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from Part II - Polarized emission in X-ray sources
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 July 2010
Radiation of X-ray bursts and of accretion shocks in weakly magnetized neutron stars in low-mass X-ray binaries is produced in plane-parallel atmospheres dominated by electron scattering. We first discuss polarization produced by single (non-magnetic) Compton scattering, in particular the depolarizing effect of high electron temperature, and then the polarization due to multiple electron scattering in a slab. We further predict the X-ray pulse profiles and polarization properties of nuclear-and accretion-powered millisecond pulsars. We introduce a relativistic rotation vector model, which includes the effect of rotation of polarization plane due to the rapid motion of the hot spot as well as the light bending. Future observations of the X-ray polarization will provide a valuable tool to test the geometry of the emission region in pulsars and its physical characteristics.
Introduction
Polarization has proved to be a valuable tool in determining the geometry of the emission region in radio pulsars. For X-ray pulsars, the data are not yet available, but their interpretation in any case is not going to be easy, because of the strong magnetic field effects on the radiation transport. Discovery of millisecond coherent pulsations during X-ray bursts in nearly 20 low-mass X-ray binaries (so-called nuclear-powered millisecond pulsars (NMSP) see and in the persistent emission of at least eight sources (accretion-powered millisecond pulsars (AMSP) see opens a completely new range of possibilities. The emission in these cases is produced at the surface of a rapidly spinning, weakly magnetized neutron star.
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