The Polarized Cosmic Hand: IXPE Observations of PSR B1509-58/MSH 15-5 2

Journal
Date Issued
2023
Author(s)
Romani, Roger W.
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Wong, Josephine
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Di Lalla, Niccoló
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Omodei, Nicola
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Ng, C. -Y.
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Slane, Patrick
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Vink, Jacco
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Wu, Kinwah
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Zane, Silvia
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Weisskopf, Martin C.
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Johnston, Simon
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Wei, Deng
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Yang, Yi-Jung
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Zhang, Shumeng
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Baldini, Luca
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Baumgartner, Wayne H.
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Bellazzini, Ronaldo
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Bianchi, Stefano
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Bongiorno, Stephen D.
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Bonino, Raffaella
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Brez, Alessandro
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Castellano, Simone
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Cavazzuti, Elisabetta
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Chen, Chien-Ting
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Cibrario, Nicoló
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Ciprini, Stefano
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Di Gesu, Laura
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Donnarumma, Immacolata
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Doroshenko, Victor
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Dovčiak, Michal
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Ehlert, Steven R.
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Enoto, Teruaki
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Garcia, Javier A.
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Gunji, Shuichi
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Hayashida, Kiyoshi
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Heyl, Jeremy
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Iwakiri, Wataru
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Liodakis, Ioannis
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Kaaret, Philip
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Karas, Vladimir
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Kim, Dawoon E.
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Kitaguchi, Takao
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Kolodziejczak, Jeffery J.
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Krawczynski, Henric
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Latronico, Luca
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Madejski, Grzegorz
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Maldera, Simone
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Manfreda, Alberto
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Marin, Frédéric
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Marinucci, Andrea
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Marscher, Alan P.
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Marshall, Herman L.
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Mitsuishi, Ikuyuki
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Mizuno, Tsunefumi
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Negro, Michela
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O'Dell, Stephen L.
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Oppedisano, Chiara
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Pavlov, George G.
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Pesce-Rollins, Melissa
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Petrucci, Pierre-Olivier
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Poutanen, Juri
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Puccetti, Simonetta
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Ramsey, Brian D.
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Roberts, Oliver J.
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Sgró, Carmelo
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Spandre, Gloria
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Swartz, Douglas A.
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Tamagawa, Toru
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Taverna, Roberto
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Tawara, Yuzuru
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Tennant, Allyn F.
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Thomas, Nicholas E.
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Tsygankov, Sergey
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Turolla, Roberto
DOI
Abstract
We describe IXPE polarization observations of the pulsar wind nebula (PWN) MSH 15-52, the "Cosmic Hand." We find X-ray polarization across the PWN, with B-field vectors generally aligned with filamentary X-ray structures. High-significance polarization is seen in arcs surrounding the pulsar and toward the end of the "jet," with polarization degree PD > 70%, thus approaching the maximum allowed synchrotron value. In contrast, the base of the jet has lower polarization, indicating a complex magnetic field at significant angle to the jet axis. We also detect significant polarization from PSR B1509-58 itself. Although only the central pulse phase bin of the pulse has high individual significance, flanking bins provide lower-significance detections and, in conjunction with the X-ray image and radio polarization, can be used to constrain rotating vector model solutions for the pulsar geometry.
Volume
957
Issue
1
Start page
23
Uri
Url
Issn Identifier
0004-637X
Ads BibCode
2023ApJ...957...23R
Rights
open.access
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