Mapping the circumnuclear regions of the Circinus galaxy with the  imaging X-ray polarimetry explorer

Ursini, F.; Marinucci, A.; Matt, G.; Bianchi, Stefano; Marin, F.; Marshall, H.L.; Middei, R.; Poutanen, J.; Rogantini, D.; Rosa, A. De; Gesu, Laura Di; García, J.A.; Ingram, A.; Kim, D.E.; Krawczynski, H.; Puccetti, S.; Soffitta, P.; Svoboda, J.; Tombesi, F.; Weisskopf, M.C.; Barnouin, Thibault; Perri, M.; Podgorny, J.; Ratheesh, A.; Zaino, A.; Agudo, Ivan; Antonelli, L.A.; Bachetti, Matteo; Baldini, L.; Baumgartner, Wayne H.; Bellazzini, Ronaldo; Bongiorno, S.D.; Bonino, Raffaella; Brez, Alessandro; Bucciantini, Niccolò; Capitanio, Fiamma; Castellano, Simone; Cavazzuti, Elisabetta; Ciprini, Stefano; Costa, E.; Monte, E. Del; Lalla, N. Di; Marco, A. Di; Donnarumma, Immacolata; Doroshenko, Victor; Dovčiak, Michal; Ehlert, Steven R.; Enoto, T.; Evangelista, Yuri; Fabiani, Sergio; Ferrazzoli, Riccardo; Gunji, S.; Heyl, Jeremy; Iwakiri, Wataru; Jorstad, S.G.; Karas, V.; Kitaguchi, T.; Kolodziejczak, J.J.; Monaca, F. La; Latronico, L.; Liodakis, I.; Maldera, S.; Manfreda, A.; Marscher, Alan P.; Mitsuishi, I.; Mizuno, T.; Muleri, F.; Ng, C.Y.; O'Dell, S.L.; Omodei, N.; Oppedisano, C.; Papitto, A.; Pavlov, G.G.; Peirson, A.L.; Pesce-Rollins, M.; Petrucci, P.-O.; Pilia, M.; Possenti, A.; Ramsey, B.D.; Rankin, J.; Romani, R.W.; Sgrò, C.; Slane, P.; Spandre, G.; Tamagawa, T.; Tavecchio, F.; Taverna, R.; Tawara, Y.; Tennant, A.F.; Thomas, N.E.; Trois, A.; Tsygankov, S.S.; Turolla, R.; Vink, J.; Wu, K.; Xie, F.; Zane, S.

Mapping the circumnuclear regions of the Circinus galaxy with the imaging X-ray polarimetry explorer

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stac3189.pdf(1.59 MB)

Published version

Date

2023-01-01

DOI

10.1093/mnras/stac3189

Authors

Ursini, F.

Marinucci, A.

Matt, G.

Bianchi, Stefano

Marin, F.

Marshall, H.L.

Middei, R.

Poutanen, J.

Rogantini, D.

Rosa, A. De

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/2144/46442

OA Version

Published version

Citation

F. Ursini, A. Marinucci, G. Matt, S. Bianchi, F. Marin, H.L. Marshall, R. Middei, J. Poutanen, D. Rogantini, A.D. Rosa, L.D. Gesu, J.A. García, 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.D. Monte, N.D. Lalla, A.D. Marco, I. Donnarumma, V. Doroshenko, M. Dovčiak, 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.L. 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. Sgrò, 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. 2023. "Mapping the circumnuclear regions of the Circinus galaxy with the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer" Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 519, Issue 1, pp.50-58. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stac3189

Abstract

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 ± 7 per cent (at 68 per cent confidence level) for the neutral reflector, with a polarization angle of 18° ± 5°, 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°-55°. 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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This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society © 2022 The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.

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