Optical/Infrared Polarised Emission in X-ray Binaries
Division of Science, New York University Abu Dhabi, P.O. Box 129188, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Galaxies 2018, 6(1), 3; https://doi.org/10.3390/galaxies6010003
Received: 19 September 2017 / Revised: 12 December 2017 / Accepted: 19 December 2017 / Published: 4 January 2018
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polarised Emission from Astrophysical Jets)
Recently, evidence for synchrotron emission in both black-hole (BH) and neutron star X-ray binaries has been mounting, from optical/infrared spectral, polarimetric, and fast timing signatures. The synchrotron emission of jets can be highly linearly polarised, depending on the configuration of the magnetic field (B-field). Optical and infrared (OIR) polarimetric observations of X-ray binaries are presented in this brief review. The OIR polarimetric signature of relativistic jets is detected at levels of ∼1–10%, similarly to for active galactic nuclei (AGN) cores. This reveals that the magnetic geometry in the compact jets may be similar for supermassive and stellar-mass BHs. The B-fields near the jet base in most of these systems appear to be turbulent, variable and on average, aligned with the jet axis, although there are some exceptions. These measurements probe the physical conditions in the accretion (out)flow and demonstrate a new way of connecting inflow and outflow, using both rapid timing and polarisation. Variations in polarisation could be due to rapid changes of the ordering of the B-field in the emitting region, or in one case, flares from individual ejections or collisions between ejecta. It is predicted that in some cases, variable levels of X-ray polarisation from synchrotron emission originating in jets will be detected from accreting galactic BHs with upcoming spaceborne X-ray polarimeters.
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Keywords:
accretion; accretion disks; ISM: jets and outflows; X-ray binaries
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
MDPI and ACS Style
Russell, D.M. Optical/Infrared Polarised Emission in X-ray Binaries. Galaxies 2018, 6, 3. https://doi.org/10.3390/galaxies6010003
AMA Style
Russell DM. Optical/Infrared Polarised Emission in X-ray Binaries. Galaxies. 2018; 6(1):3. https://doi.org/10.3390/galaxies6010003
Chicago/Turabian StyleRussell, David M. 2018. "Optical/Infrared Polarised Emission in X-ray Binaries" Galaxies 6, no. 1: 3. https://doi.org/10.3390/galaxies6010003
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