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Remembering Yury N. Gnedin at the Dawn of X-ray Polarimetry: Predictions of IXPE Observations of Neutron Stars Heyl, Jeremy

Abstract

NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) was launched in December 2021. It is 100 times more sensitive to polarized X-ray emission than any preceding mission and it is opening a new observational window into high-energy astrophysics. I outline Yury N. Gnedin’s many contributions to understanding polarization from neutron stars and present new simulations of observations that IXPE will perform of the X-ray pulsar Hercules X-1 and the magnetar 4U 0141+561 in February 2022. These observations highlight and test particular models that Gnedin and collaborators first proposed. I outline how IXPE will provide unique constraints on the structure and kinematics of the boundary region between the accretion flow and the neutron star surface of Hercules X-1 and how IXPE will verify the predictions of vacuum birefringence for the magnetar 4U 0142+561.

Item Metadata

Title
Remembering Yury N. Gnedin at the Dawn of X-ray Polarimetry: Predictions of IXPE Observations of Neutron Stars
Creator
Heyl, Jeremy
Publisher
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
Date Issued
2022-01-28
Description
NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) was launched in December 2021. It is 100 times more sensitive to polarized X-ray emission than any preceding mission and it is opening a new observational window into high-energy astrophysics. I outline Yury N. Gnedin’s many contributions to understanding polarization from neutron stars and present new simulations of observations that IXPE will perform of the X-ray pulsar Hercules X-1 and the magnetar 4U 0141+561 in February 2022. These observations highlight and test particular models that Gnedin and collaborators first proposed. I outline how IXPE will provide unique constraints on the structure and kinematics of the boundary region between the accretion flow and the neutron star surface of Hercules X-1 and how IXPE will verify the predictions of vacuum birefringence for the magnetar 4U 0142+561.
Subject
magnetars stars; X-rays and stars; star atmospheres; polarization; plasmas; scattering; radiative transfer
Genre
Article
Type
Text
Language
eng
Date Available
2022-03-24
Provider
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Rights
CC BY 4.0
DOI
10.14288/1.0407307
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/2429/81018
Affiliation
Science, Faculty of; Physics and Astronomy, Department of
Citation
Universe 8 (2): 84 (2022)
Publisher DOI
10.3390/universe8020084
Peer Review Status
Reviewed
Scholarly Level
Faculty
Rights URI
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Aggregated Source Repository
DSpace

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CC BY 4.0