Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Sep 2011
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011head...12.2404r&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, HEAD meeting #12, #24.04
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
A dozen or more young shell supernova remnants (SNRs) show fast shocks and hard X-ray continuum emission best interpreted as synchrotron emission. The X-ray emission from pulsar-wind nebulae (PWNe) is entirely synchrotron. Radio emission from young SNRs is polarized at typical levels of 5 -- 15%, while that from PWNe can reach 50% polarization or more. Thus extended polarized X-ray emission is expected for both classes of source. Its detection would confirm beyond any doubt the synchrotron interpretation for those SNR X-ray continua. It will allow the inference of the degree of order in the magnetic field in X-ray emitting regions, along with the spatial orientation of the ordered component. Fractional polarizations may either be higher in X-rays than radio, due to the absence of any Faraday effects at X-ray wavelengths, or lower if magnetic fields are less ordered in (generally smaller) X-ray emitting regions. Efficient particle acceleration in SNRs can result in amplification of the magnetic field by orders of magnitude. The degree of order expected in such amplified fields is unknown; if fields are highly turbulent, no net polarization may survive. I shall review prospects for detecting polarized X-ray emission from SNRs and PWNe and what we stand to learn from detections or upper limits.
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