X-Ray Polarimetry of the Dipping Accreting Neutron Star 4U1624–49
Number of Authors: 1012024 (English)In: Astrophysical Journal, ISSN 0004-637X, E-ISSN 1538-4357, Vol. 963, no 2, article id 133Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
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.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Institute of Physics , 2024. Vol. 963, no 2, article id 133
Keywords [en]
Neutron stars (1108), Polarimetry (1278), Unified Astronomy Thesaurus concepts, X-ray astronomy (1810), X-ray binary stars (1811)
National Category
Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-344581DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ad235aISI: 001184955400001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85187521328OAI: oai:DiVA.org:kth-344581DiVA, id: diva2:1845969
Note
QC 20240326
2024-03-202024-03-202024-04-08Bibliographically approved