González-Caniulef, D;
Zane, S;
Taverna, R;
Turolla, R;
Song, X;
Wu, K;
(2017)
Vacuum birefringence and X-ray polarimetry in transient magnetars.
In:
(Proceedings) International Conference Physics of Neutron Stars 2017: 50 years after, 10–14 July 2017, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation.
(pp. 012024:1-012024:4).
2018 IOP Publishing: Bristol, UK.
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Abstract
Recent optical polarimetry observations of an X-ray dim isolated neutron star, RX J1856.5-3754, showed a first evidence for QED vacuum birefringence induced by a strong magnetic field. This important result can be confirmed by performing systematically polarimetry observations in the X-ray band for other strongly magnetized neutron stars, such as transient or persistent magnetars. We computed the phase averaged polarization fraction (PF) and polarization angle (PA) expected in the thermal emission from transient magnetars in the soft X-ray energy band. We found that the detection of a PF higher than 60% is a strong evidence for vacuum birefringence. We also found that a steady change in the PA measured from transient magnetars during their outburst decay (up to 23 degrees for a magnetospheric untwisting of 0.5 rad) is a strong signature of vacuum birefringence. This latter detection would also provide an independent check of the magnetospheric untwisting model for these sources. Simulations show that these measurements are achievable by future polarimetric missions such as XIPE and IXPE with 20-380 ks of observational time, and with eXTP with 3-60 ks.
| Type: | Proceedings paper |
|---|---|
| Title: | Vacuum birefringence and X-ray polarimetry in transient magnetars |
| Event: | International Conference Physics of Neutron Stars 2017: 50 years after, 10–14 July 2017, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1088/1742-6596/932/1/012024 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/932/1/012024 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Conference paper presented at the International Conference Physics of Neutron Stars 2017: 50 years after held 10–14 July 2017 in St. Petersburg, Russian Federation. - Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0). Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Space and Climate Physics |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10041416 |
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