Polarization Radiation with Turbulent Magnetic Fields from X-Ray Binaries
- Department of Physics, Xiangtan University, Xiangtan 411105 (China)
- Department of Astronomy and Institute of Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian 361005 (China)
We study the properties of polarized radiation in turbulent magnetic fields from X-ray binary jets. These turbulent magnetic fields are composed of large- and small-scale configurations, which result in the polarized jitter radiation when the characteristic length of turbulence is less than the non-relativistic Larmor radius. On the contrary, the polarized synchrotron emission occurs, corresponding to a large-scale turbulent environment. We calculate the spectral energy distributions and the degree of polarization for a general microquasar. Numerical results show that turbulent magnetic field configurations can indeed provide a high degree of polarization, which does not mean that a uniform, large-scale magnetic field structure exists. The model is applied to investigate the properties of polarized radiation of the black-hole X-ray binary Cygnus X-1. Under the constraint of multiband observations of this source, our studies demonstrate that the model can explain the high polarization degree at the MeV tail and predict the highly polarized properties at the high-energy γ -ray region, and that the dominant small-scale turbulent magnetic field plays an important role for explaining the highly polarized observation at hard X-ray/soft γ -ray bands. This model can be tested by polarization observations of upcoming polarimeters at high-energy γ -ray bands.
- OSTI ID:
- 22667723
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 836, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
BINARY STARS
BLACK HOLES
CONFIGURATION
COSMIC X-RAY SOURCES
EMISSION
ENERGY SPECTRA
GAMMA RADIATION
HARD X RADIATION
LARMOR RADIUS
MAGNETIC FIELD CONFIGURATIONS
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MEV RANGE
POLARIMETERS
POLARIZATION
RELATIVISTIC RANGE
STARS
SYNCHROTRON RADIATION
TURBULENCE