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arXiv · 2506.05630

X-ray Polarization Detection of the Pulsar Wind Nebula in G21.5-0.9 with IXPE

Niccolò Di Lalla·Nicola Omodei·Niccolò Bucciantini·Jack T. Dinsmore·Nicolò Cibrario·Stefano Silvestri·Josephine Wong·Patrick Slane·Tsunefumi Mizuno·Michela Negro·Roger W. Romani·Riccardo Ferrazzoli·Stephen Chi-Yung Ng·Miltiadis Michailidis·Yi-Jung Yang·Fei Xie·Martin C. Weisskopf·Philip Kaaret·Iván Agudo·L. A. Antonelli·Matteo Bachetti·Luca Baldini·Wayne H. Baumgartner·Ronaldo Bellazzini·Stefano Bianchi·Stephen D. Bongiorno·Raffaella Bonino·Alessandro Brez·Fiamma Capitanio·Simone Castellano·Elisabetta Cavazzuti·Chien-Ting J. Chen·Stefano Ciprini·Enrico Costa·Alessandra De Rosa·Ettore Del Monte·Laura Di Gesu·Alessandro Di Marco·Immacolata Donnarumma·Victor Doroshenko·Michal Dovciak·Steven R. Ehlert·Teruaki Enoto·Yuri Evangelista·Sergio Fabiani·Javier A. Garcia·Shuichi Gunji·Jeremy Heyl·Wataru Iwakiri·Svetlana G. Jorstad·Vladimir Karas·Fabian Kislat·Takao Kitaguchi·Jeffery J. Kolodziejczak·Henric Krawczynski·Fabio La Monaca·Luca Latronico·Ioannis Liodakis·Simone Maldera·Alberto Manfreda·Fre'de'ric Marin·Andrea Marinucci·Alan P. Marscher·Herman L. Marshall·Francesco Massaro·Giorgio Matt·Ikuyuki Mitsuishi·Fabio Muleri·Stephen L. O'Dell·Chiara Oppedisano·Alessandro Papitto·George Pavlov·Abel L. Peirson·Matteo Perri·Melissa Pesce-Rollins·Pierre-Olivier Petrucci·Maura Pilia·Andrea Possenti·Juri Poutanen·Simonetta Puccetti·Brian Ramsey·John Rankin·Ajay Ratheesh·Oliver J. Roberts·Carmelo Sgro·Paolo Soffitta·Gloria Spandre·Douglas A. Swartz·Toru Tamagawa·Fabrizio Tavecchio·Roberto Taverna·Yuzuru Tawara·Allyn F. Tennant·Nicholas Thomas·Francesco Tombesi·Alessio Trois·Sergey S. Tsygankov·Roberto Turolla·Jacco Vink·Kinwah Wu
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Abstract

We present the X-ray polarization observation of G21.5-0.9, a young Galactic supernova remnant (SNR), conducted with the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) in October 2023, with a total livetime of approximately 837 ks. Using different analysis methods, such as a space-integrated study of the entire region of the PWN and a space-resolved polarization map, we detect significant polarization from the pulsar wind nebula (PWN) at the center of the SNR, with an average polarization degree of ~10% oriented at ~33° (north through east). No significant energy-dependent variation in polarization is observed across the IXPE band (2-8 keV). The polarization map, corrected for the effect of polarization leakage, reveals a consistent pattern in both degree and angle, with little change across the nebula. Our findings indicate the presence of a highly polarized central torus, suggesting low levels of turbulence at particle acceleration sites. Unlike Vela, but similar to the Crab Nebula, we observe substantial differences between radio and X-ray polarization maps. This suggests a clear separation in energy of the emitting particle populations and hints at an important, yet poorly understood, role of instabilities in the turbulence dynamics of PWNe.

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Niccolò Di Lalla, Nicola Omodei, Niccolò Bucciantini, Jack T. Dinsmore, Nicolò Cibrario, Stefano Silvestri, Josephine Wong, Patrick Slane, Tsunefumi Mizuno, Michela Negro, Roger W. Romani, Riccardo Ferrazzoli, Stephen Chi-Yung Ng, Miltiadis Michailidis, Yi-Jung Yang, Fei Xie, Martin C. Weisskopf, Philip Kaaret, Iván Agudo, L. A. Antonelli, Matteo Bachetti, Luca Baldini, Wayne H. Baumgartner, Ronaldo Bellazzini, Stefano Bianchi, Stephen D. Bongiorno, Raffaella Bonino, Alessandro Brez, Fiamma Capitanio, Simone Castellano, Elisabetta Cavazzuti, Chien-Ting J. Chen, Stefano Ciprini, Enrico Costa, Alessandra De Rosa, Ettore Del Monte, Laura Di Gesu, Alessandro Di Marco, Immacolata Donnarumma, Victor Doroshenko, Michal Dovciak, Steven R. Ehlert, Teruaki Enoto, Yuri Evangelista, Sergio Fabiani, Javier A. Garcia, Shuichi Gunji, Jeremy Heyl, Wataru Iwakiri, Svetlana G. Jorstad, Vladimir Karas, Fabian Kislat, Takao Kitaguchi, Jeffery J. Kolodziejczak, Henric Krawczynski, Fabio La Monaca, Luca Latronico, Ioannis Liodakis, Simone Maldera, Alberto Manfreda, Fre'de'ric Marin, Andrea Marinucci, Alan P. Marscher, Herman L. Marshall, Francesco Massaro, Giorgio Matt, Ikuyuki Mitsuishi, Fabio Muleri, Stephen L. O'Dell, Chiara Oppedisano, Alessandro Papitto, George Pavlov, Abel L. Peirson, Matteo Perri, Melissa Pesce-Rollins, Pierre-Olivier Petrucci, Maura Pilia, Andrea Possenti, Juri Poutanen, Simonetta Puccetti, Brian Ramsey, John Rankin, Ajay Ratheesh, Oliver J. Roberts, Carmelo Sgro, Paolo Soffitta, Gloria Spandre, Douglas A. Swartz, Toru Tamagawa, Fabrizio Tavecchio, Roberto Taverna, Yuzuru Tawara, Allyn F. Tennant, Nicholas Thomas, Francesco Tombesi, Alessio Trois, Sergey S. Tsygankov, Roberto Turolla, Jacco Vink, Kinwah Wu. 2025-07-31. X-ray Polarization Detection of the Pulsar Wind Nebula in G21.5-0.9 with IXPE. https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.05630

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