Astronomers have discovered that the radiation emitted by a rapidly rotating neutron star,known as a pulsar,is considerably influenced by a high-energy particle wind. This particle wind, released by the pulsar, is more impactful than the material it draws from it’s companion star.These insights stem from observations of PSR J1023+0038 (J1023), a pulsar located approximately 4,500 light-years from Earth. This binary system comprises a neutron star that spins around 600 times per second and a low-mass star that serves as its “food source.”
A Rare Pulsar with Dual Personalities
J1023 is categorized as a transitional millisecond pulsar, a rare type with only three known examples in the universe. This pulsar exhibits the ability to switch between two distinct phases:
Active Phase: During this phase, the pulsar “consumes” material from its companion star and emits intense radiation. Passive Phase: In this phase, it behaves like a typical pulsar, emitting only radio waves.
Maria Cristina Baglio, a researcher at the National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF), stated, “Pulsars like J1023 are cosmic laboratories that help us understand how neutron stars evolve within binary systems.”
Mysterious Material and radiation Clouds
The material siphoned from the companion star does not directly fall onto the pulsar’s surface. Instead, it forms an accretion disk, a flattened cloud encircling the pulsar that radiates strongly across various light spectra.
To investigate this phenomenon, the research team utilized several advanced instruments:
NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE)
The Very Large Telescope (VLT) operated by the European Southern Observatory in chile
* The Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) in new Mexico, USA
This marks the first study to simultaneously observe a binary system like J1023 across X-ray, optical, and radio wavelengths.
shocking Results: The Highest X-ray Polarization Ever Observed
The team detected that 12% of the X-rays emanating from J1023 were polarized, representing the highest level ever recorded in such a binary system. In comparison, radio wave polarization measured approximately 2%, and optical light polarization was around 1%.
Notably, the orientation of the optical light polarization was parallel to that of the X-rays, suggesting a shared underlying mechanism influencing both.
this finding lends support to a long-standing theory positing that X-ray polarization arises when high-energy particles from the pulsar’s wind collide with material in the accretion disk, generating a characteristic light pattern.
Aiding the Revelation of Pulsar Energy Sources
Alessandro in Marco from INAF highlighted the significant challenge of this study due to the faintness of the X-ray signals, but emphasized that IXPE’s sensitivity enabled precise observations.
“This is an ingenious method for testing theories thru polarization observations across multiple wavelengths,” he commented.
The research,published on July 1 in The Astrophysical Journal Letters,is anticipated to provide new insights into the fundamental drivers of pulsar energy.