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Published November 20, 2023 | Version Published
Journal Article Open

Discovery of X-Ray Polarization from the Black Hole Transient Swift J1727.8−1613

Creators

  • 1. ROR icon University of Turku
  • 2. ROR icon Stockholm University
  • 3. ROR icon National Institute for Astrophysics
  • 4. ROR icon Astronomical Institute
  • 5. ROR icon Roma Tre University
  • 6. ROR icon Marshall Space Flight Center
  • 7. ROR icon Louisiana State University
  • 8. ROR icon Newcastle University
  • 9. ROR icon Washington University in St. Louis
  • 10. ROR icon Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
  • 11. ROR icon Goddard Space Flight Center
  • 12. ROR icon Osservatorio Astronomico di Cagliari
  • 13. ROR icon Agenzia Spaziale Italiana
  • 14. ROR icon University of Rome Tor Vergata
  • 15. ROR icon INFN Sezione di Roma II
  • 16. ROR icon University of Maryland, College Park
  • 17. ROR icon University of Hong Kong
  • 18. ROR icon Special Astrophysical Observatory
  • 19. ROR icon California Institute of Technology
  • 20. ROR icon Institut de Planétologie et d'Astrophysique de Grenoble
  • 21. ROR icon Observatory of Strasbourg
  • 22. ROR icon Charles University
  • 23. ROR icon INFN Sezione di Torino
  • 24. ROR icon University of Turin
  • 25. ROR icon University College London
  • 26. ROR icon National Astronomical Observatories
  • 27. Instituto de Astrofísicade Andalucía—CSIC, Glorieta de la Astronomía s/n, E-18008 Granada, Spain
  • 28. ROR icon Astronomical Observatory of Rome
  • 29. ROR icon INFN Sezione di Pisa
  • 30. ROR icon University of Pisa
  • 31. ROR icon Arcetri Astrophysical Observatory
  • 32. ROR icon University of Florence
  • 33. ROR icon INFN Sezione di Firenze
  • 34. ROR icon Universities Space Research Association
  • 35. ROR icon Stanford University
  • 36. ROR icon University of Tübingen
  • 37. ROR icon RIKEN
  • 38. ROR icon Yamagata University
  • 39. ROR icon Osaka University
  • 40. ROR icon University of British Columbia
  • 41. ROR icon Chiba University
  • 42. ROR icon Boston University
  • 43. ROR icon St Petersburg University
  • 44. ROR icon University of New Hampshire
  • 45. ROR icon INFN Sezione di Napoli
  • 46. ROR icon Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • 47. ROR icon Nagoya University
  • 48. ROR icon Hiroshima University
  • 49. ROR icon Pennsylvania State University
  • 50. ROR icon Brera Astronomical Observatory
  • 51. ROR icon University of Padua
  • 52. ROR icon University of Amsterdam
  • 53. ROR icon Guangxi University

Abstract

We report the first detection of the X-ray polarization of the bright transient Swift J1727.8−1613 with the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer. The observation was performed at the beginning of the 2023 discovery outburst, when the source resided in the bright hard state. We find a time- and energy-averaged polarization degree of 4.1% ± 0.2% and a polarization angle of 22 ± 13 (errors at 68% confidence level; this translates to ∼20σ significance of the polarization detection). This finding suggests that the hot corona emitting the bulk of the detected X-rays is elongated, rather than spherical. The X-ray polarization angle is consistent with that found in submillimeter wavelengths. Since the submillimeter polarization was found to be aligned with the jet direction in other X-ray binaries, this indicates that the corona is elongated orthogonal to the jet.

Copyright and License

© 2023. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society.

Original content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.

Acknowledgement

The Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) is a joint US and Italian mission. The US contribution is supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and led and managed by its Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), with industry partner Ball Aerospace (contract NNM15AA18C). The Italian contribution is supported by the Italian Space Agency (Agenzia Spaziale Italiana, ASI) through contract ASI-OHBI-2022-13-I.0, agreements ASI-INAF-2022-19-HH.0 and ASI-INFN-2017.13-H0, and its Space Science Data Center (SSDC) with agreements ASI-INAF-2022-14-HH.0 and ASI-INFN 2021-43-HH.0, and by the Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF) and the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) in Italy. This research used data products provided by the IXPE Team (MSFC, SSDC, INAF, and INFN) and distributed with additional software tools by the High-Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center (HEASARC), at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). This research has made use of the MAXI data provided by RIKEN, JAXA, and the MAXI team.

A.V. thanks the Academy of Finland grant 355672 for support. M.D., J.S., J.Pod., and V.Kar. thank GACR project 21-06825X for the support and institutional support from RVO:67985815. A.I. acknowledges support from the Royal Society. H.K. acknowledges support by NASA grants 80NSSC22K1291, 80NSSC23K1041, and 80NSSC20K0329. V.Kra. acknowledges support from the Finnish Cultural Foundation. The French contribution is supported by the French Space Agency (Centre National d'Etude Spatiale, CNES) and by the High Energy National Programme (PNHE) of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS). I.L. was supported by the NASA Postdoctoral Program at the Marshall Space Flight Center, administered by Oak Ridge Associated Universities under contract with NASA.

Facilities

IXPE - , MAXI. - JAXA Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image experiment

Software References

ixpeobssim (Baldini et al. 2022), xspec (Arnaud 1996).

Files

Veledina_2023_ApJL_958_L16.pdf

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Additional details

Related works

Is new version of
Discussion Paper: arXiv:2309.15928 (arXiv)

Funding

National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NNM15AA18C
Agenzia Spaziale Italiana
ASI-OHBI-2022-13-I.0
Agenzia Spaziale Italiana
ASI-INAF-2022-19-HH.0
Agenzia Spaziale Italiana
ASI-INFN-2017.13-H0
Agenzia Spaziale Italiana
ASI-INAF-2022-14-HH.0
Agenzia Spaziale Italiana
SI-INFN 2021-43-HH.0
National Institute for Astrophysics
Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare
Research Council of Finland
355672
Czech Science Foundation
21-06825X
Czech Academy of Sciences
RVO:67985815
Royal Society
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
80NSSC22K1291
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
80NSSC23K1041
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
80NSSC20K0329
Finnish Cultural Foundation
Centre National d'Études Spatiales
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NASA Postdoctoral Program -

Dates

Accepted
2023-10-25
Available
2023-11-21
Published

Caltech Custom Metadata

Caltech groups
Division of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy (PMA)
Publication Status
Published