학술논문

X-Ray Polarization Observations of BL Lacertae
Document Type
article
Author
Riccardo MiddeiIoannis LiodakisMatteo PerriSimonetta PuccettiElisabetta CavazzutiLaura Di GesuSteven R. EhlertGrzegorz MadejskiAlan P. MarscherHerman L. MarshallFabio MuleriMichela NegroSvetlana G. JorstadBeatriz Agís-GonzálezIván AgudoGiacomo BonnoliMaria I. BernardosVíctor CasanovaMaya García-ComasCésar HusillosAlessandro MarchiniAlfredo SotaPouya M. KouchElina LindforsGeorge A. BormanEvgenia N. KopatskayaElena G. LarionovaDaria A. MorozovaSergey S. SavchenkoAndrey A. VasilyevAlexey V. ZhovtanCarolina CasadioJuan EscuderoIoannis MyserlisAntonio HalesSeiji KamenoRuediger KneisslHugo MessiasHiroshi NagaiDmitry BlinovIoakeim G. BourbahSebastian KiehlmannEvangelos KontopodisNikos MandarakasStylianos RomanopoulosRaphael SkalidisAnna VervelakiJoseph R. MasieroDimitri MawetMaxwell A. Millar-BlanchaerGeorgia V. PanopoulouSamaporn TinyanontAndrei V. BerdyuginMasato KagitaniVadim KravtsovTakeshi SakanoiRyo ImazawaMahito SasadaYasushi FukazawaKoji S. KawabataMakoto UemuraTsunefumi MizunoTatsuya NakaokaHiroshi AkitayaMark GurwellRamprasad RaoNiccoló Di LallaNicoló CibrarioImmacolata DonnarummaDawoon E. KimNicola OmodeiLuigi PaccianiJuri PoutanenFabrizio TavecchioLucio A. AntonelliMatteo BachettiLuca BaldiniWayne H. BaumgartnerRonaldo BellazziniStefano BianchiStephen D. BongiornoRaffaella BoninoAlessandro BrezNiccoló BucciantiniFiamma CapitanioSimone CastellanoStefano CipriniEnrico CostaAlessandra De RosaEttore Del MonteAlessandro Di MarcoVictor DoroshenkoMichal DovčiakTeruaki EnotoYuri EvangelistaSergio FabianiRiccardo FerrazzoliJavier A. GarciaShuichi GunjiKiyoshi HayashidaJeremy HeylWataru IwakiriVladimir KarasTakao KitaguchiJeffery J. KolodziejczakHenric KrawczynskiFabio La MonacaLuca LatronicoSimone MalderaAlberto ManfredaFrédéric MarinAndrea MarinucciFrancesco MassaroGiorgio MattIkuyuki MitsuishiC.-Y. NgStephen L. O’DellChiara OppedisanoAlessandro PapittoGeorge G. PavlovAbel L. PeirsonMelissa Pesce-RollinsPierre-Olivier PetrucciMaura PiliaAndrea PossentiBrian D. RamseyJohn RankinAjay RatheeshRoger W. RomaniCarmelo SgróPatrick SlanePaolo SoffittaGloria SpandreToru TamagawaRoberto TavernaYuzuru TawaraAllyn F. TennantNicholas E. ThomasFrancesco TombesiAlessio TroisSergey TsygankovRoberto TurollaJacco VinkMartin C. WeisskopfKinwah WuFei XieSilvia Zane
Source
The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol 942, Iss 1, p L10 (2022)
Subject
Relativistic jets
X-ray active galactic nuclei
Active galactic nuclei
Blazars
Spectropolarimetry
Astrophysics
QB460-466
Language
English
ISSN
2041-8213
2041-8205
Abstract
Blazars are a class of jet-dominated active galactic nuclei with a typical double-humped spectral energy distribution. It is of common consensus that the synchrotron emission is responsible for the low frequency peak, while the origin of the high frequency hump is still debated. The analysis of X-rays and their polarization can provide a valuable tool to understand the physical mechanisms responsible for the origin of high-energy emission of blazars. We report the first observations of BL Lacertae (BL Lac) performed with the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer, from which an upper limit to the polarization degree Π _X < 12.6% was found in the 2–8 keV band. We contemporaneously measured the polarization in radio, infrared, and optical wavelengths. Our multiwavelength polarization analysis disfavors a significant contribution of proton-synchrotron radiation to the X-ray emission at these epochs. Instead, it supports a leptonic origin for the X-ray emission in BL Lac.