Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2003-02-06
Mon.Not.Roy.Astron.Soc. 342 (2003) 134
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
23 pages, 9 figures
Scientific paper
10.1046/j.1365-8711.2003.06521.x
In the presence of strong magnetic fields, the vacuum becomes a birefringent medium. We show that this QED effect decouples the polarization modes of photons leaving the NS surface. Both the total intensity and the intensity in each of the two modes is preserved along a ray's path through the neutron-star magnetosphere. We analyze the consequences that this effect has on aligning the observed polarization vectors across the image of the stellar surface to generate large net polarizations. Counter to previous predictions, we show that the thermal radiation of NSs should be highly polarized even in the optical. When detected, this polarization will be the first demonstration of vacuum birefringence. It could be used as a tool to prove the high magnetic field nature of AXPs and it could also be used to constrain physical NS parameters, such as $R/M$, to which the net polarization is sensitive.
Heyl Jeremy S.
Lloyd D. D.
Shaviv Nir J.
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