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    • Hard X-ray polarimetry—an overview of the method, science drivers, and recent findings

      TANMOY CHATTOPADHYAY

      Review Volume 42 Published: 26 October 2021 Article ID 0106

    • Fulltext

       

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      https://www.ias.ac.in/article/fulltext/joaa/042/0106

    • Keywords

       

      Hard X-ray polarimetry; scattering polarimetry; black holes; neutron stars; gamma-ray bursts; AstroSat, POLAR; PoGO$+$.

    • Abstract

       

      The last decade has seen a leapfrog in the interest of X-ray polarimetry with a number of new polarization measurements in hard X-rays from AstroSat, POLAR, GAP, and PoGO$+$. The measurements provide some interesting insights into various astrophysical phenomena such as coronal geometry and disk–jet connection in black hole X-ray binaries, hard X-ray emission mechanism in pulsars, and gamma-ray bursts. They also highlight an increase in polarization with energy, which makes hard X-ray polarimetry extremely appealing. There are a number of confirmed hard X-ray polarimetry experiments which along with the existing instruments (AstroSat and INTEGRAL) make this field further exciting. Polarization experiments may also see significant progress in sensitivity with new developments in scintillator readouts, active pixel sensors, and cadmium zinc telluride detectors. In particular, the advent of hard X-ray focusing optics willenable the designing of compact focal plane polarimeters with a multifold enhancement in sensitivity. In this review, we will focus on the recent polarimetry findings and science potential of hard X-ray polarimetry along with possible improvements in the measurement techniques.

    • Author Affiliations

       

      TANMOY CHATTOPADHYAY1

      1. Kavli Institute of Astrophysics and Cosmology, 452 Lomita Mall, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.

    • Dates

       
      Published
      26 October 2021
      Manuscript received
      6 October 2020
      Accepted
      9 April 2021
      Final version published online
      26 October 2021

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