X-Ray Polarimetry as a Tool to Constrain Orbital Parameters in X-Ray Binaries
: Rankin, John; Kravtsov, Vadim; Muleri, Fabio; Poutanen, Juri; Marin, Frédéric; Capitanio, Fiamma; Matt, Giorgio; Costa, Enrico; Di Marco, Alessandro; Fabiani, Sergio; La Monaca, Fabio; Marra, Lorenzo; Soffitta, Paolo
Publisher: The American Astronomical Society
: 2024
Astrophysical Journal
: The Astrophysical Journal
: 34
: 962
: 1
: 1538-4357
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad1991
: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ad1991
: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/386840119
: https://arxiv.org/abs/2312.16967
X-ray binary systems consist of a companion star and a compact object in close orbit. Thanks to their copious X-ray emission, these objects have been studied in detail using X-ray spectroscopy and timing. The inclination of these systems is a major uncertainty in the determination of the mass of the compact object using optical spectroscopic methods. In this paper, we present a new method to constrain the inclination of X-ray binaries, which is based on the modeling of the polarization of X-rays photons produced by a compact source and scattered off the companion star. We describe our method and explore the potential of this technique in the specific case of the low-mass X-ray binary GS 1826−238 observed by the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer observatory.
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