Polarized blazar X-rays imply particle acceleration in shocks

Kód výsledku v IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F67985815%3A_____%2F22%3A00565393" target="_blank" >RIV/67985815:_____/22:00565393 - isvavai.cz</a>

Výsledek na webu

<a href="https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0338030" target="_blank" >https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0338030</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05338-0" target="_blank" >10.1038/s41586-022-05338-0</a>

Jazyk výsledku

angličtina

Název v původním jazyce

Polarized blazar X-rays imply particle acceleration in shocks

Popis výsledku v původním jazyce

Most of the light from blazars, active galactic nuclei with jets of magnetized plasma that point nearly along the line of sight, is produced by high-energy particles, up to around 1 TeV. Although the jets are known to be ultimately powered by a supermassive black hole, how the particles are accelerated to such high energies has been an unanswered question. The process must be related to the magnetic field, which can be probed by observations of the polarization of light from the jets. Measurements of the radio to optical polarization-the only range available until now-probe extended regions of the jet containing particles that left the acceleration site days to years earlier(1-3), and hence do not directly explore the acceleration mechanism, as could X-ray measurements. Here we report the detection of X-ray polarization from the blazar Markarian 501 (Mrk 501). We measure an X-ray linear polarization degree Pi(x) of around 10%, which is a factor of around 2 higher than the value at optical wavelengths, with a polarization angle parallel to the radio jet. This points to a shock front as the source of particle acceleration and also implies that the plasma becomes increasingly turbulent with distance from the shock.

Název v anglickém jazyce

Polarized blazar X-rays imply particle acceleration in shocks

Popis výsledku anglicky

Most of the light from blazars, active galactic nuclei with jets of magnetized plasma that point nearly along the line of sight, is produced by high-energy particles, up to around 1 TeV. Although the jets are known to be ultimately powered by a supermassive black hole, how the particles are accelerated to such high energies has been an unanswered question. The process must be related to the magnetic field, which can be probed by observations of the polarization of light from the jets. Measurements of the radio to optical polarization-the only range available until now-probe extended regions of the jet containing particles that left the acceleration site days to years earlier(1-3), and hence do not directly explore the acceleration mechanism, as could X-ray measurements. Here we report the detection of X-ray polarization from the blazar Markarian 501 (Mrk 501). We measure an X-ray linear polarization degree Pi(x) of around 10%, which is a factor of around 2 higher than the value at optical wavelengths, with a polarization angle parallel to the radio jet. This points to a shock front as the source of particle acceleration and also implies that the plasma becomes increasingly turbulent with distance from the shock.

Druh

J_imp - Článek v periodiku v databázi Web of Science

CEP obor

—

OECD FORD obor

10308 - Astronomy (including astrophysics,space science)

Projekt

—

Návaznosti

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Rok uplatnění

2022

Kód důvěrnosti údajů

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Název periodika

Nature

ISSN

0028-0836

e-ISSN

1476-4687

Svazek periodika

611

Číslo periodika v rámci svazku

7937

Stát vydavatele periodika

GB - Spojené království Velké Británie a Severního Irska

Počet stran výsledku

5

Strana od-do

677-681

Kód UT WoS článku

000887932800007

EID výsledku v databázi Scopus

2-s2.0-85142454147