The detection of polarized X-ray emission from the magnetar 1E 2259+586
Jeremy Heyl, Roberto Taverna, R. Turolla, G. L. Israel, Mason Ng, Demet Kırmızıbayrak, Denis González–Caniulef, Ilaria Caiazzo, Silvia Zane, Steven R. Ehlert, Michela Negro, I. Agudo, L. A. Antonelli, Matteo Bachetti, L. Baldini, W. H. Baumgartner, R. Bellazzini, S. Bianchi, Stephen D. Bongiorno, R. Bonino, A. Brez, N. Bucciantini, Fiamma Capitanio, Simone Castellano, E. Cavazzuti, Chien‐Ting Chen, S. Ciprini, E. Costa, Alessandra De Rosa, E. Del Monte, Laura Di Gesu, Niccolò Di Lalla, Alessandro Di Marco, I. Donnarumma, Victor Doroshenko, Michal Dovčiak, Teruaki Enoto, Y. Evangelista, Sergio Fabiani, Riccardo Ferrazzoli, Javier A. García, Shuichi Gunji, Kiyoshi Hayashida, W. Iwakiri, Svetlana G. Jorstad, P. Kaaret, V. Karas, Fabian Kislat, Takao Kitaguchi, Jeffery J Kolodziejczak, H. Krawczynski, Fabio La Monaca, L. Latronico, Ioannis Liodakis, S. Maldera, Alberto Manfreda, Frédéric Marin, Andrea Marinucci, Alan P. Marscher, Herman L. Marshall, F. Massaro, G. Matt, Ikuyuki Mitsuishi, Tsunefumi Mizuno, Fabio Muleri, C-Y Ng, Stephen L. O’Dell, N. Omodei, C. Oppedisano, Alessandro Papitto, George G. Pavlov, Abel L. Peirson, M. Perri, M. Pesce-Rollins, Pierre-Olivier Petrucci, M. Pilia, Andrea Possenti, Juri Poutanen, Simonetta Puccetti, Brian D. Ramsey, John Rankin, Ajay Ratheesh, O. J. Roberts, Roger W. Romani, C. Sgró, Patrick Slane, P. Soffitta, G. Spandre, Douglas A. Swartz, Toru Tamagawa, F. Tavecchio, Yuzuru Tawara, Allyn F. Tennant, Nicholas E. Thomas, Francesco Tombesi, A. Trois, Sergey S. Tsygankov, Jacco Vink, Martin C. Weisskopf, Kinwah Wu
Abstract
ABSTRACT We report on IXPE, NICER, and XMM–Newton observations of the magnetar 1E 2259+586. We find that the source is significantly polarized at about or above 20 per cent for all phases except for the secondary peak where it is more weakly polarized. The polarization degree is strongest during the primary minimum which is also the phase where an absorption feature has been identified previously. The polarization angle of the photons are consistent with a rotating vector model with a mode switch between the primary minimum and the rest of the rotation of the neutron star. We propose a scenario in which the emission at the source is weakly polarized (as in a condensed surface) and, as the radiation passes through a plasma arch, resonant cyclotron scattering off of protons produces the observed polarized radiation. This confirms the magnetar nature of the source with a surface field greater than about 1015 G.