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A picture of the Pulsar system PSR J1023+0038 shows the central pulsar and an accretion disc around it. | Credit: Marco Maria Messa, University of Milan/Inaf-Oab; Maria Cristina Baglio, Inaf-Oab
Astronomers have discovered that the radiation, which is dominated by a rapidly rotating neutron star or “Pulsar”, emitted effects of its strong particle winds – and not by the material that it roars from a companion star.
The pulsar in question is PSR J1023+0038 (J1023), which is located in a binary system that is 4,500 light years away from the earth. This binary file consists of a “dead star” or neutron star, which plays about 600 times a second, as well as a star with a low mass on which the neutron star “feeds”.
The fast spin of J1023 classifies it as a millisecond -pulsar, but because it clearly switches between an active state – in which it feeds and breasts radiation from its poles and an inactive state, it is part of a rare subclass called “transition millisel pulse”. “J1023, one of only three known Pulsar Pulsars Pulse Pulse for transition millis customers, is an invaluable goal for astronomers.
“Transitional millislers are cosmic laboratories that help us understand how neutron stars develop in binary systems,” said the researcher of Team Leader and National Institute for Astrophysics (inaf), Maria Cristina Baglio. “J1023 is a particularly valuable data source, since it clearly changes between its active state, in which it feeds itself from its accompanying star, and a quieter state in which it behaves like a standard pulse that provides demonstrable radio waves.”
The matter that this neutron star strips out of his companion does not fall directly on the surface of the dead star, but instead forms a flattened cloud or a “accretion disc” around the star. Since this hard drive over the neutron star and gradually feeds it, it emits a strong radiation that consists of wavelengths over the electromagnetic spectrum.
Thus, the team was able to examine J1023 Using Nasa’s Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE), The European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Northern Chile, and the Karl G. Jansky Very Array (VLA) in New Mexico, Making This the First Survey of Binary X-Ray Source Over the X-Ray, Optical and Radio Bands of the Electromagnetic Spectrum.
“During the observations, the Pulsar was in an active phase with low luminosity, which is characterized by quick changes between different X -ray lightness levels,” said Baglio.
An illustration of a rapidly rotating neutron star or “Pulsar”. | Credit: Robert Lea (created with Canva)/NASA
By assessing J1023 in three ligaments of the electromagnetic spectrum, the team was able to determine the polarization of the radiation, which comes from this pulsar. Polarization refers to the orientation of light waves when they spread.
The observation of IXPE was particularly noteworthy that 12% of the X -rays of J1023 are polarized. This is the highest level of polarization that has ever been seen by such a binary star system.
The radio wave and optical light emissions showed lower polarizations of 2% or 1%. The fact that it was aligned in the same direction as the angle of X -ray polarization was particularly interesting in optical polarization. This indicates a common mechanism for the polarization of X -rays and the polarization of the optical light.
The results confirm an earlier theory that indicated that the observed polarized emissions from binary systems such as J1023 are generated when pulsars winch, currents of highly energy-loaded particles flow from these dead stars, open the matter in the surrounding accretion panes.
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Finally, this research could help scientists to understand what Pulsare does with forces, and it would not have been possible without the sensitivity of IXPE.
“This observation was extremely difficult given the low intensity of the X-ray flow, but the sensitivity of IXPE enabled us to secure and measure this remarkable direction between optical and X-ray polarization,” said the team member and inaf researcher Alessandro di Marco. “This study is an ingenious way to test theoretical scenarios thanks to polarimetric observations in several wavelengths.”
The team’s research was published on July 1st in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.
