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Mapping the circumnuclear regions of the Circinus galaxy with the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer

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arxiv 2211.01697 v2 pith:MT4ACPXN submitted 2022-11-03 astro-ph.HE

Mapping the circumnuclear regions of the Circinus galaxy with the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer

F. Ursini , A. Marinucci , G. Matt , S. Bianchi , F. Marin , H. L. Marshall , R. Middei , J. Poutanen
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D. Rogantini A. De Rosa L. Di Gesu J. A. Garc\'ia A. Ingram D. E. Kim H. Krawczynski S. Puccetti P. Soffitta J. Svoboda F. Tombesi M. C. Weisskopf T. Barnouin M. Perri J. Podgorny A. Ratheesh A. Zaino I. Agudo L. A. Antonelli M. Bachetti L. Baldini W. H. Baumgartner R. Bellazzini S. D. Bongiorno R. Bonino A. Brez N. Bucciantini F. Capitanio S. Castellano E. Cavazzuti S. Ciprini E. Costa E. Del Monte N. Di Lalla A. Di Marco I. Donnarumma V. Doroshenko M. Dov\v{c}iak S. R. Ehlert T. Enoto Y. Evangelista S. Fabiani R. Ferrazzoli S. Gunji J. Heyl W. Iwakiri S. G. Jorstad V. Karas T. Kitaguchi J. J. Kolodziejczak F. La Monaca L. Latronico I. Liodakis S. Maldera A. Manfreda A. P. Marscher I. Mitsuishi T. Mizuno F. Muleri C. Y. Ng S. L. O'Dell N. Omodei C. Oppedisano A. Papitto G. G. Pavlov A. L. Peirson M. Pesce-Rollins P.-O. Petrucci M. Pilia A. Possenti B. D. Ramsey J. Rankin R. W. Romani C. Sgr\`o P. Slane G. Spandre T. Tamagawa F. Tavecchio R. Taverna Y. Tawara A. F. Tennant N. E. Thomas A. Trois S. S. Tsygankov R. Turolla J. Vink K. Wu F. Xie S. Zane
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keywords x-raypolarizationgalaxyneutralpolarimetrytorusanglecent
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We report on the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) observation of the closest and X-ray brightest Compton-thick active galactic nucleus (AGN), the Circinus galaxy. We find the source to be significantly polarized in the 2--6 keV band. From previous studies, the X-ray spectrum is known to be dominated by reflection components, both neutral (torus) and ionized (ionization cones). Our analysis indicates that the polarization degree is $28 \pm 7$ per cent (at 68 per cent confidence level) for the neutral reflector, with a polarization angle of $18{\deg} \pm 5{\deg}$, roughly perpendicular to the radio jet. The polarization of the ionized reflection is unconstrained. A comparison with Monte Carlo simulations of the polarization expected from the torus shows that the neutral reflector is consistent with being an equatorial torus with a half-opening angle of 45{\deg}-55{\deg}. This is the first X-ray polarization detection in a Seyfert galaxy, demonstrating the power of X-ray polarimetry in probing the geometry of the circumnuclear regions of AGNs, and confirming the basic predictions of standard Unification Models.

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  1. Astrophysical X-Ray Polarization

    astro-ph.HE 2026-05 unverdicted novelty 1.0

    Reviews mechanisms generating polarized X-rays in high-energy astrophysics and the detectors for measuring polarization fraction and angle.