The Discovery of Rapid Polarization Angle Variation during the 2022 Outburst of XTE J1701-462
The geometry of the Comptonization corona in neutron star low-mass X-ray binaries is still unclear. We conducted time-resolved polarimetric analysis of the archival observations of XTE J1701–462 obtained with the Imaging X-ray Polarimeter Explorer during its 2022 outburst and found that the polariza...
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
IOP Publishing
2025-01-01
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| Series: | The Astrophysical Journal |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adb8cf |
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| Summary: | The geometry of the Comptonization corona in neutron star low-mass X-ray binaries is still unclear. We conducted time-resolved polarimetric analysis of the archival observations of XTE J1701–462 obtained with the Imaging X-ray Polarimeter Explorer during its 2022 outburst and found that the polarization angle (PA) varied significantly with time when the source was in the normal branch, with 67 ^∘ ± 8 ^∘ in the first epoch, −34 ^∘ ± 8 ^∘ in the second, and −58 ^∘ ± 8 ^∘ in the third, last epoch. Meanwhile, the polarization degree remained constant at around 2%, above the minimum detectable polarization at the 99% confidence level (MDP _99 ). The rapid PA variation causes depolarization in the time-averaged data, resulting in a nondetection as reported in the literature. The rapid (intraday) PA variation may suggest that there is a fast transformation of the corona geometry, likely switching from a slab geometry with enhanced disk emission and reflection, to a more vertically extended spreading layer geometry. |
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| ISSN: | 1538-4357 |