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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Adam IngramORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited 2024.The accretion of matter by compact objects can be inhibited by radiation pressure if the luminosity exceeds a critical value known as the Eddington limit. The discovery of ultraluminous X-ray sources has shown that accretion can proceed even when the apparent luminosity considerably exceeds this limit. A high apparent luminosity might be produced due to the geometric beaming of radiation by an outflow. The outflow half-opening angle, which determines the amplification due to beaming, has never been robustly constrained. Using the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer, we measured the X-ray polarization in the Galactic X-ray binary Cygnus X-3 (Cyg X-3). We found high, >20%, nearly energy-independent linear polarization orthogonal to the direction of the radio ejections. These properties unambiguously indicate the presence of a collimating outflow from the X-ray binary Cyg X-3 and constrain its half-opening angle to ≲15°. Thus, the source can be used as a laboratory for studying the supercritical accretion regime. This finding underscores the importance of X-ray polarimetry in advancing our understanding of accreting sources.
Author(s): Veledina A, Muleri F, Poutanen J, Podgorny J, Dovciak M, Capitanio F, Churazov E, De Rosa A, Di Marco A, Forsblom SV, Kaaret P, Krawczynski H, La Monaca F, Loktev V, Lutovinov AA, Molkov SV, Mushtukov AA, Ratheesh A, Rodriguez Cavero N, Steiner JF, Sunyaev RA, Tsygankov SS, Weisskopf MC, Zdziarski AA, Bianchi S, Bright JS, Bursov N, Costa E, Egron E, Garcia JA, Green DA, Gurwell M, Ingram A, Kajava JJE, Kale R, Kraus A, Malyshev D, Marin F, Matt G, McCollough M, Mereminskiy IA, Nizhelsky N, Piano G, Pilia M, Pittori C, Rao R, Righini S, Soffitta P, Shevchenko A, Svoboda J, Tombesi F, Trushkin SA, Tsybulev P, Ursini F, Wu K, Agudo I, Antonelli LA, Bachetti M, Baldini L, Baumgartner WH, Bellazzini R, Bongiorno SD, Bonino R, Brez A, Bucciantini N, Castellano S, Cavazzuti E, Chen C-T, Ciprini S, Del Monte E, Di Gesu L, Di Lalla N, Donnarumma I, Doroshenko V, Ehlert SR, Enoto T, Evangelista Y, Fabiani S, Ferrazzoli R, Gunji S, Hayashida K, Heyl J, Iwakiri W, Jorstad SG, Karas V, Kislat F, Kitaguchi T, Kolodziejczak JJ, Latronico L, Liodakis I, Maldera S, Manfreda A, Marinucci A, Marscher AP, Marshall HL, Massaro F, Mitsuishi I, Mizuno T, Negro M, Ng C-Y, O'Dell SL, Omodei N, Oppedisano C, Papitto A, Pavlov GG, Peirson AL, Perri M, Pesce-Rollins M, Petrucci P-O, Possenti A, Puccetti S, Ramsey BD, Rankin J, Roberts O, Romani RW, Sgro C, Slane P, Spandre G, Swartz D, Tamagawa T, Tavecchio F, Taverna R, Tawara Y, Tennant AF, Thomas NE, Trois A, Turolla R, Vink J, Xie F, Zane S
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Nature Astronomy
Year: 2024
Volume: 8
Issue: 8
Pages: 1031-1046
Print publication date: 01/08/2024
Online publication date: 21/06/2024
Acceptance date: 10/05/2024
Date deposited: 22/11/2024
ISSN (electronic): 2397-3366
Publisher: Nature Research
URL: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-024-02294-9
DOI: 10.1038/s41550-024-02294-9
ePrints DOI: 10.57711/tteh-5315
Data Access Statement: The IXPE, Nustar, NICER, INTEGRAL and Fermi data are freely available in the HEASARC IXPE Data Archive (https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov). The SRG ARTXC data are available via ftp://hea.iki.rssi.ru/public/SRG/ART-XC/data/Cyg_X-3/artxc_cygx3_04-20keV_lcurve.qdp. The multiwavelength data are available on request from the individual observatories.
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