2019/06/30 by I. Liodakis, Ioannis Liodakis, Abel L. Peirson +3
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Blazar #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #Electron #Gamma ray #Neutrino Physics Research #Nuclear physics #Optics #Particle acceleration #Physics #Polarimetry #Polarization (electrochemistry) #Scattering #Synchro #X-ray #astro-ph.HE
paper · pdf · doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ab2719
published as The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 880, Issue 1, article id. 29, 7 pp. (2019) · 9 pages, 4 figures, published in APJ
openalex publication_date 2019/07/20 · arxiv created 2019/08/07 · arxiv updated 2019/08/09 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Abstract X-ray polarization should provide new probes of magnetic field geometry and acceleration physics near the base of blazar jets, but near-future missions will have limited sensitivity. We thus use existing lower energy data and X-ray variability measurements in the context of a basic synchro-Compton model to predict the X-ray polarization level and the probability of detection success for individual sources, listing the most attractive candidates for an Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer campaign. We find that, as expected, several high-peak blazars such as Mrk 421 can be easily measured in 100 ks exposures. Most low-peak sources should only be accessible to triggered campaigns during bright flares. Surprisingly, a few intermediate peak sources can have anomalously high X-ray polarization and thus are attractive targets.