Speaker
Michal Dovčiak
(Astronomický ústav AV ČR, v.v.i.)
Description
Accreting stellar-mass black holes in X-ray binaries (XRBs) exhibit different states, each characterized by distinct spectral properties. The two fundamental states are the high/soft state, dominated by the thermal multi-color blackbody emission from the accretion disk, and the low/hard state, dominated by non-thermal, power-law-like Comptonization emission originating from the hot corona. Over its first 2.5 years, the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) mission has observed 10 XRBs in various accretion states. This talk will review these polarization observations and discuss their implications for measuring the spins of accreting black holes and constraining the geometry of the X-ray corona.
Primary author
Michal Dovčiak
(Astronomický ústav AV ČR, v.v.i.)