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We apply the HanleRT Tenerife Inversion Code to the spectropolarimetric observations obtained by the Chromospheric Layer Spectropolarimeter. This suborbital space experiment measured the variation with wavelength of the four Stokes parameters in the near-ultraviolet spectral region of the Mg ii h and k lines over a solar disk area containing part of an active region plage and the edge of a sunspot penumbra. We infer the stratification of the temperature, the electron density, the line-of-sight velocity, the microturbulent velocity, and the longitudinal component of the magnetic field from the observed intensity and circular polarization profiles. The inferred model atmosphere shows larger temperature and electron density in the plage and the superpenumbra regions than in the quiet regions. The shape of the plage region in terms of its brightness is similar to the pattern of the inferred longitudinal component of the magnetic field in the chromosphere, as well as to that of the overlying moss observed by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly in the 171 Å band, which suggests a similar magnetic origin for the heating in both the plage and the moss region. Moreover, this heating is particularly significant in the regions with larger inferred magnetic flux. In contrast, in the superpenumbra, the regions with larger electron density and temperature are usually found in between these regions with larger magnetic flux, suggesting that the details of the heating mechanism in the chromosphere of the superpenumbra may be different from those in the plage, but with the magnetic field still playing a key role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The magnetic field strength and its topology play an important role in understanding the formation, evolution, and dynamics of the solar corona. Also, it plays a significant role in addressing long-standing mysteries such as coronal heating problem, origin and propagation of coronal mass ejections, drivers of space weather, origin and acceleration of solar wind, and so on. Despite having photospheric magnetograms for decades, we do not have reliable observations of coronal magnetic field strengths today. To measure the coronal magnetic field precisely, the spectropolarimetry channel of the Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC) on board the Aditya-L1 mission is designed. Using the observations of coronal emission line Fe XIII [10747Å ], it is possible to generate full Stokes maps (I, Q, U, and V) that help in estimating the Line-of-Sight (LOS) magnetic field strength and to derive the magnetic field topology maps of solar corona in the Field of View (FOV) (1.05 – 1.5 R ⊙ ). In this article, we summarize the instrumental details of the spectropolarimetry channel and detailed calibration procedures adopted to derive the modulation and demodulation matrices. Furthermore, we have applied the derived demodulation matrices to the observed data in the laboratory and studied their performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The geo-effectiveness of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) is determined primarily by their magnetic fields. Modeling of gyrosynchrotron (GS) emission is a promising remote sensing technique to measure the CME magnetic field at coronal heights. However, faint GS emission from CME flux ropes is hard to detect in the presence of bright solar emission from the solar corona. With high dynamic-range spectropolarimetric meter wavelength solar images provided by the Murchison Widefield Array, we have detected faint GS emission from a CME out to ∼8.3 R ⊙, the largest heliocentric distance reported to date. High-fidelity polarimetric calibration also allowed us to robustly detect circularly polarized emission from GS emission. For the first time in the literature, Stokes V detection has jointly been used with Stokes I spectra to constrain GS models. One expects that the inclusion of polarimetric measurement will provide tighter constraints on the GS model parameters. Instead, we found that homogeneous GS models, which have been used in all prior works, are unable to model both the total intensity and circular polarized emission simultaneously. This strongly suggests the need for using inhomogeneous GS models to robustly estimate the CME magnetic field and plasma parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Tautenburg Solar Laboratory is a new solar observation facility to develop full-disc instrumentation for a new synoptic solar network. In the first phase, a ful-disc spectropolarimeter based on a single tunable etalon placed at the telescope aperture is developed. The development includes a container-based light feed system and optical laboratory, the instrumentation as well as calibration and data reduction pipelines. The ultimate scientific goal is the quasisimultaneous observation of spectral lines for synoptic studies and helioseismic investigations of the Sun. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solar magnetic fields alter scattering polarization in spectral lines like Sr i at 4607 Å via the Hanle effect, making it a potential diagnostic for small-scale, mixed-polarity photospheric magnetic fields. Recently, observational evidence for scattering polarization in the Sr i 4607 Å line at the solar disk center was found. Here, we investigate the reliability of the reconstruction method that made possible this detection. To this end, we apply it to linear polarization profiles of the Sr i 4607 Å line radiation emerging at the disk center obtained from a detailed 3D radiative transfer calculation in a magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) simulation snapshot with a small-scale dynamo contribution. The reconstruction method systematically reduces the scattering amplitudes by up to a factor of 2, depending on the noise level. We demonstrate that the decrease can be attributed to two systematic errors: first, the physical constraint that underlies our assumptions regarding the dependence of scattering polarization on the quadrupolar moment of the radiation field; and second, the limitations of our method in accurately determining the sign of the radiation field tensor from the observed intensity image. However, by consistently applying the reconstruction process and after taking into account image-degradation effects due to the temporally variable image quality, such as imposed by seeing, the observed and synthesized polarization signals show remarkable agreement. We thus conclude that the observed scattering polarization at the solar disk center is consistent with that emerging from a MHD model of the solar photosphere with an average magnetic field of 170 G at the visible surface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

X-ray polarization is a powerful tool to investigate the geometry of accreting material around black holes, allowing independent measurements of the black hole spin and orientation of the innermost parts of the accretion disk. We perform X-ray spectropolarimetric analysis of an X-ray binary system in the Large Magellanic Cloud, LMC X-3, that hosts a stellar-mass black hole, known to be persistently accreting since its discovery. We report the first detection of the X-ray polarization in LMC X-3 with the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer, and find the average polarization degree (PD) of 3.2% ± 0.6% and a constant polarization angle of −42° ± 6° over the 2–8 keV range. Using accompanying spectroscopic observations by NICER, NuSTAR, and the Neil Gehrels Swift observatories, we confirm previous measurements of the black hole spin via the X-ray continuum method, a ≈ 0.2. From polarization analysis only, we found consistent results with low black hole spin, with an upper limit of a < 0.7 at a 90% confidence level. A slight increase in the PD with energy, similar to other black hole X-ray binaries in the soft state, is suggested from the data but with a low statistical significance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnetic reconnection in the lower atmosphere is a critical process in determining the chromospheric dynamics, such as Ellerman bombs and UV bursts. Because the heating of the atmosphere significantly depends on the ionization degree and plasma β, which varies with height, it is essential to diagnose the height at which the magnetic reconnection takes place. Multiwavelength spectropolarimetry is a powerful solution to fulfill this requirement. We verify the diagnostic capabilities and usefulness of near-infrared multiwavelength spectropolarimetric observations for understanding magnetic reconnection phenomena by synthesizing the Stokes vector from a realistic magnetohydrodynamic simulation. The analysis considers two magnetic reconnection regions occurring at different heights. In the case of magnetic reconnection at low altitude, both red- and blueshifted components originating from reconnection bidirectional flow are identified in the photospheric lines, Fe i 8468 Å, K i 7664 Å, and K i 7698 Å. In the case of magnetic reconnection at high altitudes, chromospheric lines, Ca ii 8498 Å and 8542 Å, show emission due to the heating that occurs at the upper part of the formation layer. These results suggest that multiwavelength spectropolarimetric observations are capable of distinguishing the height where magnetic reconnection occurs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC) is the prime payload on board Aditya-L1 mission. One of the unique capabilities of VELC is the coronal magnetic field measurements from space. To achieve this, VELC performs dual beam spectropolarimetric observations in coronal emission line centered at 10747 Å. Spectropolarimetric channel of VELC consists of different polarimetric components such as quarter waveplate (QWP), polarising beam displacer (PBD) and half waveplate (HWP). Calibration of individual components is essential to ensure that they meet the performance requirements of the payload. This work discusses the details of the calibration tests carried out to evaluate the performance of different polarimetric components of VELC and the results obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The solar physics community is entering a golden era that is ripe with next-generation ground- and space-based facilities, advanced spectral inversion techniques, and realistic simulations that are becoming more computationally streamlined and efficient. With ever-increasing resolving power stemming from the newest observational telescopes, it becomes more challenging to obtain (near-)simultaneous measurements at high spatial, temporal and spectral resolutions, while operating at the diffraction limit of these new facilities. Hence, in recent years there has been increased interest in the capabilities integral field units (IFUs) offer towards obtaining the trifecta of high spatial, temporal and spectral resolutions contemporaneously. To date, IFUs developed for solar physics research have focused on mid-optical and infrared measurements. Here, we present an IFU prototype that has been designed for operation within the near-ultraviolet to mid-optical wavelength range, which enables key spectral lines (e.g., Ca ii H/K, H β , Sr ii, Na i D1/D2, etc.) to be studied, hence providing additional spectral coverage to the instrument suites developed to date. The IFU was constructed as a low-budget proof-of-concept for the upcoming 2 m class Indian National Large Solar Telescope and employs circular cross-section fibres to guide light into a Czerny–Turner configuration spectrograph, with the resulting spectra captured using a high quantum efficiency scientific CMOS camera. Mapping of each input fibre allows for the reconstruction of two-dimensional spectral images, with frame rates exceeding 20 s − 1 possible while operating in a non-polarimetric configuration. Initial commissioning of the instrument was performed at the Dunn Solar Telescope, USA, during August 2022. The science verification data presented here highlights the suitability of fibre-fed IFUs operating at near-ultraviolet wavelengths for solar physics research. Importantly, the successful demonstration of this type of instrument paves the way for further technological developments to make a future variant suitable for upcoming ground-based and space-borne telescope facilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present X-ray and spectropolarimetric observations of the WN+O binaries WR71 and WR97, which are analogs of the well-studied V444 Cygni. The combined results have the potential to constrain the locations and properties of wind interaction regions in these binaries, give clues to their subsequent evolution, and address the commonalities among WR+O systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present high-resolution observations of a C4.1-class solar flare (SOL2023-05-03T20:53) in AR 13293 from the Visible Spectro-Polarimeter (ViSP) and Visible Broadband Imager (VBI) instruments at the DKIST. The fast cadence, good resolution, and high polarimetric sensitivity of ViSP data provide a unique opportunity to explore the photospheric magnetic fields before and during the flare. We infer the magnetic field vector in the photosphere from the Fe i 6302 Å line using Milne–Eddington inversions. Combined analysis of the inverted data and VBI images reveals the presence of two opposite polarity pores exhibiting rotational motion both prior to and throughout the flare event. Data-driven simulations further reveal a complex magnetic field topology above the rotating pores, including a null-point-like configuration. We observed a 30% relative change in the horizontal component ( δ F _h ) of Lorentz force at the flare peak time and roughly no change in the radial component. We find that the changes in δ F _h are the most likely driver of the observed pore rotation. These findings collectively suggest that the back reaction of magnetic field line reconfiguration in the corona may influence the magnetic morphology and rotation of pores in the photosphere on a significantly smaller scale.

Mrk 501 is a prototypical high-synchrotron-peaked blazar and serves as one of the primary targets for the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE). In this study, we report X-ray polarization measurements of Mrk 501 based on six IXPE observations. The detection of X-ray polarization at a confidence level exceeding 99% is achieved in four out of the six observations conducted across the entire energy range (2–8 keV) of IXPE. The maximum polarization degree (Π _X ) is measured to be 15.8% ± 2.8%, accompanied by a polarization angle ( ψ _X ) of 98.°0 ± 5.°1 at a confidence level of 5.6 σ . During the remaining two observations, only an upper limit of Π _X < 12% could be derived at the 99% confidence level. No temporal variability in polarization is observed throughout all six IXPE observations for Mrk 501. A discernible trend of energy-dependent variation in the polarization degree is detected in optical spectropolarimetry; however, no analogous indication is observed in Π _X . The chromatic behavior of Π and the consistent values of ψ across different frequencies from X-ray to radio bands, along with the agreement between ψ and jet position angle, strongly support the interpretation of the energy-stratified model with shock-accelerated particles in the jet of Mrk 501. Additionally, the possibility of the presence of a global helical magnetic field in the jet of Mrk 501 is discussed.

The Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer measured with high significance the X-ray polarization of the brightest Z-source, Sco X-1, resulting in the nominal 2–8 keV energy band in a polarization degree of 1.0% ± 0.2% and a polarization angle of 8° ± 6° at a 90% confidence level. This observation was strictly simultaneous with observations performed by NICER, NuSTAR, and Insight-HXMT, which allowed for a precise characterization of its broadband spectrum from soft to hard X-rays. The source has been observed mainly in its soft state, with short periods of flaring. We also observed low-frequency quasiperiodic oscillations. From a spectropolarimetric analysis, we associate a polarization to the accretion disk at

The consistently low activity level of the old solar analog 51 Peg not only facilitated the discovery of the first hot Jupiter, but also led to the suggestion that the star could be experiencing a magnetic grand minimum. However, the 50 yr time series showing minimal chromospheric variability could also be associated with the onset of weakened magnetic braking (WMB), where sufficiently slow rotation disrupts cycling activity and the production of large-scale magnetic fields by the stellar dynamo, thereby shrinking the Alfvén radius and inhibiting the efficient loss of angular momentum to magnetized stellar winds. In this Letter, we evaluate the magnetic evolutionary state of 51 Peg by estimating its wind braking torque. We use new spectropolarimetric measurements from the Large Binocular Telescope to reconstruct the large-scale magnetic morphology, we reanalyze archival X-ray measurements to estimate the mass-loss rate, and we detect solar-like oscillations in photometry from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, yielding precise stellar properties from asteroseismology. Our estimate of the wind braking torque for 51 Peg clearly places it in the WMB regime, driven by changes in the mass-loss rate and the magnetic field strength and morphology that substantially exceed theoretical expectations. Although our revised stellar properties have minimal consequences for the characterization of the exoplanet, they have interesting implications for the current space weather environment of the system.

We study the extent to which Milne–Eddington inversions are able to retrieve and characterize the magnetic landscape of the solar poles from observations by the spectropolarimeter on board Hinode. In particular, we evaluate whether a variable magnetic filling factor is an adequate modeling technique for retrieving the intrinsic magnetic properties from every pixel in the polar field of view. We first generate synthetic spectra emerging from a numerical simulation of a "plage" region at an inclined line of sight of 65°, and degrade the data to emulate real observations. Then, we invert the synthetic spectra with two Milne–Eddington inversion codes that feature different treatments of the magnetic filling factor, and relate the retrieved magnetic quantities back to their original values in the simulation cube. We find that, while the apparent retrieved magnetic properties map the spatially degraded simulation well, the intrinsic magnetic quantities bear little relation to the magnetic field at the native resolution of the simulation. We discuss the systematic biases caused by line-of-sight foreshortening, spatial degradation, photon noise, and modeling assumptions embedded in the inversion algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a theoretical investigation of the polarization and magnetic sensitivity of the near-ultraviolet (near-UV) solar spectral lines of Fe ii between 250 and 278 nm. In recent years, UV spectropolarimetry has become key to uncovering the magnetism of the upper layers of the solar chromosphere. The unprecedented data obtained by the CLASP2 suborbital space experiment across the Mg ii h and k lines around 280 nm are a clear example of the capabilities of near-UV spectropolarimetry for magnetic field diagnostics throughout the whole solar chromosphere. Recent works have pointed out the possible complementary diagnostic potential of the many Fe ii lines in the unexplored spectral region between 250 and 278 nm, but no quantitative analysis of the polarization and magnetic sensitivity of those spectral lines has been carried out yet. To study the polarization signals in these spectral lines, we create a comprehensive atomic model including all the atomic transitions resulting in strong spectral lines. We then study the magnetic sensitivity of the linear and circular polarization profiles in a semiempirical model representative of the quiet Sun. We present a selection of Fe ii spectral lines with significant linear and circular polarization signals and evaluate their diagnostic capabilities by studying their formation heights and magnetic sensitivity through the action of the Hanle and Zeeman effects. We conclude that when combined with the CLASP2 spectral region these Fe ii lines are of interest for the inference of magnetic fields throughout the solar chromosphere, up to near the base of the corona. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Scientific data reduction on-board deep space missions is a powerful approach to maximise science return, in the absence of wide telemetry bandwidths. The Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager (PHI) on-board the Solar Orbiter (SO) is the first solar spectropolarimeter that opted for this solution, and provides the scientific community with science-ready data directly from orbit. This is the first instance of full solar spectropolarimetric data reduction on a spacecraft. Methods: In this paper, we analyse the accuracy achieved by the on-board data reduction, which is determined by the trade-offs taken to reduce computational demands and ensure autonomous operation of the instrument during the data reduction process. We look at the magnitude and nature of errors introduced in the different pipeline steps of the processing. We use an MHD sunspot simulation to isolate the data processing from other sources of inaccuracy. We process the data set with calibration data obtained from SO/PHI in orbit, and compare results calculated on a representative SO/PHI model on ground with a reference implementation of the same pipeline, without the on-board processing trade-offs. Results: Our investigation shows that the accuracy in the determination of the Stokes vectors, achieved by the data processing, is at least two orders of magnitude better than what the instrument was designed to achieve as final accuracy. Therefore, the data accuracy and the polarimetric sensitivity are not compromised by the on-board data processing. Furthermore, we also found that the errors in the physical parameters are within the numerical accuracy of typical RTE inversions with a Milne-Eddington approximation of the atmosphere. Conclusion: This paper demonstrates that the on-board data reduction of the data from SO/PHI does not compromise the accuracy of the processing. This places on-board data processing as a viable alternative for future scientific instruments that would need more telemetry than many missions are able to provide, in particular those in deep space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a detailed investigation of photometric, spectroscopic, and polarimetric observations of the Type II SN 2023ixf. Earlier studies have provided compelling evidence for a delayed shock breakout from a confined dense circumstellar matter (CSM) enveloping the progenitor star. The temporal evolution of polarization in the SN 2023ixf phase revealed three distinct peaks in polarization evolution at 1.4 days, 6.4 days, and 79.2 days, indicating an asymmetric dense CSM, an aspherical shock front and clumpiness in the low-density extended CSM, and an aspherical inner ejecta/He-core. SN 2023ixf displayed two dominant axes, one along the CSM-outer ejecta and the other along the inner ejecta/He-core, showcasing the independent origin of asymmetry in the early and late evolution. The argument for an aspherical shock front is further strengthened by the presence of a high-velocity broad absorption feature in the blue wing of the Balmer features in addition to the P-Cygni absorption post-16 days. Hydrodynamical light-curve modeling indicated a progenitor mass of 10 M _⊙ with a radius of 470 R _⊙ and explosion energy of 2 × 10 ^51 erg, along with 0.06 M _⊙ of ^56 Ni, though these properties are not unique due to modeling degeneracies. The modeling also indicated a two-zone CSM: a confined dense CSM extending up to 5 × 10 ^14 cm with a mass-loss rate of 10 ^−2 M _⊙ yr ^−1 and an extended CSM spanning from 5 × 10 ^14 to at least 10 ^16 cm with a mass-loss rate of 10 ^−4 M _⊙ yr ^−1 , both assuming a wind-velocity of 10 km s ^−1 . The early-nebular phase observations display an axisymmetric line profile of [O i ], redward attenuation of the emission of H α post 125 days, and flattening in the Ks -band, marking the onset of dust formation.

The polarization of the Mg ii h and k resonance lines is the result of the joint action of scattering processes and the magnetic field–induced Hanle, Zeeman, and magneto-optical effects, thus holding significant potential for the diagnostic of the magnetic field in the solar chromosphere. The Chromospheric LAyer Spectro-Polarimeter sounding-rocket experiment, carried out in 2019, successfully measured at each position along the 196″ spectrograph slit the wavelength variation of the four Stokes parameters in the spectral region of this doublet around 280 nm, both in an active-region plage and in a quiet region close to the limb. We consider some of these CLASP2 Stokes profiles and apply to them the recently developed HanleRT Tenerife Inversion Code, which assumes a one-dimensional model atmosphere for each spatial pixel under consideration (i.e., it neglects the effects of horizontal radiative transfer). We find that the nonmagnetic causes of symmetry breaking, due to the horizontal inhomogeneities and the gradients of the horizontal components of the macroscopic velocity in the solar atmosphere, have a significant impact on the linear polarization profiles. By introducing such nonmagnetic causes of symmetry breaking as parameters in our inversion code, we can successfully fit the Stokes profiles and provide an estimation of the magnetic field vector. For example, in the quiet region pixels, where no circular polarization signal is detected, we find that the magnetic field strength in the upper chromosphere varies between 1 and 20 G.

In the quiet region of the solar photosphere, turbulent convective motions of the granular flows naturally drive the subgranular-scale flows. However, evaluating such small-scale velocities is challenging because of the limited instrumental resolution. Our previous study, R. T. Ishikawa et al., found line-broadening events during the fading process of granules; however, their physical mechanism has remained unclear. In the present study, we observed the fading granules with the Hinode-SOT/SP and performed spectral line inversions. Moreover, we investigated the broadening events of synthesized spectra in fading granules reproduced by the MURaM simulation. Our results demonstrated that the small-scale turbulent motions are excited in the fading process, and such turbulent flows contribute to line broadening. The spectral line widths can be potential tracers of the photospheric turbulent flows.

A population of structures unique to the Galactic Center (GC), known as the nonthermal filaments (NTFs), has been studied for over 40 yr, but much remains unknown about them. In particular, there is no widely accepted and unified understanding for how the relativistic electrons illuminating these structures are generated. One possibility is that there are compact and extended sources of cosmic rays, which then diffuse along magnetic flux tubes leading to the illumination of the NTFs through synchrotron emission. In this work, we present and discuss the polarimetric distributions associated with a set of faint NTFs in the GC that have only been studied in total intensity previously. We compare the derived polarized intensity, rotation measure, and intrinsic magnetic field distributions for these structures with the results obtained for previously observed GC NTFs. The results are then used to enhance our understanding of the large-scale polarimetric properties of the GC. We then use the derived polarimetric distributions to constrain models for the mechanisms generating the relativistic electrons that illuminate these structures.

We apply the HanleRT Tenerife Inversion Code to the spectropolarimetric observations obtained by the Chromospheric Layer Spectropolarimeter. This suborbital space experiment measured the variation with wavelength of the four Stokes parameters in the near-ultraviolet spectral region of the Mg ii h and k lines over a solar disk area containing part of an active region plage and the edge of a sunspot penumbra. We infer the stratification of the temperature, the electron density, the line-of-sight velocity, the microturbulent velocity, and the longitudinal component of the magnetic field from the observed intensity and circular polarization profiles. The inferred model atmosphere shows larger temperature and electron density in the plage and the superpenumbra regions than in the quiet regions. The shape of the plage region in terms of its brightness is similar to the pattern of the inferred longitudinal component of the magnetic field in the chromosphere, as well as to that of the overlying moss observed by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly in the 171 Å band, which suggests a similar magnetic origin for the heating in both the plage and the moss region. Moreover, this heating is particularly significant in the regions with larger inferred magnetic flux. In contrast, in the superpenumbra, the regions with larger electron density and temperature are usually found in between these regions with larger magnetic flux, suggesting that the details of the heating mechanism in the chromosphere of the superpenumbra may be different from those in the plage, but with the magnetic field still playing a key role.

We present multiwavelength polarization measurements of the luminous blazar Mrk 501 over a 14 month period. The 2–8 keV X-ray polarization was measured with the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) with six 100 ks observations spanning from 2022 March to 2023 April. Each IXPE observation was accompanied by simultaneous X-ray data from NuSTAR, Swift/XRT, and/or XMM-Newton. Complementary optical–infrared polarization measurements were also available in the B , V , R , I , and J bands, as were radio polarization measurements from 4.85 GHz to 225.5 GHz. Among the first five IXPE observations, we did not find significant variability in the X-ray polarization degree and angle with IXPE. However, the most recent sixth observation found an elevated polarization degree at >3 σ above the average of the other five observations. The optical and radio measurements show no apparent correlations with the X-ray polarization properties. Throughout the six IXPE observations, the X-ray polarization degree remained higher than, or similar to, the R -band optical polarization degree, which remained higher than the radio value. This is consistent with the energy-stratified shock scenario proposed to explain the first two IXPE observations, in which the polarized X-ray, optical, and radio emission arises from different regions.

We present X-ray polarimetry observations from the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) of three low spectral peak and one intermediate spectral peak blazars, namely 3C 273, 3C 279, 3C 454.3, and S5 0716+714. For none of these objects was IXPE able to detect X-ray polarization at the 3 σ level. However, we placed upper limits on the polarization degree at ∼10%–30%. The undetected polarizations favor models where the X-ray band is dominated by unpolarized photons upscattered by relativistic electrons in the jets of blazars, although hadronic models are not completely eliminated. We discuss the X-ray polarization upper limits in the context of our contemporaneous multiwavelength polarization campaigns.

Spectropolarimetry is a powerful tool to investigate the central regions of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) as polarization signatures are key to probing magnetic field structure, evolution, and the physics of particle acceleration in jets. Optical linear polarization of blazars is typically greater than a few percent, indicating the emission is dominated by nonthermal synchrotron radiation, while polarization less than a few percent is common for other type 1 AGNs. We present a spectropolarimetric study of PKS 0637–75 and PKS 1510–089 to determine how the head-on orientation of a jet and dominant emission processes influence polarimetric variations in the broad lines and continuum. Observations were obtained biweekly from the Robert Stobie Spectrograph on the Southern African Large Telescope. Variability in the continuum polarization is detected for both PKS 0637–75 and PKS 1510–089, with a total average level of 2.5% ± 0.1% and 7.5% ± 0.1%, respectively. There is no clear polarization in the broad Balmer emission lines and weak polarization in Mg ii as the average level across all observations is 0.2% ± 0.1% for H β , 0.2% ± 0.3% for H γ , and 0.6% ± 0.2% for Mg ii . We find that polarization measurements confirm the conclusions drawn from spectral energy distribution modeling of the disk–jet contributions to the emission as optical polarization and time variability for PKS 0637–75 are shown to be dominated by accretion disk emission while those of PKS 1510–089 are due to both disk and jet emission, with greater jet contribution during flaring states.

The geo-effectiveness of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) is determined primarily by their magnetic fields. Modeling of gyrosynchrotron (GS) emission is a promising remote sensing technique to measure the CME magnetic field at coronal heights. However, faint GS emission from CME flux ropes is hard to detect in the presence of bright solar emission from the solar corona. With high dynamic-range spectropolarimetric meter wavelength solar images provided by the Murchison Widefield Array, we have detected faint GS emission from a CME out to ∼8.3 R _⊙ , the largest heliocentric distance reported to date. High-fidelity polarimetric calibration also allowed us to robustly detect circularly polarized emission from GS emission. For the first time in the literature, Stokes V detection has jointly been used with Stokes I spectra to constrain GS models. One expects that the inclusion of polarimetric measurement will provide tighter constraints on the GS model parameters. Instead, we found that homogeneous GS models, which have been used in all prior works, are unable to model both the total intensity and circular polarized emission simultaneously. This strongly suggests the need for using inhomogeneous GS models to robustly estimate the CME magnetic field and plasma parameters.

We report on full-Stokes L -band observations of 98 MeerKAT calibration sources. Linear polarization is detected in 71 objects above a fractional level of 0.2%. We identify ten sources with strong fractional linear polarization and low Faraday rotation measure that could be suitable for wide-band absolute polarization calibration. We detect significant circular polarization from 24% of the sample down to a detection level of 0.07%. Circularly polarized emission is seen only for flat spectrum sources α > −0.5. We compare our polarized intensities and Faraday synthesis results to data from the NVSS at 1400 MHz and the ATCA SPASS survey at 2300 MHz. NVSS data exist for 54 of our sources and SPASS data for 20 sources. The percent polarization and rotation measures from both surveys agree well with our results. The residual instrumental linear polarization for these observations is measured at 0.16%, and the residual instrumental circular polarization is measured at 0.05%. These levels may reflect either instabilities in the relative bandpass between the two polarization channels with either time or antenna orientation, or atmospheric/ionospheric variations with pointing direction. Tracking of the hourly gain solutions on J0408-6545 after transfer of the primary gain solutions suggests a deterioration of the gain stability by a factor of several starting about 2 hr after sunrise. This suggests that observing during the nighttime could dramatically improve the precision of polarization calibration.

The variation mechanism of blazars is a long-standing unresolved problem. In this work, we present a scenario to explain diverse variation phenomena for ON 231, where the jet emissions are composed of the flaring and the less variable components (most probably from the post-flaring blobs), and the variation is dominated by shock-in-jet instead of the Doppler effect. We perform correlation analysis for the multiwavelength light curves and find no significant correlations. For the optical band, ON 231 exhibits a harder when brighter (HWB) trend, and the trend seems to shift at different periods. Correspondingly, the correlation between the degree of polarization and flux exhibits a V-shaped behavior, and a similar translation relation during different periods is also found. These phenomena could be understood via the superposition of the flaring component and slowly varying background component. We also find that the slopes of the HWB trend become smaller at higher flux levels, which indicates the energy-dependent acceleration processes of the radiative particles. For the X-ray band, we discover a trend transition from HWB to softer when brighter (SWB) to HWB. We consider that the X-ray emission is composed of both the synchrotron tail and the synchrotron self-Compton components, which could be described by two log-parabolic functions. By varying the peak frequency, we reproduce the observed trend transition in a quantitative manner. For the γ -ray band, we find the SWB trend, which could be explained naturally if a very-high-energy γ -ray background component exists. Our study elucidates the variation mechanism of intermediate synchrotron-peaked BL Lac objects.

The Polarisation Sky Survey of the Universe’s Magnetism (POSSUM) will conduct a sensitive ∼1 GHz radio polarization survey covering 20,000 deg ^2 of the southern sky with the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder. In anticipation of the full survey, we analyze pilot observations of low-band (800–1087 MHz), mid-band (1316–1439 MHz), and combined-band observations for an extragalactic field and a Galactic plane field (low-band only). Using the POSSUM processing pipeline, we produce prototype rotation measure (RM) catalogs that are filtered to construct prototype RM grids. We assess typical RM grid densities and RM uncertainties and their dependence on frequency, bandwidth, and Galactic latitude. We present a median filter method for separating foreground diffuse emission from background components and find that after application of the filter, 99.5% of the measured RMs of simulated sources are within 3 σ of their true RM, with a typical loss of polarized intensity of 5% ± 5%. We find RM grid densities of 35.1, 30.6, 37.2, and 13.5 RMs per square degree and median uncertainties on RM measurements of 1.55, 12.82, 1.06, and 1.89 rad m ^−2 for the median-filtered low-band, mid-band, combined-band, and Galactic observations, respectively. We estimate that the full POSSUM survey will produce an RM catalog of ∼775,000 RMs with median-filtered low-band observations and ∼877,000 RMs with median-filtered combined-band observations. We construct a structure function from the Galactic RM catalog, which shows a break at 0.°7, corresponding to a physical scale of 12–24 pc for the nearest spiral arm.

Imaging polarimetry is a well-known method for examining the small-scale structure of the surface regolith of airless celestial bodies. In this study, we examine (for the first time) the wavelength-dependent polarization behavior of selected lunar areas, including maria, highlands, fresh craters, pyroclastic deposits, and the Reiner Gamma swirl, based on telescopic multiband UBVRI imaging polarimetry at phase angles within the range of the positive polarization branch. The terrain-dependent spectropolarimetric behavior is studied for the first time in this work. For each study area, we conduct a mapping of the relative regolith grain size, an analysis of the exponent of the Umov law, and the wavelength dependence of the degree of linear polarization. Furthermore, we perform area-specific principal component analyses of the degree of linear polarization, followed by unsupervised machine learning (clustering) to segment different terrain types. We find that fresh mare craters and high-titanium pyroclastic deposits have an increased regolith grain size, whereas crater ray material, low-titanium pyroclastic material, and the Reiner Gamma swirl are more finely grained than the average regolith. The degree of linear polarization decreases with increasing wavelength-dependent albedo according to a power law whose exponent is itself positively correlated with the albedo. For a constant albedo and grain size, the degree of linear polarization increases linearly with wavelength. The clustering step yields a library of terrain-dependent prototype spectra of the degree and angle of linear polarization.

We study the circular polarization of the magnetic-field-induced transition (MIT) between the 3 d ^5 ( ^6 S )4 d ^7 D _2 and 3 d ^5 ( ^6 S )4 p ^7 P _4 ° states of Cr i at 533.03 nm (wavelength in air). The fractional circular polarization V / I of this spectral line resulting from the solution of the radiation transfer problem in a sunspot model permeated by a homogeneous magnetic field of 3 kG shows amplitudes of about 2%. Spectropolarimetric observations of two sunspots were obtained with the Zurich Imaging Polarimeter-3 at the Istituto ricerche solari Aldo e Cele Daccò observatory in Locarno, Switzerland. The observed V / I profiles show approximately antisymmetrical shapes with an amplitude of around 0.1% and 0.2% for the two sunspots. The center of this profile coincides with the wavelengths predicted for the abovementioned MIT. We apply an inversion code to the spectropolarimetric data of the Cr i -permitted lines at 532.91 and 532.98 nm, as well as to the MIT line at 533.03 nm, to infer a stratification of the emitting atmosphere. We compare the V / I profiles synthesized in the inferred atmosphere models with the observations, showing that the observed signal likely corresponds to the MIT line.

We investigate the main physical mechanisms that shape the intensity and polarization of the Ba ii D _1 line at 4934 Å via radiative transfer numerical experiments. We focus especially on the scattering linear polarization arising from the spectral structure of the anisotropic radiation in the wavelength interval spanned by the line’s hyperfine structure (HFS) components in the odd isotopes of barium. After verifying that the presence of the low-energy metastable levels only impacts the amplitude, but not the shape, of the D _1 linear polarization, we relied on a two-term atomic model that neglects such metastable levels but includes HFS. The D _1 fractional linear polarization shows a very small variation with the choice of atmospheric model, enhancing its suitability for solar magnetic field diagnostics. Tangled magnetic fields with strengths of tens of gauss reduce the linear polarization, and saturation is reached at roughly 300 G. Deterministic inclined magnetic fields produce a U / I profile and, if they have a significant longitudinal component, a V / I profile, whose modeling requires accounting for HFS and the Paschen–Back effect. Because of the overlap between HFS components, the magnetograph formula cannot be applied to infer the longitudinal magnetic field. Accurately modeling the D _1 intensity and polarization requires an atomic system that includes the metastable levels and the HFS, the detailed spectral structure of the radiation field, the incomplete Paschen–Back regime for magnetic fields, and an accurate treatment of collisions.

Solar magnetic fields alter scattering polarization in spectral lines like Sr i at 4607 Å via the Hanle effect, making it a potential diagnostic for small-scale, mixed-polarity photospheric magnetic fields. Recently, observational evidence for scattering polarization in the Sr i 4607 Å line at the solar disk center was found. Here, we investigate the reliability of the reconstruction method that made possible this detection. To this end, we apply it to linear polarization profiles of the Sr i 4607 Å line radiation emerging at the disk center obtained from a detailed 3D radiative transfer calculation in a magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) simulation snapshot with a small-scale dynamo contribution. The reconstruction method systematically reduces the scattering amplitudes by up to a factor of 2, depending on the noise level. We demonstrate that the decrease can be attributed to two systematic errors: first, the physical constraint that underlies our assumptions regarding the dependence of scattering polarization on the quadrupolar moment of the radiation field; and second, the limitations of our method in accurately determining the sign of the radiation field tensor from the observed intensity image. However, by consistently applying the reconstruction process and after taking into account image-degradation effects due to the temporally variable image quality, such as imposed by seeing, the observed and synthesized polarization signals show remarkable agreement. We thus conclude that the observed scattering polarization at the solar disk center is consistent with that emerging from a MHD model of the solar photosphere with an average magnetic field of 170 G at the visible surface.

Observations of linear polarization in the 2–8 keV energy range with the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) explore the magnetic field geometry and dynamics of the regions generating nonthermal radiation in relativistic jets of blazars. These jets, particularly in blazars whose spectral energy distribution peaks at X-ray energies, emit X-rays via synchrotron radiation from high-energy particles within the jet. IXPE observations of the X-ray-selected BL Lac–type blazar 1ES 1959+650 on 2022 May 3–4 showed a significant linear polarization degree of Π _x = 8.0% ± 2.3% at an electric-vector position angle ψ _x = 123° ± 8°. However, on 2022 June 9–12, only an upper limit of Π _x ≤ 5.1% could be derived (at the 99% confidence level). The degree of optical polarization at that time, Π _O ∼ 5%, is comparable to the X-ray measurement. We investigate possible scenarios for these findings, including temporal and geometrical depolarization effects. Unlike some other X-ray-selected BL Lac objects, there is no significant chromatic dependence of the measured polarization in 1ES 1959+650, and its low X-ray polarization may be attributed to turbulence in the jet flow with dynamical timescales shorter than 1 day.

Aligned interstellar grains produce polarized extinction (observed at wavelengths from the far-ultraviolet to the mid-infrared) and polarized thermal emission (observed at far-infrared and submm wavelengths). The grains must be quite nonspherical, but the actual shapes are unknown. The relative efficacy for aligned grains to produce polarization at optical versus infrared wavelengths depends on particle shape. The discrete dipole approximation is used to calculate polarization cross sections for 20 different convex shapes, for wavelengths from 0.1 to 100 μ m, and grain sizes a _eff from 0.05 to 0.3 μ m. Spheroids, cylinders, square prisms, and triaxial ellipsoids are considered. Minimum aspect ratios required by the observed starlight polarization are determined. Some shapes can also be ruled out because they provide too little or too much polarization at far-infrared and submm wavelengths. The ratio of 10 μ m polarization to integrated optical polarization is almost independent of grain shape, varying by only ±8% among the viable convex shapes; thus, at least for convex grains, uncertainties in grain shape cannot account for the discrepancy between predicted and observed 10 μ m polarization toward Cyg OB2-12.

Designing a new astronomical instrument typically challenges the available cameras on the market. In many cases, no camera can fulfill the requirements of the instrument in terms of photon budget, speed, and even interfaces with the rest of the instrument. In this situation, the only options are to either downgrade the performance of the instrument or design new cameras from scratch, provided it is possible to identify a compliant detector. The latter is the case of the SPGCams, the cameras developed to be used with the Tunable Magnetograph (TuMag) and the Sunrise Chromospheric Infrared spectroPolarimeter (SCIP) for the Sunrise iii mission. SPGCams have been designed, developed, and built entirely in-house by the Solar Physics Group (SPG) at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA-CSIC). We report here on the scientific rationale and system engineering requirements set by the two instruments that drove the development, as well as on the technical details and trade-offs used to fulfill the specifications. The cameras were fully verified before the flight, and results from the assembly and verification campaign are presented as well. SPGCams share the design, although some parametric features differentiate the visible cameras (for TuMag) and the IR ones (for SCIP). Even though they were specifically developed for the Sunrise iii mission, the robust and careful design makes them suitable for different applications in other astronomical instruments.

The most massive stars are thought to lose a significant fraction of their mass in a steady wind during the main-sequence and blue supergiant phases. This in turn sets the stage for their further evolution and eventual supernova, and preconditions the surrounding medium for all following events, with consequences for ISM energization, chemical enrichment, and dust formation. Understanding these processes requires accurate observational constraints on the mass-loss rates of the most luminous stars, which can also be used to test theories of stellar wind driving. In the past, mass-loss rates have been characterized via collisional emission processes such as optical H α and free-free radio emission, but these so-called "density squared" diagnostics require correction in the presence of widespread clumping. Recent observational and theoretical evidence points to the likelihood of a ubiquitously high level of such clumping in hot-star winds, but quantifying its effects requires a deeper understanding of the complex dynamics of radiatively driven winds and their stochastic instabilities. Furthermore, large-scale structures initiating in surface anisotropies and propagating throughout the wind can also affect wind driving and alter mass-loss diagnostics. Time series spectroscopy of high resonance-line opacity in the UV, capable of high resolution and high signal-to-noise, are required to better understand these complex dynamics, and more accurately determine mass-loss rates. The proposed Polstar mission (Scowen et al. 2022, this volume) provides the necessary resolution at the Sobolev (∼10 km s−1) or sound-speed (∼20 km s−1) scale, for over three dozen bright galactic massive stars with signal-to noise an order of magnitude above that of the celebrated MEGA campaign (Massa et al. 1995) of the International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE), via continuous observations that track propagating structures through the winds in real time. Supporting geometric constraints are provided by the polarimetric capabilities present in all the datasets of such a mission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Polstar mission will provide a space-borne 60 cm spectropolarimeter operating at ultraviolet (UV) wavelengths, capturing all four Stokes parameters (intensity, two linear polarization components, and circular polarization). Polstar's capabilities are designed to meet its goal of determining how circumstellar gas flows alter and inform massive star evolution, affect the stellar remnant population, and stir and enrich the interstellar medium (ISM). These will be achieved by investigating the dynamical geometries in the winds and disks of hot stars, the composition and magnetic alignment of interstellar dust, and the star-forming accretion disks of UV-bright stars at an important transition boundary. Together these areas map out a kind of two-way interface between massive stars and their effect on our galaxy, wherein the stellar winds enrich the ISM with metals and kinetic energy, preconditioning their environment and the stellar endpoints prior to undergoing supernova. The ISM dust in turn reveals the composition and magnetic environment leading to new star formation, and the accretion disks of Herbig Ae/Be stars reveal how the ISM gas returns to make new massive stars. Polstar will combine high-resolution spectroscopy in the time domain with high-precision UV polarimetry. Doppler-shifted UV resonance line opacity will provide information about circumstellar kinematics, while polarization gives complementary geometric information about unseen structures. The composition and magnetic alignment of the smallest interstellar dust grains provides a probe of the ISM utilizing radiative alignment theory (RAT). Polstar will operate in the far-UV (FUV) at 122–200 nm at high spectral resolution of around R ∼ 30 k , and at FUV and near-UV (NUV) wavelengths of 122–320 nm at lower spectral resolutions of 0.1 − 1 k . Detection of polarization levels as weak as 0.1% are expected, with a temporal cadence ranging from 5–10 minutes for most wind variability studies, to hours or days for sampling rotation, to days or weeks for sampling binary orbits, to months to a year for sampling substructure in the inner regions of protoplanetary disks. Sub-meter-class aperture is well suited to access this wide array of time domain science, made possible by restricting to a few hundred bright, massive stars, necessarily extincted by a small to moderate column of interstellar dust, informing both the attributes of the stars and the ISM through which they are seen. As such, the focus is on our own galaxy and its evolutionary drivers, but a few targets in the Magellanic clouds offer the potential to extend this understanding to low-metallicity environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The degree of linear polarization of the line OI 6300 Å of the oxygen atom in the Earth's ionosphere is analytically calculated. The calculations are performed under the assumption of collision excitation of the oxygen atom by electrons. The parameters of the anisotropic electron distribution corresponding to the measured polarization of 2%. The dependences of the degree of linear polarization on the parameters of the electron distribution function of the Earth's ionosphere are analyzed. Calculations indicate good ground-based observations of nonequilibrium conditions in the Earth's ionosphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the first quiet Sun spectropolarimetric observations obtained with the Visible SpectroPolarimeter at the 4 m Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope. We recorded observations in a wavelength range that includes the magnetically sensitive Fe i 6301.5/6302.5 Å doublet. With an estimated spatial resolution of 0.″08, this represents the highest spatial resolution full-vector spectropolarimetric observations ever obtained of the quiet Sun. We identified 53 small-scale magnetic elements, including 47 magnetic loops and four unipolar magnetic patches, with linear and circular polarization detected in all of them. Of particular interest is a magnetic element in which the polarity of the magnetic vector appears to change three times in only 400 km and which has linear polarization signals throughout. We find complex Stokes V profiles at the polarity inversion lines of magnetic loops and discover degenerate solutions, as we are unable to conclusively determine whether these arise due to gradients in the atmospheric parameters or smearing of opposite-polarity signals. We analyze a granule that notably has linear and circular polarization signals throughout, providing an opportunity to explore its magnetic properties. On this small scale, we see the magnetic field strength range from 25 G at the granular boundary to 2 kG in the intergranular lane (IGL) and sanity-check the values with the weak and strong field approximations. A value of 2 kG in the IGL is among the highest measurements ever recorded for the internetwork.

We present six epochs of optical spectropolarimetry of the Type II supernova (SN) 2023ixf ranging from ∼2 to 15 days after the explosion. Polarimetry was obtained with the Kast double spectrograph on the Shane 3 m telescope at Lick Observatory, representing the earliest such observations ever captured for an SN. We observe a high continuum polarization p _cont ≈ 1% on days +1.4 and +2.5 before dropping to 0.5% on day +3.5, persisting at that level up to day +14.5. Remarkably, this change coincides temporally with the disappearance of highly ionized “flash” features. The decrease of the continuum polarization is accompanied by a ∼70° rotation of the polarization position angle (PA) as seen across the continuum. The early evolution of the polarization may indicate different geometric configurations of the electron-scattering atmosphere as seen before and after the disappearance of the emission lines associated with highly ionized species (e.g., He ii , C iv , and N iii ), which are likely produced by elevated mass loss shortly prior to the SN explosion. We interpret the rapid change of polarization and PA from days +2.5 to +4.5 as the time when the SN ejecta emerge from the dense asymmetric circumstellar material (CSM). The temporal evolution of the continuum polarization and the PA is consistent with an aspherical SN explosion that exhibits a distinct geometry compared to the CSM. The rapid follow-up spectropolarimetry of SN 2023ixf during the shock ionization phase reveals an exceptionally asymmetric mass-loss process leading up to the explosion.

Ca ii K grains, i.e., intermittent, short-lived (about 1 minute), periodic (2–4 minutes), pointlike chromospheric brightenings, are considered to be the manifestations of acoustic waves propagating upward from the solar surface and developing into shocks in the chromosphere. After the simulations of Carlsson and Stein, we know that hot shocked gas moving upward interacting with the downflowing chromospheric gas (falling down after having been displaced upward by a previous shock) nicely reproduces the spectral features of the Ca ii K profiles observed in such grains, i.e., a narrowband emission-like feature at the blue side of the line core. However, these simulations are one-dimensional and cannot explain the location or the pointlike shape of the grains. Here, we report on the magnetic nature of these events. Furthermore, we report on similar events occurring at the largest flux concentrations, though they are longer-lived (up to 8 minutes) and exhibit the typical signature of steep velocity gradients traveling across the atmosphere. The spectral signatures of the studied events resemble their counterparts in sunspots, the umbral flashes. We then propose that magnetohydrodynamical waves are not only channeled through the magnetic field in sunspots, but they pervade the whole atmosphere. The propagation along magnetic fields can explain the pointlike appearance of the calcium grains observed in the quiet chromosphere.

Plage regions are patches of concentrated magnetic field in the Sun’s atmosphere where hot coronal loops are rooted. While previous studies have shed light on the properties of plage magnetic fields in the photosphere, there are still challenges in measuring the overlying chromospheric magnetic fields, which are crucial to understanding the overall heating and dynamics. Here, we utilize high-sensitivity, spectropolarimetric data obtained by the 4 meter Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope to investigate the dynamic environment and magnetic field stratification of an extended, decaying plage region. The data show strong circular polarization signals in both plage cores and surrounding fibrils. Notably, weak linear polarization signals clearly differentiate between plage patches and the fibril canopy, where they are relatively stronger. Inversions of the Ca II 8542 Å spectra show an imprint of the fibrils in the chromospheric magnetic field, with typical field strength values ranging from ∼200 to 300 G in fibrils. We confirm the weak correlation between field strength and cooling rates in the lower chromosphere. Additionally, we observe supersonic downflows and strong velocity gradients in the plage periphery, indicating dynamical processes occurring in the chromosphere. These findings contribute to our understanding of the magnetic field and dynamics within plages, emphasizing the need for further research to explore the expansion of magnetic fields with height and the three-dimensional distribution of heating rates in the lower chromosphere.

The lower-energy peak of the spectral energy distribution of blazars has commonly been ascribed to synchrotron radiation from relativistic particles in the jets. Despite the consensus regarding jet emission processes, the particle acceleration mechanism is still debated. Here, we present the first X-ray polarization observations of PG 1553+113, a high-synchrotron-peak blazar observed by the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE). We detect an X-ray polarization degree of (10 ± 2)% along an electric-vector position angle of ψ _X = 86° ± 8°. At the same time, the radio and optical polarization degrees are lower by a factor of ∼3. During our IXPE pointing, we observed the first orphan optical polarization swing of the IXPE era, as the optical angle of PG 1553+113 underwent a smooth monotonic rotation by about 125°, with a rate of ∼17° day ^–1 . We do not find evidence of a similar rotation in either radio or X-rays, which suggests that the X-ray and optically emitting regions are separate or, at most, partially cospatial. Our spectropolarimetric results provide further evidence that the steady-state X-ray emission in blazars originates in a shock-accelerated and energy-stratified electron population.

This paper reports the first detection of polarization in the X-rays for atoll-source 4U 1820−303, obtained with the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) at 99.999% confidence level (CL). Simultaneous polarimetric measurements were also performed in the radio with the Australia Telescope Compact Array. The IXPE observations of 4U 1820−303 were coordinated with Swift X-ray Telescope, Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer, and Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array aiming to obtain an accurate X-ray spectral model covering a broad energy interval. The source shows a significant polarization above 4 keV, with a polarization degree of 2.0% ± 0.5% and a polarization angle of −55° ± 7° in the 4–7 keV energy range, and a polarization degree of 10% ± 2% and a polarization angle of −67° ± 7° in the 7–8 keV energy bin. This polarization also shows a clear energy trend with polarization degree increasing with energy and a hint for a position-angle change of ≃90° at 96% CL around 4 keV. The spectro-polarimetric fit indicates that the accretion disk is polarized orthogonally to the hard spectral component, which is presumably produced in the boundary/spreading layer. We do not detect linear polarization from the radio counterpart, with a 3 σ upper limit of 50% at 7.25 GHz.

In 2021 July, PKS 1510−089 exhibited a significant flux drop in the high-energy γ -ray (by a factor 10) and optical (by a factor 5) bands and remained in this low state throughout 2022. Similarly, the optical polarization in the source vanished, resulting in the optical spectrum being fully explained through the steady flux of the accretion disk and the broad-line region. Unlike the aforementioned bands, the very-high-energy γ -ray and X-ray fluxes did not exhibit a significant flux drop from year to year. This suggests that the steady-state very-high-energy γ -ray and X-ray fluxes originate from a different emission region than the vanished parts of the high-energy γ -ray and optical jet fluxes. The latter component has disappeared through either a swing of the jet away from the line of sight or a significant drop in the photon production efficiency of the jet close to the black hole. Either change could become visible in high-resolution radio images.

We detect a high level of polarization in the X-ray emission of the black hole binary 4U 1630–47 in an observation with the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer. The 2–8 keV polarization degree is 8% at a position angle of 18°, with the polarization degree increasing significantly with energy, from ∼6% at ∼2 keV to ∼11% at ∼8 keV. The continuum emission in the spectrum of simultaneous observations with the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) is well described with only a thermal disk spectrum, with stringent upper limits to any Comptonized emission from the corona. Together with the lack of significant variability in the Fourier power spectrum, this suggests that the source was in the high soft state at the time of these observations. The NICER spectrum reveals the presence of several absorption lines in the 6–9 keV band that we fit with two ionized absorbers, providing evidence of the presence of a strong disk wind, which supports the idea that the source was in the soft state. Previous measurements of X-ray polarization in other sources in harder states were associated with the corona or the jet in those systems. Given that the corona is significantly absent in this observation of 4U 1630–47, and that the jet in black hole binaries is quenched in the high soft state, we speculate that in this observation of 4U 1630–47, the polarization likely arises from the direct and reflected radiation of the accretion disk in this source.

We conduct a spectropolarimetric study of the accreting X-ray pulsar Hercules X-1 using observations with the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE). IXPE monitored the source in three different epochs, sampling two “Main-on” and one “Short-on” state of the well-known super-orbital period of the source. We find that the 2–7 keV polarization fraction increases significantly from ∼7% to 9% in the Main-on state to ∼15%–19% in the Short-on state, while the polarization angle remains more or less constant or changes slightly, ∼47°–59°, in all three epochs. The polarization degree and polarization angle are consistent with being energy independent for all three epochs. We propose that in the Short-on state, when the neutron star is partially blocked by the disk warp, the increase in the polarization fraction can be explained as a result of the preferential obstruction of one of the magnetic poles of the neutron star.