X-Ray Polarimetry of the Accreting Pulsar 1A 0535+262 in the Supercritical State with PolarLight
The X-ray pulsar 1A 0535+262 exhibited a giant outburst in 2020, offering us a unique opportunity for X-ray polarimetry of an accreting pulsar in the supercritical state. Measurement with PolarLight yielded a nondetection in 3–8 keV; the 99% upper limit of the polarization fraction (PF) is found to...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
IOP Publishing
2023-01-01
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| Series: | The Astrophysical Journal |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/acd0af |
| _version_ | 1797698473775071232 |
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| author | Xiangyun Long Hua Feng Hong Li Ling-Da Kong Jeremy Heyl Long Ji Lian Tao Fabio Muleri Qiong Wu Jiahuan Zhu Jiahui Huang Massimo Minuti Weichun Jiang Saverio Citraro Hikmat Nasimi Jiandong Yu Ge Jin Ming Zeng Peng An Luca Baldini Ronaldo Bellazzini Alessandro Brez Luca Latronico Carmelo Sgrò Gloria Spandre Michele Pinchera Paolo Soffitta Enrico Costa |
| author_facet | Xiangyun Long Hua Feng Hong Li Ling-Da Kong Jeremy Heyl Long Ji Lian Tao Fabio Muleri Qiong Wu Jiahuan Zhu Jiahui Huang Massimo Minuti Weichun Jiang Saverio Citraro Hikmat Nasimi Jiandong Yu Ge Jin Ming Zeng Peng An Luca Baldini Ronaldo Bellazzini Alessandro Brez Luca Latronico Carmelo Sgrò Gloria Spandre Michele Pinchera Paolo Soffitta Enrico Costa |
| author_sort | Xiangyun Long |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The X-ray pulsar 1A 0535+262 exhibited a giant outburst in 2020, offering us a unique opportunity for X-ray polarimetry of an accreting pulsar in the supercritical state. Measurement with PolarLight yielded a nondetection in 3–8 keV; the 99% upper limit of the polarization fraction (PF) is found to be 0.34 averaged over spin phases, or 0.51 based on the rotating vector model. No useful constraint can be placed with phase-resolved polarimetry. These upper limits are lower than a previous theoretical prediction of 0.6–0.8, but consistent with those found in other accreting pulsars, like Her X-1, Cen X-3, 4U 1626−67, and GRO J1008−57, which were in the subcritical state, or at least not confidently in the supercritical state, during the polarization measurements. Our results suggest that the relatively low PF seen in accreting pulsars cannot be attributed to the source not being in the supercritical state, but could be a general feature. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T03:54:38Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-53378b47ac984e3f9c6aec485bcc689e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1538-4357 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T03:54:38Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The Astrophysical Journal |
| spelling | doaj.art-53378b47ac984e3f9c6aec485bcc689e2023-09-03T12:03:40ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal1538-43572023-01-0195027610.3847/1538-4357/acd0afX-Ray Polarimetry of the Accreting Pulsar 1A 0535+262 in the Supercritical State with PolarLightXiangyun Long0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1590-9327Hua Feng1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7584-6236Hong Li2Ling-Da Kong3https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3188-9079Jeremy Heyl4Long Ji5Lian Tao6Fabio Muleri7https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3331-3794Qiong Wu8Jiahuan Zhu9https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9337-9974Jiahui Huang10https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8674-2336Massimo Minuti11Weichun Jiang12Saverio Citraro13Hikmat Nasimi14Jiandong Yu15Ge Jin16Ming Zeng17Peng An18Luca Baldini19https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9785-7726Ronaldo Bellazzini20https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2469-7063Alessandro Brez21Luca Latronico22https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0984-1856Carmelo Sgrò23https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5676-6214Gloria Spandre24Michele Pinchera25Paolo Soffitta26https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7781-4104Enrico Costa27https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4925-8523Department of Engineering Physics, Tsinghua University , Beijing 100084, People's Republic of ChinaDepartment of Astronomy, Tsinghua University , Beijing 100084, People's Republic of China ; hfeng@tsinghua.edu.cnDepartment of Astronomy, Tsinghua University , Beijing 100084, People's Republic of China ; hfeng@tsinghua.edu.cnInstitut für Astronomie und Astrophysik , Kepler Center for Astro and Particle Physics, Eberhard Karls, Universität, Sand 1, D-72076 Tübingen, GermanyDepartment of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia , Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1, CanadaSchool of Physics and Astronomy, Sun Yat-Sen University , Zhuhai 519082, People's Republic of ChinaKey Laboratory for Particle Astrophysics, Institute of High Energy Physics , Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, People's Republic of ChinaIAPS/INAF , Via Fosso del Cavaliere 100, I-00133 Rome, ItalyDepartment of Engineering Physics, Tsinghua University , Beijing 100084, People's Republic of ChinaDepartment of Astronomy, Tsinghua University , Beijing 100084, People's Republic of China ; hfeng@tsinghua.edu.cnDepartment of Engineering Physics, Tsinghua University , Beijing 100084, People's Republic of ChinaINFN–Pisa, Largo B. Pontecorvo 3, I-56127 Pisa, ItalyKey Laboratory for Particle Astrophysics, Institute of High Energy Physics , Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, People's Republic of ChinaINFN–Pisa, Largo B. Pontecorvo 3, I-56127 Pisa, ItalyINFN–Pisa, Largo B. Pontecorvo 3, I-56127 Pisa, ItalySchool of Electronic and Information Engineering, Ningbo University of Technology , Ningbo, Zhejiang 315211, People's Republic of ChinaNorth Night Vision Technology Co., Ltd. , Nanjing 211106, People's Republic of ChinaDepartment of Engineering Physics, Tsinghua University , Beijing 100084, People's Republic of ChinaSchool of Electronic and Information Engineering, Ningbo University of Technology , Ningbo, Zhejiang 315211, People's Republic of ChinaINFN–Pisa, Largo B. Pontecorvo 3, I-56127 Pisa, ItalyINFN–Pisa, Largo B. Pontecorvo 3, I-56127 Pisa, ItalyINFN–Pisa, Largo B. Pontecorvo 3, I-56127 Pisa, ItalyINFN, Sezione di Torino , Via Pietro Giuria 1, I-10125 Torino, ItalyINFN–Pisa, Largo B. Pontecorvo 3, I-56127 Pisa, ItalyINFN–Pisa, Largo B. Pontecorvo 3, I-56127 Pisa, ItalyINFN–Pisa, Largo B. Pontecorvo 3, I-56127 Pisa, ItalyIAPS/INAF , Via Fosso del Cavaliere 100, I-00133 Rome, ItalyIAPS/INAF , Via Fosso del Cavaliere 100, I-00133 Rome, ItalyThe X-ray pulsar 1A 0535+262 exhibited a giant outburst in 2020, offering us a unique opportunity for X-ray polarimetry of an accreting pulsar in the supercritical state. Measurement with PolarLight yielded a nondetection in 3–8 keV; the 99% upper limit of the polarization fraction (PF) is found to be 0.34 averaged over spin phases, or 0.51 based on the rotating vector model. No useful constraint can be placed with phase-resolved polarimetry. These upper limits are lower than a previous theoretical prediction of 0.6–0.8, but consistent with those found in other accreting pulsars, like Her X-1, Cen X-3, 4U 1626−67, and GRO J1008−57, which were in the subcritical state, or at least not confidently in the supercritical state, during the polarization measurements. Our results suggest that the relatively low PF seen in accreting pulsars cannot be attributed to the source not being in the supercritical state, but could be a general feature.https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/acd0afPulsarsPolarimetryX-ray sources |
| spellingShingle | Xiangyun Long Hua Feng Hong Li Ling-Da Kong Jeremy Heyl Long Ji Lian Tao Fabio Muleri Qiong Wu Jiahuan Zhu Jiahui Huang Massimo Minuti Weichun Jiang Saverio Citraro Hikmat Nasimi Jiandong Yu Ge Jin Ming Zeng Peng An Luca Baldini Ronaldo Bellazzini Alessandro Brez Luca Latronico Carmelo Sgrò Gloria Spandre Michele Pinchera Paolo Soffitta Enrico Costa X-Ray Polarimetry of the Accreting Pulsar 1A 0535+262 in the Supercritical State with PolarLight The Astrophysical Journal Pulsars Polarimetry X-ray sources |
| title | X-Ray Polarimetry of the Accreting Pulsar 1A 0535+262 in the Supercritical State with PolarLight |
| title_full | X-Ray Polarimetry of the Accreting Pulsar 1A 0535+262 in the Supercritical State with PolarLight |
| title_fullStr | X-Ray Polarimetry of the Accreting Pulsar 1A 0535+262 in the Supercritical State with PolarLight |
| title_full_unstemmed | X-Ray Polarimetry of the Accreting Pulsar 1A 0535+262 in the Supercritical State with PolarLight |
| title_short | X-Ray Polarimetry of the Accreting Pulsar 1A 0535+262 in the Supercritical State with PolarLight |
| title_sort | x ray polarimetry of the accreting pulsar 1a 0535 262 in the supercritical state with polarlight |
| topic | Pulsars Polarimetry X-ray sources |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/acd0af |
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