Wednesday, November 19, 2025 - 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Morse Hall, rm 301 -OR- Teams online
Speaker:
University of New Hampshire Department of Physics & Astronomy
Abstract:
Since the discovery of the first extra-solar X-ray source, Scorpius X-1, by Giacconi and collaborators in 1962, X-ray imaging, spectroscopic and timing observations have significantly deepened our understanding of the most extreme objects in the universe. Copious amounts of X-rays are emitted from the innermost regions around mass-accreting black holes and neutron stars. The strongest graviational fields, strongest magnetic fields and densest forms of matter in the Universe are found in these regions. Therefore, the X-ray emission from black holes and neutron stars allows us to study these fascinating astrophysical objects.
The polarization of light carries geometrical information about emitting regions that are too small to be imaged directly. Hence, the polarization of X-rays gives us access to the details of these compact objects that we cannot study by other means. For a long time, progress in this area has been limited by a number of technical challenges. However, the last decade has seen several important breakthroughs with NASA's Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer satellite, launched in December 2021, and the balloon-borne hard X-ray polarimeter XL-Calibur which was launched for a 5-day flight from Kiruna, Sweden, in summer 2024.
In this seminar, I will give an introduction the science of X-ray polarimetry and how to measure the polarization of X-rays. I will review some of the advances in our understanding of neutron star and black hole X-ray binary systems X-ray polarimetry has enabled, and will conclude with an outlook towards future prospects of the field.
Check out the rest of this season's Space Science Seminar Series, as well as previous recordings.
