X-ray polarimetry has been suggested as a prominent tool for investigating the geometrical and physical properties of the emissions from active galactic nuclei (AGN). The successful launch of the ...Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) on 9 December 2021 has expanded the previously restricted scope of polarimetry into the X-ray domain, enabling X-ray polarimetric studies of AGN. Over a span of two years, IXPE has observed various AGN populations, including blazars and radio-quiet AGN. In this paper, we summarize the remarkable discoveries achieved thanks to the opening of the new window of X-ray polarimetry of AGN through IXPE observations. We will delve into two primary areas of interest: first, the magnetic field geometry and particle acceleration mechanisms in the jets of radio-loud AGN, such as blazars, where the relativistic acceleration process dominates the spectral energy distribution; and second, the geometry of the hot corona in radio-quiet AGN. Thus far, the IXPE results from blazars favor the energy-stratified shock acceleration model, and they provide evidence of helical magnetic fields inside the jet. Concerning the corona geometry, the IXPE results are consistent with a disk-originated slab-like or wedge-like shape, as could result from Comptonization around the accretion disk.
AGILE is a space mission of the Italian Space Agency dedicated to X-ray and gamma-ray astrophysics operating since 2007. Since the discovery of gravitational wave (GW) events by the LIGO-Virgo ...Collaboration (LVC) announced in February 2016, AGILE is playing a very important role in the search for possible X-ray and gamma-ray counterparts. The large fields of view of the gamma-ray and hard X-ray imagers (2.5 sr and 1 sr, respectively) and the current spinning mode allow AGILE to cover at any moment a very large fraction of the sky. We present here an overview of AGILE observations of GW events during the LVC observing periods O1 and O2 which span the time interval September 2015–August 2017. In particular, we focus on the main characteristics of AGILE observations of the events GW150914, GW170104, and GW170817. The latter event is of great relevance being associated with a “kilonova” counterpart: we establish important physical constraints on the possible
γ
-ray emission from a magnetar-like remnant in the first
∼
1000
s following the GW event time. We also present further developments and preliminary results obtained in preparation of the O3 observing run (start in April 2019). AGILE is fully operative in the search for GW event counterparts, and continues to observe the sky in a unique way because of its combination of large field-of-view hard X-ray and gamma-ray detectors.
In 2008 the flat spectrum radio quasar GB6 J1239+0443 (z=1.762), underwent an high activity period at all wavelengths. In particular, at optical-uv wavelengths, the source underwent a flux ...enhancement of a factor 15-30 in 6 years, and >10 in half a year, showing a transition from accretion disk to synchrotron jet dominated emission. During the flare, Fermi observed a flat gamma-ray spectrum, extended up to 15 GeV, with no statistically-significant absorption from the broad line region (BLR), suggesting that the biazarzone is located beyond it. We obtained the same findings from the modeling of the broad-band spectral energy distribution for the flaring activity periods, which is well constrained by the multiwavelength data collected, and from the accretion disk luminosity and black hole mass that we estimated from the archival data. Other authors suggested that 4C +21.35, PMN J2345-1555, and 3C 279 underwent high energy flares originating from outside or just beyond the BLR. We report here the first results obtained in our study, while we will report the results on the complete sample in a forthcoming paper where we will show the multiwavelength spectra on a dozen of FSRQ which we propose radiate gamma-rays far from the central SMBH, and we will discuss the scenarios originating from this result.
We report on the main results on gamma-ray blazars as obtained by AGILE during 4 years in orbit. AGILE detected several flaring blazars, mostly FSRQs, which were studied from radio to TeV energy ...bands thanks to the rapid dissemination of our alerts. In particular, we carried out several multifrequency campaigns resulted from the synergy with other observatories such as GASP-WEBT (GLAST-AGILE Support Programme of the Whole Earth Blazar Telescope network), REM, Spitzer, Swift, RXTE, XMM-Newton, Suzaku, INTEGRAL, MAGIC, VERITAS. Temporal and SED variabilities were studied in details thanks to the large set of simultaneous data. The most relevant properties of our sample of blazars will be presented with a particular emphasis on the spectral thermal components, time lags, spectral trends (in X-rays and gamma-rays), jet geometry and acceleration mechanism at the inner portion of the jet itself.
Context.
The X-ray polarization degree of the molecular clouds surrounding Sgr A* is expected to be greatly reduced due to the mixing of the polarized reflection emission with the unpolarized thermal ...emission that pervades the Galactic center region. This makes this type of observation a challenging experiment for the upcoming Imaging X-ray Polarimeter Explorer (IXPE), whose launch is expected in 2021.
Aims.
We aim to determine the detectability of four molecular clouds of the Sgr A complex (MC2, Bridge B2, Bridge E, and G0.11-0.11) in a realistic IXPE pointing of the Sgr A field of view. We assess the minimum increase in the detectable polarization when a molecular cloud is off-axis. We provide two different strategies for reconstructing the intrinsic cloud polarization once the data is available.
Methods.
We used the Monte Carlo tool ixpeobssim to simulate IXPE observations of the Sgr A molecular cloud complex. We used
Chandra
maps and spectra to model the diffuse emission in the Galactic center region along with a realistic model of the instrumental and diffuse background. We created synthetic polarization products of the unpolarized emission and combined them with a test data set obtained from a simulation of a 2 Ms long IXPE observation to retrieve the intrinsic polarization degree of the molecular clouds.
Results.
We find that for the molecular clouds considered here, the minimum detectable polarization (MDP) increases by ~1–15% with respect to the case in which a cloud is observed on-axis. We successfully retrieve the intrinsic polarization degree in the 4.0–8.0 keV band and line-of-sight distance of one of them taken as an example, namely, G0.11-0.11, by correcting the observed (i.e., for a 2 Ms-long simulation) polarization degree map using either a synthetic dilution map or a Stokes intensity map of the unpolarized emission. With both methods, the position of the cloud along the line-of-sight is derived from the reconstructed polarization degree with an uncertainty of 7 and 4 pc, respectively.
Conclusions.
We confirm the results of previous studies, finding that G0.11-0.11 is the most promising target. For the Sgr A molecular complex region, we propose an observation strategy that may permit detection up to three clouds in the 4.0–8.0 keV band, depending on their true line-of-sight position. We demonstrate that by using simulated data products of the unpolarized components, it is possible to clean up the observed polarization maps from the environmental contamination. The methods we present here are potentially useful for the analysis of X-ray polarimetric data of any extended source that is affected by environmental dilution of the polarized signal. To accurately measure (i.e, with uncertainties of the order of a few parsec) the distance of the cloud along the line-of-sight, a high-quality spectrum and image of the clouds quasi simultaneous to the IXPE pointing are needed.
We present the first X-ray polarimetric study of the dipping accreting neutron star 4U 1624−49 with the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer. We report a detection of polarization in the nondip time ...intervals with a confidence level of 99.99%. We find an average polarization degree (PD) of 3.1% ± 0.7% and a polarization angle of 81° ± 6° east of north in the 2–8 keV band. We report an upper limit on the PD of 22% during the X-ray dips with 95% confidence. The PD increases with energy, reaching from 3.0% ± 0.9% in the 4–6 keV band to 6% ± 2% in the 6–8 keV band. This indicates the polarization likely arises from Comptonization. The high PD observed is unlikely to be produced by Comptonization in the boundary layer or spreading layer alone. It can be produced by the addition of an extended geometrically thin slab corona covering part of the accretion disk, as assumed in previous models of dippers, and/or a reflection component from the accretion disk.
AGILE Observations of GW Events Verrecchia, Francesco; Tavani, Marco; Donnarumma, Immacolata
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union,
10/2017, Volume:
13, Issue:
S338
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
AGILE is a space mission of the Italian Space Agency dedicated to γ-ray astrophysics, launched in 2007. AGILE performed dedicated real-time searches for possible γ-ray counterparts of gravitational ...wave (GW) events detected by the LIGO-Virgo scientific Collaboration (LVC) during the O2 observation run. We present a review of AGILE observations of GW events, starting with the first, GW150914, which was a test case for future searches. We focus here on the main characteristics of the observations of the most important GW events detected in 2017, i.e. GW170104 and GW170817. In particular, for the former event we published γ-ray upper limits (ULs) in the 50 MeV – 10 GeV energy band together with a detailed analysis of a candidate precursor event in the Mini-Calorimeter data. As for GW170817, we published a set of constraining γ-ray ULs obtained for integrations preceding and following the event time. These results allow us to establish important constraints on the γ-ray emission from a possible magnetar-like remnant in the first ~1000 s following T0. AGILE is a major player in the search of electromagnetic counterparts of GW events, and its enhanced detection capabilities in hard X-ray/MeV/GeV ranges will play a crucial role in the future O3 observing run.
With the specialization of VLSI ASICs for front-end signal processing electronics, the customization of the control back-end electronics (BEE) has become critical to fully deploy the ASIC ...performance. In the context of space operations, with typical constraints on power and reliability, the design and qualification of such integrated systems present significant challenges. In this paper, we review the design and performance of the BEE systems after two years of operations in low Earth orbit (LEO); these systems read out the custom ASICs inside the gas pixel detectors, which are located at the heart of the imaging X-ray polarimetry explorer (IXPE), a NASA-ASI small explorer mission designed to measure X-ray polarization in the 2–8 keV energy range.
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