Title: | Cygnus X-3 revealed as a Galactic ultraluminous X-ray source by IXPE |
Authors: | Veledina, Alexandra MULERI, FABIO Poutanen, Juri Podgorný, Jakub Dovčiak, Michal CAPITANIO, FIAMMA Churazov, Eugene DE ROSA, Alessandra DI MARCO, Alessandro Forsblom, Sofia V. Kaaret, Philip Krawczynski, Henric LA MONACA, Fabio Loktev, Vladislav Lutovinov, Alexander A. Molkov, Sergey V. Mushtukov, Alexander A. RATHEESH, AJAY Rodriguez Cavero, Nicole Steiner, James F. Sunyaev, Rashid A. Tsygankov, Sergey S. Weisskopf, Martin C. Zdziarski, Andrzej A. Bianchi, Stefano Bright, Joe S. Bursov, Nikolaj COSTA, ENRICO EGRON, Elise Marie Jeanne Garcia, Javier A. Green, David A. Gurwell, Mark Ingram, Adam Kajava, Jari J. E. Kale, Ruta Kraus, Alex Malyshev, Denys Marin, Frédéric Matt, Giorgio McCollough, Michael Mereminskiy, Ilya A. Nizhelsky, Nikolaj PIANO, Giovanni PILIA, Maura PITTORI, Carlotta Rao, Ramprasad RIGHINI, Simona SOFFITTA, PAOLO Shevchenko, Anton Svoboda, Jiri TOMBESI, Francesco Trushkin, Sergei A. Tsybulev, Peter Ursini, Francesco Wu, Kinwah Agudo, Iván ANTONELLI, Lucio Angelo BACHETTI, Matteo Baldini, Luca Baumgartner, Wayne H. Bellazzini, Ronaldo Bongiorno, Stephen D. Bonino, Raffaella Brez, Alessandro BUCCIANTINI, Niccolo' Castellano, Simone Cavazzuti, Elisabetta Chen, Chien-Ting Ciprini, Stefano DEL MONTE, Ettore Di Gesu, Laura Di Lalla, Niccolò Donnarumma, Immacolata Doroshenko, Victor Ehlert, Steven R. Enoto, Teruaki EVANGELISTA, YURI FABIANI, Sergio FERRAZZOLI, Riccardo Gunji, Shuichi Hayashida, Kiyoshi Heyl, Jeremy Iwakiri, Wataru Jorstad, Svetlana G. Karas, Vladimir Kislat, Fabian Kitaguchi, Takao Kolodziejczak, Jeffery J. Latronico, Luca Liodakis, Ioannis Maldera, Simone Manfreda, Alberto Marinucci, Andrea Marscher, Alan P. Marshall, Herman L. MASSARO, FRANCESCO Mitsuishi, Ikuyuki Mizuno, Tsunefumi Negro, Michela Ng, Chi-Yung O'Dell, Stephen L. Omodei, Nicola Oppedisano, Chiara PAPITTO, ALESSANDRO Pavlov, George G. Peirson, Abel L. PERRI, Matteo Pesce-Rollins, Melissa Petrucci, Pierre-Olivier POSSENTI, ANDREA Puccetti, Simonetta Ramsey, Brian D. RANKIN, John Roberts, Oliver Romani, Roger W. Sgrò, Carmelo Slane, Patrick Spandre, Gloria Swartz, Doug Tamagawa, Toru TAVECCHIO, Fabrizio Taverna, Roberto Tawara, Yuzuru Tennant, Allyn F. Thomas, Nicholas E. TROIS, ALESSIO Turolla, Roberto Vink, Jacco XIE, FEI Zane, Silvia |
Issue Date: | 2024 |
Journal: | NATURE ASTRONOMY |
Number: | 8 |
Issue: | 8 |
First Page: | 1031 |
Abstract: | The accretion of matter by compact objects can be inhibited by radiation pressure if the luminosity exceeds a critical value known as the Eddington limit. The discovery of ultraluminous X-ray sources has shown that accretion can proceed even when the apparent luminosity considerably exceeds this limit. A high apparent luminosity might be produced due to the geometric beaming of radiation by an outflow. The outflow half-opening angle, which determines the amplification due to beaming, has never been robustly constrained. Using the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer, we measured the X-ray polarization in the Galactic X-ray binary Cygnus X-3 (Cyg X-3). We found high, >20%, nearly energy-independent linear polarization orthogonal to the direction of the radio ejections. These properties unambiguously indicate the presence of a collimating outflow from the X-ray binary Cyg X-3 and constrain its half-opening angle to ≲15°. Thus, the source can be used as a laboratory for studying the supercritical accretion regime. This finding underscores the importance of X-ray polarimetry in advancing our understanding of accreting sources. |
URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12386/35666 |
URL: | https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/85201678621 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-024-02294-9 |
ISSN: | 2397-3366 |
DOI: | 10.1038/s41550-024-02294-9 |
Bibcode ADS: | 2024NatAs...8.1031V |
Fulltext: | open |
Appears in Collections: | 1.01 Articoli in rivista
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