA through the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) contract SV3-73016 to MIT for support of the Chandra X-Ray Center, which is operated by SAO for and on behalf of NASA under contract NAS8-03060. M.N. also acknowledges support from the NASA NICER program under detector team grant 80NSSC19K1287 and guest observer grant 80NSSC22K1350. S.S.T. and J.P. were supported by Russian Science Foundation grant 20-12-00364 and Academy of Finland grants 333112, 349144, 349373, and 349906. We thank K. C. Gendreau and Z. Arzoumanian for their help in arranging coordinated NICER scheduling of the observations., With funding from the Spanish government through the Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence accreditation SEV-2017-0709.

Published
2022

17. Polarization properties of the weakly magnetized neutron star X-ray binary GS 1826-238 in the high soft state

Author

Fiamma Capitanio, Sergio Fabiani, Andrea Gnarini, Francesco Ursini, Carlo Ferrigno, Giorgio Matt, Juri Poutanen, Massimo Cocchi, Romana Mikusincova, Ruben Farinelli, Stefano Bianchi, Jari J. E. Kajava, Fabio Muleri, Celia Sanchez-Fernandez, Paolo Soffitta, Kinwah Wu, Iván Agudo, Lucio A. Antonelli, Matteo Bachetti, Luca Baldini, Wayne H. Baumgartner, Ronaldo Bellazzini, Stephen D. Bongiorno, Raffaella Bonino, Alessandro Brez, Niccolò Bucciantini, Simone Castellano, Elisabetta Cavazzuti, Stefano Ciprini, Enrico Costa, Alessandra De Rosa, Ettore Del Monte, Laura Di Gesu, Niccolò Di Lalla, Alessandro Di Marco, Immacolata Donnarumma, Victor Doroshenko, Michal Dovčiak, Steven R. Ehlert, Teruaki Enoto, Yuri Evangelista, Riccardo Ferrazzoli, Javier A. Garcia, Shuichi Gunji, Kiyoshi Hayashida, Jeremy Heyl, Wataru Iwakiri, Svetlana G. Jorstad, Vladimir Karas, Takao Kitaguchi, Jeffery J. Kolodziejczak, Henric Krawczynski, Fabio La Monaca, Luca Latronico, Ioannis Liodakis, Simone Maldera, Alberto Manfreda, Frédéric Marin, Andrea Marinucci, Alan P. Marscher, Herman L. Marshall, Ikuyuki Mitsuishi, Tsunefumi Mizuno, C.-Y. Ng, Stephen L. O’Dell, Nicola Omodei, Chiara Oppedisano, Alessandro Papitto, George G. Pavlov, Abel L. Peirson, Matteo Perri, Melissa Pesce-Rollins, Pierre-Olivier Petrucci, Maura Pilia, Andrea Possenti, Simonetta Puccetti, Brian D. Ramsey, John Rankin, Ajay Ratheesh, Roger W. Romani, Carmelo Sgrò, Patrick Slane, Gloria Spandre, Toru Tamagawa, Fabrizio Tavecchio, Roberto Taverna, Yuzuru Tawara, Allyn F. Tennant, Nicholas E. Thomas, Francesco Tombesi, Alessio Trois, Sergey S. Tsygankov, Roberto Turolla, Jacco Vink, Martin C. Weisskopf, Fei Xie, Silvia Zane, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (España), Russian Science Foundation, Academy of Finland, Capitanio, F., Fabiani, S., Gnarini, A., Ursini, F., Ferrigno, C., Matt, G., Poutanen, J., Cocchi, M., Mikusincova, R., Farinelli, R., Bianchi, S., Kajava, J. J. E., Muleri, F., Sanchez-Fernandez, C., Soffitta, P., Wu, K., Agudo, I., Antonelli, L. A., Bachetti, M., Baldini, L., Baumgartner, W. H., Bellazzini, R., Bongiorno, S. D., Bonino, R., Brez, A., Bucciantini, N., Castellano, S., Cavazzuti, E., Ciprini, S., Costa, E., De Rosa, A., Del Monte, E., Di Gesu, L., Di Lalla, N., Di Marco, A., Donnarumma, I., Doroshenko, V., Dovciak, M., Ehlert, S. R., Enoto, T., Evangelista, Y., Ferrazzoli, R., Garcia, J. A., Gunji, S., Hayashida, K., Heyl, J., Iwakiri, W., Jorstad, S. G., Karas, V., Kitaguchi, T., Kolodziejczak, J. J., Krawczynski, H., La Monaca, F., Latronico, L., Liodakis, I., Maldera, S., Manfreda, A., Marin, F., Marinucci, A., Marscher, A. P., Marshall, H. L., Mitsuishi, I., Mizuno, T., 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., Romani, R. W., Sgro, C., Slane, P., Spandre, G., Tamagawa, T., Tavecchio, F., Taverna, R., Tawara, Y., Tennant, A. F., Thomas, N. E., Tombesi, F., Trois, A., Tsygankov, S. S., Turolla, R., Vink, J., Weisskopf, M. C., Xie, F., and Zane, S.

Subjects
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE), Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics, Settore FIS/05, Space and Planetary Science, FOS: Physical sciences, Astronomy and Astrophysics, Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena, Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)
Abstract

Full list of authors: Capitanio, Fiamma; Fabiani, Sergio; Gnarini, Andrea; Ursini, Francesco; Ferrigno, Carlo; Matt, Giorgio; Poutanen, Juri; Cocchi, Massimo; Mikusincova, Romana; Farinelli, Ruben; Bianchi, Stefano; Kajava, Jari J. E.; Muleri, Fabio; Sanchez-Fernandez, Celia; Soffitta, Paolo; Wu, Kinwah; Agudo, Ivan; Antonelli, Lucio A.; Bachetti, Matteo; Baldini, Luca; Baumgartner, Wayne H.; Bellazzini, Ronaldo; Bongiorno, Stephen D.; Bonino, Raffaella; Brez, Alessandro; Bucciantini, Niccolo; Castellano, Simone; Cavazzuti, Elisabetta; Ciprini, Stefano; Costa, Enrico; De Rosa, Alessandra; Del Monte, Ettore; Di Gesu, Laura; Di Lalla, Niccolo; Di Marco, Alessandro; Donnarumma, Immacolata; Doroshenko, Victor; Dovciak, Michal; Ehlert, Steven R.; Enoto, Teruaki; Evangelista, Yuri; Ferrazzoli, Riccardo; Garcia, Javier A.; Gunji, Shuichi; Hayashida, Kiyoshi; Heyl, Jeremy; Iwakiri, Wataru; Jorstad, Svetlana G.; Karas, Vladimir; Kitaguchi, Takao; Kolodziejczak, Jeffery J.; Krawczynski, Henric; La Monaca, Fabio; Latronico, Luca; Liodakis, Ioannis; Maldera, Simone; Manfreda, Alberto; Marin, Frederic; Marinucci, Andrea; Marscher, Alan P.; Marshall, Herman L.; Mitsuishi, Ikuyuki; Mizuno, Tsunefumi; Ng, C. -Y.; O'Dell, Stephen L.; Omodei, Nicola; Oppedisano, Chiara; Papitto, Alessandro; Pavlov, George G.; Peirson, Abel L.; Perri, Matteo; Pesce-Rollins, Melissa; Petrucci, Pierre-Olivier; Pilia, Maura; Possenti, Andrea; Puccetti, Simonetta; Ramsey, Brian D.; Rankin, John; Ratheesh, Ajay; Romani, Roger W.; Sgro, Carmelo; Slane, Patrick; Spandre, Gloria; Tamagawa, Toru; Tavecchio, Fabrizio; Taverna, Roberto; Tawara, Yuzuru; Tennant, Allyn F.; Thomas, Nicholas E.; Tombesi, Francesco; Trois, Alessio; Tsygankov, Sergey S.; Turolla, Roberto; Vink, Jacco; Weisskopf, Martin C.; Xie, Fei; Zane, Silvia.--This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited., The launch of the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) on 2021 December 9 has opened a new window in X-ray astronomy. We report here the results of the first IXPE observation of a weakly magnetized neutron star, GS 1826−238, performed on 2022 March 29–31 when the source was in a high soft state. An upper limit (99.73% confidence level) of 1.3% for the linear polarization degree is obtained over the IXPE 2–8 keV energy range. Coordinated INTEGRAL and NICER observations were carried out simultaneously with IXPE. The spectral parameters obtained from the fits to the broadband spectrum were used as inputs for Monte Carlo simulations considering different possible geometries of the X-ray emitting region. Comparing the IXPE upper limit with these simulations, we can put constraints on the geometry and inclination angle of GS 1826–238. © 2023. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society., J.P. and S.S.T. acknowledge support from Russian Science Foundation grant 20-12-00364 and Academy of Finland travel grants 349144, 349373, and 349906. J.P. and J.J.E.K. were supported by Academy of Finland grant 333112., With funding from the Spanish government through the "Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence" accreditation (CEX2021-001131-S).

Published
2022
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18. The Instrument of the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer

Author

Leonardo Lucchesi, S. Nenonen, Alessandro Brez, Simonetta Puccetti, Luca Latronico, Hans Andersson, Mattia Barbanera, Ciro Caporale, Leonardo Orsini, Luca Baldini, Michele Pinchera, Alessandro Profeti, Federico Mosti, Alessandro Di Marco, M. Perri, M. Ceccanti, Ettore Del Monte, Ajay Ratheesh, Claudia Cardelli, Elisa D'Alba, Antonino Tobia, Paolo Lorenzi, Niccolò Di Lalla, Maura Pilia, Elio Mangraviti, Rita Carpentiero, E. Scalise, Barbara Negri, Daniele Brienza, Matteo Bachetti, Alfredo Morbidini, Carlo Magazzu, Toru Tamagawa, Alessio Trois, Carmelo Sgrò, Fei Xie, Pasqualino Loffredo, Giuseppe Di Persio, Melissa Pesce-Rollins, Sergio Di Cosimo, S. Castellano, John Rankin, Massimo Minuti, Primo Attinà, Riccardo Ferrazzoli, Marco Castronuovo, Marco Marengo, Francesco Santoli, Luca Cavalli, Saverio Citraro, Takao Kitaguchi, Fabrizio Amici, Paolo Mereu, Toshio Nakano, I. Donnarumma, Y. Evangelista, Paolo Soffitta, Mauro Centrone, Alberto Manfreda, Asami Hayato, Fabio D'Amico, E. Cavazzuti, Ronaldo Bellazzini, Gloria Spandre, Enrico Costa, Stefano Ciprini, Raffaele Piazzolla, Giorgio Matt, Fabio La Monaca, Alda Rubini, Marcello Tardiola, Alessio Nuti, Marco Vimercati, Sergio Fabiani, Fabio Borotto, S. Maldera, Andrea Sciortino, Carlo Lefevre, Fabio Muleri, Paolo Sarra, Hikmat Nasimi, Soffitta, P., Baldini, L., Bellazzini, R., Costa, E., Latronico, L., Muleri, F., Del Monte, E., Fabiani, S., Minuti, M., Pinchera, M., Sgro', C., Spandre, G., Trois, A., Amici, F., Andersson, H., Attina', P., Bachetti, M., Barbanera, M., Borotto, F., Brez, A., Brienza, D., Caporale, C., Cardelli, C., Carpentiero, R., Castellano, S., Castronuovo, M., Cavalli, L., Cavazzuti, E., Ceccanti, M., Centrone, M., Ciprini, S., Citraro, S., D'Amico, F., D'Alba, E., Di Cosimo, S., Di Lalla, N., Di Marco, A., Di Persio, G., Donnarumma, I., Evangelista, Y., Ferrazzoli, R., Hayato, A., Kitaguchi, T., La Monaca, F., Lefevre, C., Loffredo, P., Lorenzi, P., Lucchesi, L., Magazzu, C., Maldera, S., Manfreda, A., Mangraviti, E., Marengo, M., Matt, G., Mereu, P., Morbidini, A., Mosti, F., Nakano, T., Nasimi, H., Negri, B., Nenonen, S., Nuti, A., Orsini, L., Perri, M., Pesce-Rollins, M., Piazzolla, R., Pilia, M., Profeti, A., Puccetti, S., Rankin, J., Ratheesh, A., Rubini, A., Santoli, F., Sarra, P., Scalise, E., Sciortino, A., Tamagawa, T., Tardiola, M., Tobia, A., Vimercati, M., and Xie, F.

Subjects
Physics, X-ray astronomy, business.industry, Astrophysics::High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena, X-ray, Polarimetry, X-ray detector, Astrophysics::Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics, FOS: Physical sciences, Astronomy and Astrophysics, Optics, Space and Planetary Science, X-ray, Polarimetry — Instrumentation, business, Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics, Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM)
Abstract

While X-ray Spectroscopy, Timing and Imaging have improved verymuch since 1962, when the first astronomical non-solar source was discovered, especially with the launch of Newton/X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission, Rossi/X-ray Timing Explorer and Chandra/Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility, the progress of X-ray polarimetry has been meager. This is in part due to the lack of sensitive polarization detectors, in part due to the fate of approved missions and in part because the celestial X-ray sources appeared less polarized than expected. Only one positive measurement has been available until now. Indeed the eight Orbiting Solar Observatory measured the polarization of the Crab nebula in the 70s. The advent of techniques of microelectronics allowed for designing a detector based on the photoelectric effect in gas in an energy range where the optics are efficient in focusing X-rays. Herewe describe the Instrument, which is the major contribution of the Italian collaboration to the SmallExplorer mission called IXPE, the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer, which will be flown in late 2021. The instrument, is composed of three Detector Units, based on this technique, and a Detector Service Unit. Three Mirror Modules provided by Marshall Space Flight Center focus X-rays onto the detectors. In the following we will show the technological choices, their scientific motivation and the results from the calibration of the Instrument. IXPE will perform imaging, timing and energy resolved polarimetry in the 2-8 keV energy band opening this window of X-ray astronomy to tens of celestial sources of almost all classes., 25 pages, 12 figures, 5 tables (accepted for publication in Astronomical Journal)

Published
2021

19. Design, construction, and test of the Gas Pixel Detectors for the IXPE mission

Author

Carlo Magazzu, E. Del Monte, Paolo Sarra, Alessandro Brez, Alessandra Marrocchesi, Elisa D'Alba, A. Rubini, Rita Carpentiero, Takao Kitaguchi, Luca Cavalli, Guido Magazzu, John Rankin, Alfredo Morbidini, S. Nenonen, E. Cavazzuti, Fabio Borotto, C. Oppedisano, Marco Marengo, Gloria Spandre, Federico Mosti, Francesco Zanetti, Primo Attina, Sergio Fabiani, E. Scalise, Barbara Negri, Michele Pinchera, Francesco Santoli, Simonetta Puccetti, Ciro Caporale, F. La Monaca, Saverio Citraro, R. Bonino, Fabrizio Amici, Fei Xie, F. Muleri, Paolo Lorenzi, Luca Latronico, Leonardo Orsini, Marcello Tardiola, Antonino Tobia, Matteo Bachetti, Mauro Centrone, Allyn F. Tennant, Alessandro Profeti, Claudia Cardelli, Alberto Manfreda, S. Di Cosimo, P. Soffitta, Daniele Brienza, Raffaele Piazzolla, Wayne H. Baumgartner, S. Maldera, Andrea Sciortino, M. Perri, Carlo Lefevre, Ajay Ratheesh, Steve O'Dell, N. Di Lalla, Luca Baldini, Maura Pilia, Elio Mangraviti, Marco Castronuovo, Alessio Trois, Fabio D'Amico, Alessio Nuti, Paolo Mereu, A. Di Marco, K. Uchiyama, Leonardo Lucchesi, D. Zanetti, Giorgio Matt, Enrico Costa, Martin C. Weisskopf, Y. Zhou, Toshio Nakano, Marco Vimercati, S. Pieraccini, Ronaldo Bellazzini, R. Ferrazzoli, T. Meilahti, Toru Tamagawa, Pasqualino Loffredo, Massimo Minuti, G. Di Persio, Melissa Pesce-Rollins, Carmelo Sgrò, S. Castellano, Hikmat Nasimi, Hans Andersson, Brian D. Ramsey, I. Donnarumma, Y. Evangelista, M. Ceccanti, M. Barbanera, Baldini, L., Barbanera, M., Bellazzini, R., Bonino, R., Borotto, F., Brez, A., Caporale, C., Cardelli, C., Castellano, S., Ceccanti, M., Citraro, S., Di Lalla, N., Latronico, L., Lucchesi, L., Magazzu, C., Magazzu, G., Maldera, S., Manfreda, A., Marengo, M., Marrocchesi, A., Mereu, P., Minuti, M., Mosti, F., Nasimi, H., Nuti, A., Oppedisano, C., Orsini, L., Pesce-Rollins, M., Pinchera, M., Profeti, A., Sgro, C., Spandre, G., Tardiola, M., Zanetti, D., Amici, F., Andersson, H., Attina, P., Bachetti, M., Baumgartner, W., Brienza, D., Carpentiero, R., Castronuovo, M., Cavalli, L., Cavazzuti, E., Centrone, M., Costa, E., D'Alba, E., D'Amico, F., Del Monte, E., Di Cosimo, S., Di Marco, A., Di Persio, G., Donnarumma, I., Evangelista, Y., Fabiani, S., Ferrazzoli, R., Kitaguchi, T., La Monaca, F., Lefevre, C., Loffredo, P., Lorenzi, P., Mangraviti, E., Matt, G., Meilahti, T., Morbidini, A., Muleri, F., Nakano, T., Negri, B., Nenonen, S., O'Dell, S. L., Perri, M., Piazzolla, R., Pieraccini, S., Pilia, M., Puccetti, S., Ramsey, B. D., Rankin, J., Ratheesh, A., Rubini, A., Santoli, F., Sarra, P., Scalise, E., Sciortino, A., Soffitta, P., Tamagawa, T., Tennant, A. F., Tobia, A., Trois, A., Uchiyama, K., Vimercati, M., Weisskopf, M. C., Xie, F., Zanetti, F., and Zhou, Y.

Subjects
Physics, High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE), Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors, Pixel, Emphasis (telecommunications), Detector, Gas detectors, X-ray polarimetry, Polarimetry, FOS: Physical sciences, Astronomy and Astrophysics, Instrumentation and Detectors (physics.ins-det), Dead time, X-ray polarimetry Gas detectors, Noise (electronics), Cardinal point, Application-specific integrated circuit, Gas detector, Electronic engineering, Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics, Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena, Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM)
Abstract

Due to be launched in late 2021, the Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) is a NASA Small Explorer mission designed to perform polarization measurements in the 2-8 keV band, complemented with imaging, spectroscopy and timing capabilities. At the heart of the focal plane is a set of three polarization-sensitive Gas Pixel Detectors (GPD), each based on a custom ASIC acting as a charge-collecting anode. In this paper we shall review the design, manufacturing, and test of the IXPE focal-plane detectors, with particular emphasis on the connection between the science drivers, the performance metrics and the operational aspects. We shall present a thorough characterization of the GPDs in terms of effective noise, trigger efficiency, dead time, uniformity of response, and spectral and polarimetric performance. In addition, we shall discuss in detail a number of instrumental effects that are relevant for high-level science analysis -- particularly as far as the response to unpolarized radiation and the stability in time are concerned., Comment: To be published in Astroparticle Physics

Published
2021

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