Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
Jul 1979
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1979a%26a....76..338m&link_type=abstract
Astronomy and Astrophysics, vol. 76, no. 3, July 1979, p. 338-345.
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
21
Binary Stars, Linear Polarization, Periodic Variations, Rayleigh Scattering, Rotating Matter, X Ray Sources, Spherical Harmonics, Spin, Stellar Rotation, Symmetry, X Ray Binaries
Scientific paper
Linear polarization produced by single Rayleigh scattering of unpolarized radiation in a rotating system with arbitrary distributions of scatterers, absorbers, and radiation field is considered. A formalism for calculating the various harmonics of polarization variations due to the system's rotation is presented and used to derive some general relations between system properties and observable quantities. It is shown that for a system where the optical depth for absorption from any scatterer to infinity along the line of sight is independent of rotational phase, the system's angle of inclination can be determined in two independent ways from the observed eccentricities of the fundamental and first-harmonic polarization ellipses. Potential applications of such computations to normal and X-ray binaries, rotating compact stars, and other rotating systems of astrophysical interest are indicated.
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