Neutron stars harbor extremely strong magnetic fields within their solid outer crust. The topology of this field strongly influences the surface temperature distribution and, hence, the star's ...observational properties. In this work, we present the first realistic simulations of the coupled crustal magnetothermal evolution of isolated neutron stars in three dimensions accounting for neutrino emission, obtained with the pseudo-spectral code parody. We investigate both the secular evolution, especially in connection with the onset of instabilities during the Hall phase, and the short-term evolution following episodes of localized energy injection. Simulations show that a resistive tearing instability develops in about a Hall time if the initial toroidal field exceeds G. This leads to crustal failures because of the huge magnetic stresses coupled with the local temperature enhancement produced by dissipation. Localized heat deposition in the crust results in the appearance of hot spots on the star surface, which can exhibit a variety of patterns. Because the transport properties are strongly influenced by the magnetic field, the hot regions tend to drift away and get deformed following the magnetic field lines while cooling. The shapes obtained with our simulations are reminiscent of those recently derived from NICER X-ray observations of the millisecond pulsar PSR J0030+0451.
The launch of the IXPE telescope in late 2021 finally made polarization measurements in the 2–8keV band a reality, more than 40 years after the pioneering observations of the OSO-8 satellite. In the ...first two years of operations, IXPE targeted more than 60 sources, including four magnetars, neutron stars with magnetic fields in the petaGauss range. In this paper we summarize the IXPE main findings and discuss their implications for the physics of ultra-magnetized neutron stars. Polarimetric observations confirmed theoretical predictions, according to which X-ray radiation from magnetar sources is highly polarized, up to ≈80%, the highest value detected so far. This provides an independent confirmation that magnetars are indeed endowed with a super-strong magnetic field and that the twisted magnetosphere scenario is the most likely explanation for their soft X-ray emission. Polarization measurements allowed us to probe the physical conditions of the star’s outermost layers, showing that the cooler surface regions are in a condensed state, with no atmosphere on top. Although no smoking-gun of vacuum QED effects was found, the phase-dependent behavior of the polarization angle strongly hints that vacuum birefringence is indeed at work in magnetar magnetospheres.
A black hole x-ray binary (XRB) system forms when gas is stripped from a normal star and accretes onto a black hole, which heats the gas sufficiently to emit x-rays. We report a polarimetric ...observation of the XRB Cygnus X-1 using the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer. The electric field position angle aligns with the outflowing jet, indicating that the jet is launched from the inner x-ray–emitting region. The polarization degree is 4.01 ± 0.20% at 2 to 8 kiloelectronvolts, implying that the accretion disk is viewed closer to edge-on than the binary orbit. These observations reveal that hot x-ray–emitting plasma is spatially extended in a plane perpendicular to, not parallel to, the jet axis.
x-ray polarization of Cygnus X-1
A black hole in a binary system can rip material off of its companion star, which heats up and forms an accretion disk. The disc emits light in the optical and x-ray bands, forming an x-ray binary (XRB) system. Some XRBs also launch a jet of fast-moving material that is visible at radio wavelengths. Krawczynski
et al
. observed the x-ray polarization of Cygnus X-1, a black hole XRB with a radio jet. By comparing the measured polarization properties with several competing XRB models, they eliminated some hypothesized geometries and determined that the x-ray–emitting region extends parallel to the accretion disc. —KTS
x-ray polarization measurements determine the geometric arrangement of hot material accreting onto a black hole.
Most of the light from blazars, active galactic nuclei with jets of magnetized plasma that point nearly along the line of sight, is produced by high-energy particles, up to around 1 TeV. Although the ...jets are known to be ultimately powered by a supermassive black hole, how the particles are accelerated to such high energies has been an unanswered question. The process must be related to the magnetic field, which can be probed by observations of the polarization of light from the jets. Measurements of the radio to optical polarization—the only range available until now—probe extended regions of the jet containing particles that left the acceleration site days to years earlier, and hence do not directly explore the acceleration mechanism, as could X-ray measurements. Here we report the detection of X-ray polarization from the blazar Markarian 501 (Mrk 501). We measure an X-ray linear polarization degree Π_X of around 10%, which is a factor of around 2 higher than the value at optical wavelengths, with a polarization angle parallel to the radio jet. This points to a shock front as the source of particle acceleration and also implies that the plasma becomes increasingly turbulent with distance from the shock.
Soft-γ-ray repeaters (SGRs) and anomalous X-ray pulsars (AXPs) are slowly rotating, isolated neutron stars that sporadically undergo episodes of long-term flux enhancement (outbursts) generally ...accompanied by the emission of short bursts of hard X-rays. This behaviour can be understood in the magnetar model, according to which these sources are mainly powered by their own magnetic energy. This is supported by the fact that the magnetic fields inferred from several observed properties of SGRs and AXPs are greater than-or at the high end of the range of-those of radio pulsars. In the peculiar case of SGR 0418+5729, a weak dipole magnetic moment is derived from its timing parameters, whereas a strong field has been proposed to reside in the stellar interior and in multipole components on the surface. Here we show that the X-ray spectrum of SGR 0418+5729 has an absorption line, the properties of which depend strongly on the star's rotational phase. This line is interpreted as a proton cyclotron feature and its energy implies a magnetic field ranging from 2 × 10(14) gauss to more than 10(15) gauss.
Abstract
X-ray emission from the surface of isolated neutron stars (NSs) has been now observed in a variety of sources. The ubiquitous presence of pulsations clearly indicates that thermal photons ...either come from a limited area, possibly heated by some external mechanism, or from the entire (cooling) surface but with an inhomogeneous temperature distribution. In an NS the thermal map is shaped by the magnetic field topology since heat flows in the crust mostly along the magnetic field lines. Self-consistent surface thermal maps can hence be produced by simulating the coupled magnetic and thermal evolution of the star. We compute the evolution of the NS crust in three dimensions for different initial configurations of the magnetic field and use the ensuing thermal surface maps to derive the spectrum and the pulse profile as seen by an observer at infinity, accounting for general-relativistic effects. In particular, we compare cases with a high degree of symmetry with inherently 3D ones, obtained by adding a quadrupole to the initial dipolar field. Axially symmetric fields result in rather small pulsed fractions (≲5%), while more complex configurations produce higher pulsed fractions, up to ∼25%. We find that the spectral properties of our axisymmetric model are close to those of the bright isolated NS RX J1856.5-3754 at an evolutionary time comparable with the inferred dynamical age of the source.
Polarized x-rays from a magnetar Taverna, Roberto; Turolla, Roberto; Muleri, Fabio ...
Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science),
11/2022, Volume:
378, Issue:
6620
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Magnetars are neutron stars with ultrastrong magnetic fields, which can be observed in x-rays. Polarization measurements could provide information on their magnetic fields and surface properties. We ...observed polarized x-rays from the magnetar 4U 0142+61 using the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer and found a linear polarization degree of 13.5 ± 0.8% averaged over the 2– to 8–kilo–electron volt band. The polarization changes with energy: The degree is 15.0 ± 1.0% at 2 to 4 kilo–electron volts, drops below the instrumental sensitivity ~4 to 5 kilo–electron volts, and rises to 35.2 ± 7.1% at 5.5 to 8 kilo–electron volts. The polarization angle also changes by 90° at ~4 to 5 kilo–electron volts. These results are consistent with a model in which thermal radiation from the magnetar surface is reprocessed by scattering off charged particles in the magnetosphere.
Polarization constrains magnetar emission
Magnetars are young neutron stars with high magnetic fields that are usually observed at x-ray wavelengths. The emission mechanism and geometry of the emitting region have been unclear. Taverna
et al
. measured the x-ray polarization of the magnetar 4U 0142+61. The polarization degree and angle change as a function of x-ray energy, indicating two different emission regions. The authors preferred a model in which most of the x-rays are emitted by an equatorial band on the surface of the neutron star, with some of the photons then being scattered to higher energies by collisions with electrons in the surrounding magnetic field. —KTS
Measurements of a magnetar’s x-ray polarization constrain models of the emission mechanism.
Particle acceleration mechanisms in supermassive black hole jets, such as shock acceleration, magnetic reconnection, and turbulence, are expected to have observable signatures in the multiwavelength ...polarization properties of blazars. The recent launch of the Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) enables us, for the first time, to use polarization in the X-ray band (2–8 keV) to probe the properties of the jet synchrotron emission in high-synchrotron-peaked BL Lac objects (HSPs). We report the discovery of X-ray linear polarization (degree Πx = 15% ± 2% and electric vector position angle ψx = 35° ± 4°) from the jet of the HSP Mrk 421 in an average X-ray flux state. At the same time, the degree of polarization at optical, infrared, and millimeter wavelengths was found to be lower by at least a factor of 3. During the IXPE pointing, the X-ray flux of the source increased by a factor of 2.2, while the polarization behavior was consistent with no variability. The higher level of Πx compared to longer wavelengths, and the absence of significant polarization variability, suggest a shock is the most likely X-ray emission site in the jet of Mrk 421 during the observation. The multiwavelength polarization properties are consistent with an energy-stratified electron population, where the particles emitting at longer wavelengths are located farther from the acceleration site, where they experience a more disordered magnetic field.
We present the results of an XMM-Newton observation of the slowly rotating (P = 3.4 s), highly magnetized (B ≈ 3 × 1013 G) radio pulsar PSR J0726–2612. A previous X-ray observation with the Chandra ...satellite showed that some of the properties of PSR J0726–2612 are similar to those of the X-ray-dim isolated neutron stars (XDINSs), a small class of nearby slow pulsars characterized by purely thermal X-ray spectra and undetected in the radio band. We confirm the thermal nature of the X-ray emission of PSR J0726–2612, which can be fitted by the sum of two blackbodies with temperatures k T 1 = 0 . 074 − 0.011 + 0.006 $ kT_1 = 0.074_{-0.011}^{+0.006} $ kT1=0.074+0.006-0.011 keV and k T 2 = 0 . 14 − 0.02 + 0.04 $ kT_2=0.14_{-0.02}^{+0.04} $ kT2=0.14+0.004-0.002 keV and emitting radii R 1 = 10 . 4 − 2.8 + 10.8 $ R_1=10.4_{-2.8}^{+10.8} $ R1=10.4+10.8-2.8 km and R 2 = 0 . 5 − 0.3 + 0.9 $ R_2=0.5_{-0.3}^{+0.9} $ R2=0.5+0.9-0.3 km, respectively (assuming a distance of 1 kpc). A broad absorption line modeled with a Gaussian profile centered at 0 . 39 − 0.03 + 0.02 $ 0.39_{-0.03}^{+0.02} $ 0.39+0.02-0.03 keV is required in the fit. The pulse profile of PSR J0726–2612 is characterized by two peaks with similar intensity separated by two unequal minima, a shape and pulsed fraction that cannot be reproduced without invoking magnetic beaming of the X-ray emission. The presence of a single radio pulse suggests that in PSR J0726–2612 the angles that the dipole axis and the line of sight make with the rotation axis, ξ and χ, respectively, are similar. This geometry differs from that of the two radio-silent XDINSs with double-peaked pulse profiles similar to that of PSR J0726–2612, for which ξ ∼ 90° and χ ∼ 45° have recently been estimated. These results strengthen the similarity between PSR J0726–2612 and the XDINSs and support the possibility that the lack of radio emission from the latter might simply be due to an unfavorable viewing geometry.
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