kth.sePublications KTH
Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
Discovery of a strong rotation of the X-ray polarization angle in the galactic burster GX 13+1
Univ Turku, Dept Phys & Astron, Turku 20014, Finland.
Nordita SU; Univ Turku, Dept Phys & Astron, Turku 20014, Finland.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-5767-7253
Univ Coll London, Mullard Space Sci Lab, Dorking RH5 6NT, Surrey, England.ORCID iD: 0000-0001-5326-880X
Number of Authors: 1092024 (English)In: Astronomy and Astrophysics, ISSN 0004-6361, E-ISSN 1432-0746, Vol. 688, article id A170Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Weakly magnetized neutron stars in X-ray binaries show a complex phenomenology with several spectral components that can be associated with the accretion disk, the boundary, and/or a spreading layer, a corona, and a wind. Spectroscopic information alone, however, is not enough to distinguish these components. The analysis of the timing data revealed that most of the variability, and in particular, kilohertz quasi-period oscillations, are associated with the high-energy component that corresponds to the boundary and/or spreading layer. Additional information about the nature of the spectral components, and in particular, about the geometry of the emission region, can be provided by X-ray polarimetry. One of the objects of the class, a bright, persistent, and rather peculiar galactic Type I X-ray burster GX 13+1, was observed with the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) and the XMM-Newton. Using the XMM-Newton data, we obtained the best-fit values for the continuum spectral parameters and detected strong absorption lines associated with the accretion disk wind. IXPE data showed the source to be significantly polarized in the 2-8 keV energy band, with an overall polarization degree (PD) of 1.4%+/- 0.3% at a polarization angle (PA) of -2 degrees +/- 6 degrees (errors at the 68% confidence level). During the two-day long observation, we detected rotation of the PA by about 70 degrees with the corresponding changes in the PD from 2% to nondetectable and then up to 5%. These variations in polarization properties are not accompanied by visible spectral state changes of the source. The energy-resolved polarimetric analysis showed a significant change in polarization, from being strongly dependent on energy at the beginning of the observation to being almost constant with energy in the later parts of the observation. As a possible interpretation, we suggest a constant polarization component, strong wind scattering, or a different polarization of the two main spectral components with an individually peculiar behavior. The rotation of the PA suggests a misalignment of the neutron star spin from the orbital axis.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
EDP Sciences , 2024. Vol. 688, article id A170
Keywords [en]
accretion, accretion disks, polarization, stars: neutron, X-rays: binaries
National Category
Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-353413DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/202449318ISI: 001291954700004Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85201623803OAI: oai:DiVA.org:kth-353413DiVA, id: diva2:1899299
Note

QC 20250630

Available from: 2024-09-19 Created: 2024-09-19 Last updated: 2025-06-30Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

No full text in DiVA

Other links

Publisher's full textScopus

Authority records

Veledina, Alexandra

Search in DiVA

By author/editor
Veledina, AlexandraZane, Silvia
In the same journal
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar

doi
urn-nbn

Altmetric score

doi
urn-nbn
Total: 34 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf