Computer Science
Scientific paper
May 1966
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1966saosr.212.....d&link_type=abstract
SAO Special Report #212 (1966)
Computer Science
Scientific paper
The processes by which X-radiation can be emitted by celestial sources are investigated, and the net polarization such radiation would possess is predicted. The amount of polarization observed at the earth would depend both on the mechanism producing the radiation and on the fractional extent of the source over which it is coherently polarized. Highly polarized X-radiation would suggest synchrotron emission as the source mechanism. Radiation whose polarization is low but nonzero would be produced by synchrotron emission from a source whose magnetic fields are inhomogeneous on a large scale, or by bremsstrahlung of electrons whose velocity vectors lie in one predominant direction. Nonobservable polarization would result from sources of synchrotron radiation whose magnetic fields showed small-scale irregularities, from the bremsstrahlung of electrons whose velocity vectors are either random or spherically symmetric in direction over the entire source, or from sources whose mechanism of producing the radiation imparts no net polarization, e.g., thermal radiation from neutron stars, line radiation from electronic shell transitions within atoms, and the inverse Compton effect. Measurement of the net polarization of the X-rays from the several known celestial sources could thus lead to the specification of the mechanisms capable of producing the radiation from such sources. The various experimental methods of measuring the linear polarization of X-radiation are considered, and the Borrmann effect (the anomalous transmission of X-rays through a perfect crystal) is experimentally investigated. Results indicate that a satellite-borne polarimeter employing the Borrmann effect is a feasible means of determining whether celestial X-ray sources possess any significant polarization.
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