We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
from Part I - Polarimetry techniques
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 July 2010
The most successful measurements of cosmic X-ray polarization have been made with Bragg crystal polarimeters. We review the fundamental techniques of Bragg crystal polarimetry, describe how these were implemented on the OSO-8 spacecraft and the SXRP polarimeteter intended for flight aboard the Spectrum-X-Gamma mission, and now, 35 years later, present an optimized design for a small satellite dedicated to polarimetric observations.
Introduction
A photon carries information about its direction, time of arrival, energy and polarization. Satellite missions such as Uhuru, Ariel V, HEAO-1 and ROSAT located hundreds of sources in their all-sky surveys, and missions such as HEAO-1, ASCA, Suzaku, RXTE, Chandra, and XMM/Newton characterized source spectra and time variability. The X-ray community now needs polarization information to reveal the intrinsic small-scale geometry of astrophysical systems and to evaluate physical processes in regions near compact objects which cannot be resolved via imaging, spectroscopy or timing.
X-ray radiation is polarized when the production mechanism has an implicit directionality, such as when electrons interact with a magnetic field to produce cyclotron and synchrotron emission. In radio quasars, for example, the amplitude of the polarization is a diagnostic for the X-ray emission mechanism and the polarization direction associates the X-ray emission with particular regions identified in milli-arc-second radio images. Polarization also occurs when X-rays are scattered by electrons, a common process in the highly ionized environments of compact X-ray sources.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.
