Polarization of Compton X-rays from Jets in AGN

Details Polarization of Compton X-rays from Jets in AGN Polarization of Compton X-rays from Jets in AGN

2009-06-11

arxiv.org/abs/0906.2096v1

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

to appear in "X-ray Polarimetry: A New Window in Astrophysics", edited by R. Bellazzini, E. Costa, G. Matt and G. Tagliaferri

Scientific paper

We investigate the polarization of Compton scattered X-rays from relativistic jets in active galactic nuclei using Monte Carlo simulations. We consider three scenarios: scattering of photons from an accretion disk, scattering of cosmic microwave background (CMB) photons, and synchrotron self-Comptonization (SSC) within the jet. For Comptonization of thermal disk photons or CMB photons the maximum linear polarization attained is slightly over 20% at viewing angles close to 90 degrees. The value decreases with the viewing inclination. For SSC, the maximum value may exceed 80%. The angle dependence is complicated, and it varies with the photon injection sites. Our study demonstrates that X-ray polarization, in addition to multi-wavelength spectra, can distinguish certain models for emission and particle acceleration in relativistic jets.

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