Polarimetry at high energies

Hajdas, W.; Suarez-Garcia, E.

doi:10.1007/978-1-4614-7804-1_34

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…At radio wavelengths, one can record both amplitude and phases for electromagnetic signals from astrophysical sources of interest, making wide-field spectro-polarimetric surveys such as The Global Magneto-Ionic Medium Survey possible. For a more detailed perspective, see Hajdas & Suarez-Garcia (2010) and Bernard (2013b), two recent reviews focusing on high and medium energy gamma-ray polarimetry.…”

Section: Past and Future Hard X-ray And Gamma-ray Polarimetersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gamma-Ray Polarimetry: A New Window for the Nonthermal Universe

Ilie

2019

PASP

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Over the past few decades impressive progress has been made in the field of photon polarimetry, especially in the hard X-ray and soft gamma-ray energy regime. Measurements of the linear degree of polarization for some of the most energetic astrophysical sources, such as Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) or Blazars, is now possible, at energies below the pair creation threshold. As such, a new window has been opened into understanding exact nature of the non-thermal emission mechanisms responsible for some of the most energetic phenomena in the Universe. There are still many open questions, and active debates, such as the discrimination between leptonic vs. hadronic models of emission for Blazars or ordered vs random field models for GRBs. Since the competing models predict different levels of linear photon polarization at energies above ∼ 1 MeV, gamma-ray polarimetry in that energy band could provide additional crucial insights. However, no polarimeter for gamma-rays with energies above ∼ 1 MeV has been flown into space, as the sensitivity is severely limited by a quick degradation of the angular resolution and by multiple Coulomb scatterings in the detector. Over the past few years a series of proposals and demonstrator instruments that aim to overcome those inherent difficulties have been put forth, and the prospects look promising. The paper is organized as follows: in Sec. 1 I briefly review the history and principles of gamma-ray polarimetry, emphasizing its challenges and successes; Sec. 2 is dedicated the discussion of gamma-ray polarization and polarimetry, whereas in Sec. 3.1 I discuss the past and current instruments with which measurements of linear polarization for hard X-rays and soft gamma-rays were successfully obtained for astrophysical sources; Sec. 4 outlines the scientific questions that could be solved by using gamma-ray polarimetry measurements. We end with a summary and outlook in Sec. 5

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Section: Past and Future Hard X-ray And Gamma-ray Polarimetersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gamma-Ray Polarimetry: A New Window for the Nonthermal Universe

Ilie

2019

PASP

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“…There are several recent reviews of photon polarimetry in astrophysics [14][15][16][17][18][19][20] which address many questions open for decades that could find a solution via γ ray polarization measurements. We will briefly discuss those problems in this section.…”

Section: Scientific Motivationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Polarimeters based on the photoelectric effect and Thomson scattering are used at very low energies. Compton polarimeters are commonly used for energies from 50 keV to a few MeV [14][15][16][17][18][19]. Those polarimeters are not efficient at a photon energy of 100 MeV because kinematical suppression of the Compton rate at large scattering angles leads to a fast drop in the analyzing power (as 1/E γ ) above the energy range of a few MeV.…”

Section: Photon Polarimetry In Astrophysics Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

High-energy photon polarimeter for astrophysics

Eingorn

Fernando

Vlahović

et al. 2018

J. Astron. Telesc. Instrum. Syst.

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Abstract. A high-energy photon polarimeter for astrophysics studies in the energy range from 10 to 800 MeV is considered. The proposed concept uses a stack of silicon microstrip detectors, where they play the roles of both a converter and a tracker. The purpose of this paper is to outline the parameters of such a polarimeter and to estimate the productivity of measurements. Our study, supported by a Monte Carlo simulation, shows that with a 1-year observation period the polarimeter will provide 6% accuracy of the polarization degree for photon energies above 100 MeV, which would be a significant advance relative to the currently explored energy range of a few MeV. The proposed polarimeter design could easily be adjusted to the specific photon energy range to maximize efficiency if needed. © The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. Distribution or reproduction of this work in whole or in part requires full attribution of the original publication, including its DOI.

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“…Especially in the passive mode the background in the detectors made proper extraction of the signal extremely difficult. Please see a larger review of these and other polarization instruments and measurement results in [4].…”

Section: Previous Instruments and Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Prospects of the Hard X-Ray Instrument POLAR to Measure Polarization of Solar Flares

Hajdas

Bao²,

Batsch³

et al. 2015

JAMP

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In-depth studies of solar flares emissions and energy releases include analyses of polarization data. Polarization gives clear information about mechanisms and processes leading to electron acceleration and photon production. Despite of many past attempts, the key energy range of hard X-rays was only rarely explored and results were inconclusive. To large extend it was due to greater instrumental complications. Currently several novel polarimeters are either to be employed or under constructions for both balloon and satellite based observations. The novel hard X-ray polarimeter POLAR is an instrument developed by a collaboration between Switzerland, China and Poland. It is primarily designed for high accuracy polarization measurements from the prompt photon emissions of the gamma-ray bursts. The satellite orientation and instrument pointing direction make it also capable for precise measurements of polarization in solar flares. The instrument should fly in near future onboard of the Chinese Space Station TG2.

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Polarimetry at high energies

Cited by 4 publications

References 45 publications

Gamma-Ray Polarimetry: A New Window for the Nonthermal Universe

Gamma-Ray Polarimetry: A New Window for the Nonthermal Universe

High-energy photon polarimeter for astrophysics

Prospects of the Hard X-Ray Instrument POLAR to Measure Polarization of Solar Flares

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