UCL Discovery
UCL home » Library Services » Electronic resources » UCL Discovery

The first X-ray polarimetric observation of the black hole binary LMC X-1

Podgorný, Jakub; Marra, Lorenzo; Muleri, Fabio; Cavero, Nicole Rodriguez; Ratheesh, Ajay; Dovčiak, Michal; Mikušincová, Romana; ... Xie, Fei; + view all (2023) The first X-ray polarimetric observation of the black hole binary LMC X-1. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society , 526 (4) pp. 5964-5975. 10.1093/mnras/stad3103. Green open access

[thumbnail of Zane_stad3103.pdf]
Preview
Text
Zane_stad3103.pdf

Download (1MB) | Preview

Abstract

We report on an X-ray polarimetric observation of the high-mass X-ray binary LMC X-1 in the high/soft state, obtained by the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) in 2022 October. The measured polarization is below the minimum detectable polarization of 1.1 per cent (at the 99 per cent confidence level). Simultaneously, the source was observed with the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER), Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR), and Spectrum-Rontgen-Gamma (SRG)/Astronomical Roentgen Telescope – X-ray Concentrator (ART-XC) instruments, which enabled spectral decomposition into a dominant thermal component and a Comptonized one. The low 2–8 keV polarization of the source did not allow for strong constraints on the black hole spin and inclination of the accretion disc. However, if the orbital inclination of about 36° is assumed, then the upper limit is consistent with predictions for pure thermal emission from geometrically thin and optically thick discs. Assuming the polarization degree of the Comptonization component to be 0, 4, or 10 per cent, and oriented perpendicular to the polarization of the disc emission (in turn assumed to be perpendicular to the large-scale ionization cone orientation detected in the optical band), an upper limit to the polarization of the disc emission of 1.0, 0.9, or 0.9 per cent, respectively, is found (at the 99 per cent confidence level).

Type: Article
Title: The first X-ray polarimetric observation of the black hole binary LMC X-1
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stad3103
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stad3103
Language: English
Additional information: Copyright © The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Astronomical Society. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Keywords: accretion, accretion discs, black hole physics, polarization, scattering, X-rays: binaries, X-rays: individual: LMC X-1
UCL classification: UCL
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/10178866
Downloads since deposit
Loading...
9Downloads
Download activity - last month
Loading...
Download activity - last 12 months
Loading...
Downloads by country - last 12 months
1.Russian Federation
3
2.United States
2
3.France
1
4.China
1

Archive Staff Only

View Item View Item