The Polarization of Reprocessed Annihilation Line Radiation in Compact Objects

Details The Polarization of Reprocessed Annihilation Line Radiation in Compact Objects The Polarization of Reprocessed Annihilation Line Radiation in Compact Objects

Dec 2004

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2004aas...205.7602b&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society Meeting 205, #76.02; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 36, p.1472

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Scientific paper

Compact objects in the Milky Way provide excellent candidates for probing source geometry using X-ray and soft gamma-ray polarimetry, since they are luminous and possess highly anisotropic environs. The Einstein source 1E1740.7-2942 near the Galactic Center (GC) is an interesting case: it has been known to exhibit 511 keV line emission that is somewhat variable. Improved observations of hard X-rays just over a decade ago saw evidence of a bump at around 170 keV that was not connected to positronium decay emission. This bump was interpreted as part of a Compton reflection feature of the 511 keV line that manifests itself at 170-511 keV. The reflection is presumed to take place off an accretion disk or some blob of material. The asymmetry of such "target" geometries automatically implies significant hard X-ray/soft gamma-ray polarization that couples to the spectral shape. This paper computes such polarization signatures for certain matter geometries and observational perspectives, thereby providing environmental diagnostics for 1E1740.7-2942 and other accreting compact objects such as Nova Muscae. These model developments are germane to the INTEGRAL hard X-ray/gamma-ray experiment, launched in late 2002, which can potentially measure polarization in this energy band, sensitive to around the 10% level in 1E1740.7-2942 and other galactic and extragalactic sources.
This work was sponsored by NASA as part of the INTEGRAL Guest Investigator Program.

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