Polarized x-rays constrain the disk-jet geometry in the black hole x-ray binary Cygnus X-1
Additional information
Authors
Krawczynski H.,
Muleri F.,
Dovčiak M.,
Veledina A.,
Cavero N. R. .,
Svoboda J.,
Ingram A.,
Matt G.,
Garcia J. A. .,
Loktev V.,
Negro M.,
Poutanen J.,
Kitaguchi T.,
Podgorn'y J.,
Rankin J.,
Zhang W.,
Berdyugin A.,
Berdyugina S.,
Bianchi S.,
Blinov D.,
Capitanio F.,
Lalla N. D. .,
Draghis P.,
Fabiani S.,
Kagitani M.,
Kravtsov V.,
Kiehlmann S.,
Latronico L.,
Lutovinov A. A. .,
Mandarakas N.,
Marin F.,
Marinucci A.,
Miller J. M. .,
Mizuno T.,
Molkov S. V. .,
Omodei N.,
Petrucci P. O.,
Ratheesh A.,
Sakanoi T.,
Semena A. N. .,
Skalidis R.,
Soffitta P.,
Tennant A. F. .,
Thalhammer P.,
Tombesi F.,
Weisskopf M. C. .,
Wilms J.,
Zhang S.,
Agudo I.,
Antonelli L. A. .,
Bachetti M.,
Baldini L.,
Baumgartner W. H. .,
Bellazzini R.,
Bongiorno S. D. .,
Bonino R.,
Brez A.,
Bucciantini N.,
Castellano S.,
Cavazzuti E.,
Ciprini S.,
Costa E.,
Rosa A. D. .,
Monte E. D. .,
Gesu L. D. .,
Marco A. D. .,
Donnarumma I.,
Doroshenko V.,
Ehlert S. R. .,
Enoto T.,
Evangelista Y.,
Ferrazzoli R.,
Gunji S.,
Hayashida K.,
Heyl J.,
Iwakiri W.,
Jorstad S. G. .,
Karas V.,
Kolodziejczak J. J. .,
Monaca F. L. .,
Liodakis I.,
Maldera S.,
Manfreda A.,
Marscher A. P. .,
Marshall H. L. .,
Mitsuishi I.,
Ng C. Y.,
O’Dell S. L. .,
Oppedisano C.,
Papitto A.,
Pavlov G. G. .,
Peirson A. L. .,
Perri M.,
Pesce-Rollins M.,
Pilia M.,
Possenti A.,
Puccetti S.,
Ramsey B. D. .,
Romani R. W. .,
Sgr`o C.,
Slane P.,
Spandre G.,
Tamagawa T.,
Tavecchio F.,
Taverna R.,
Tawara Y.,
Thomas N. E. .,
Trois A.,
Tsygankov S.,
Turolla R.,
Vink J.,
Wu K.,
Xie F.,
Zane S.
Type
Journal Article
Year
2022
Language
English
Abstract
A black hole x-ray binary (XRB) system forms when gas is stripped from anormal star and accretes onto a black hole, which heats the gassufficiently to emit x-rays. We report a polarimetricobservation of the XRB Cygnus X-1 using the Imaging X-rayPolarimetry Explorer. The electric field position angle alignswith the outflowing jet, indicating that the jet is launchedfrom the inner x-ray–emitting region. Thepolarization degree is 4.01 ensuremathpm 0.20% at 2 to 8kiloelectronvolts, implying that the accretion disk is viewedcloser to edge-on than the binary orbit. These observationsreveal that hot x-ray–emitting plasma is spatiallyextended in a plane perpendicular to, not parallel to, the jetaxis.
Journal
Science
Volume
378
Number
6620
Start page number
650
End page number
654
