Astro2020 Science White Paper: Using X-Ray Polarimetry to Probe the Physics of Black Holes and Neutron Stars
Abstract
This white paper highlights compact object and fundamental physics science opportunities afforded by high-throughput broadband (0.1-60 keV) X-ray polarization observations. X-ray polarimetry gives new observables with geometric information about stellar remnants which are many orders of magnitude too small for direct imaging. The X-ray polarimetric data also reveal details about the emission mechanisms and the structure of the magnetic fields in and around the most extreme objects in the Universe. Whereas the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) to be launched in 2021 will obtain first results for bright objects, a follow-up mission could be one order of magnitude more sensitive and would be able to use a broader bandpass to perform physics type experiments for representative samples of sources.
- Publication:
-
arXiv e-prints
- Pub Date:
- April 2019
- DOI:
- 10.48550/arXiv.1904.09313
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1904.09313
- Bibcode:
- 2019arXiv190409313K
- Keywords:
-
- Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena;
- General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
- E-Print:
- White Paper submitted to the Astro2020 Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Survey organized by the Board of Physics and Astronomy and the Space Studies Board of the National Academies
