Polarized blazar X-rays imply particle acceleration in shocks

Ioannis Liodakis (), Alan P. Marscher, Iván Agudo, Andrei V. Berdyugin, Maria I. Bernardos, Giacomo Bonnoli, George A. Borman, Carolina Casadio, Vı́ctor Casanova, Elisabetta Cavazzuti, Nicole Rodriguez Cavero, Laura Gesu, Niccoló Lalla, Immacolata Donnarumma, Steven R. Ehlert, Manel Errando, Juan Escudero, Maya Garcı́a-Comas, Beatriz Agı́s-González, César Husillos, Jenni Jormanainen, Svetlana G. Jorstad, Masato Kagitani, Evgenia N. Kopatskaya, Vadim Kravtsov, Henric Krawczynski, Elina Lindfors, Elena G. Larionova, Grzegorz M. Madejski, Frédéric Marin, Alessandro Marchini, Herman L. Marshall, Daria A. Morozova, Francesco Massaro, Joseph R. Masiero, Dimitri Mawet, Riccardo Middei, Maxwell A. Millar-Blanchaer, Ioannis Myserlis, Michela Negro, Kari Nilsson, Stephen L. O’Dell, Nicola Omodei, Luigi Pacciani, Alessandro Paggi, Georgia V. Panopoulou, Abel L. Peirson, Matteo Perri, Pierre-Olivier Petrucci, Juri Poutanen, Simonetta Puccetti, Roger W. Romani, Takeshi Sakanoi, Sergey S. Savchenko, Alfredo Sota, Fabrizio Tavecchio, Samaporn Tinyanont, Andrey A. Vasilyev, Zachary R. Weaver, Alexey V. Zhovtan, Lucio A. Antonelli, Matteo Bachetti, Luca Baldini, Wayne H. Baumgartner, Ronaldo Bellazzini, Stefano Bianchi, Stephen D. Bongiorno, Raffaella Bonino, Alessandro Brez, Niccoló Bucciantini, Fiamma Capitanio, Simone Castellano, Stefano Ciprini, Enrico Costa, Alessandra Rosa, Ettore Monte, Alessandro Marco, Victor Doroshenko, Michal Dovčiak, Teruaki Enoto, Yuri Evangelista, Sergio Fabiani, Riccardo Ferrazzoli, Javier A. Garcia, Shuichi Gunji, Kiyoshi Hayashida, Jeremy Heyl, Wataru Iwakiri, Vladimir Karas, Takao Kitaguchi, Jeffery J. Kolodziejczak, Fabio Monaca, Luca Latronico, Simone Maldera, Alberto Manfreda, Andrea Marinucci, Giorgio Matt, Ikuyuki Mitsuishi, Tsunefumi Mizuno, Fabio Muleri, Stephen C.-Y. Ng, Chiara Oppedisano, Alessandro Papitto, George G. Pavlov, Melissa Pesce-Rollins, Maura Pilia, Andrea Possenti, Brian D. Ramsey, John Rankin, Ajay Ratheesh, Carmelo Sgró, Patrick Slane, Paolo Soffitta, Gloria Spandre, Toru Tamagawa, Roberto Taverna, Yuzuru Tawara, Allyn F. Tennant, Nicolas E. Thomas, Francesco Tombesi, Alessio Trois, Sergey Tsygankov, Roberto Turolla, Jacco Vink, Martin C. Weisskopf, Kinwah Wu, Fei Xie and Silvia Zane
Additional contact information
Ioannis Liodakis: University of Turku
Alan P. Marscher: Institute for Astrophysical Research, Boston University
Iván Agudo: Instituto de Astrofı́sica de Andalucı́a, IAA-CSIC, Glorieta de la Astronomı́a s/n
Andrei V. Berdyugin: University of Turku
Maria I. Bernardos: Instituto de Astrofı́sica de Andalucı́a, IAA-CSIC, Glorieta de la Astronomı́a s/n
Giacomo Bonnoli: Instituto de Astrofı́sica de Andalucı́a, IAA-CSIC, Glorieta de la Astronomı́a s/n
George A. Borman: Crimean Astrophysical Observatory RAS, P/O Nauchny
Carolina Casadio: Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas, Voutes
Vı́ctor Casanova: Instituto de Astrofı́sica de Andalucı́a, IAA-CSIC, Glorieta de la Astronomı́a s/n
Elisabetta Cavazzuti: Via del Politecnico snc
Nicole Rodriguez Cavero: Washington University in St Louis
Laura Gesu: Via del Politecnico snc
Niccoló Lalla: Stanford University
Immacolata Donnarumma: Via del Politecnico snc
Steven R. Ehlert: NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
Manel Errando: Washington University in St Louis
Juan Escudero: Instituto de Astrofı́sica de Andalucı́a, IAA-CSIC, Glorieta de la Astronomı́a s/n
Maya Garcı́a-Comas: Instituto de Astrofı́sica de Andalucı́a, IAA-CSIC, Glorieta de la Astronomı́a s/n
Beatriz Agı́s-González: Instituto de Astrofı́sica de Andalucı́a, IAA-CSIC, Glorieta de la Astronomı́a s/n
César Husillos: Instituto de Astrofı́sica de Andalucı́a, IAA-CSIC, Glorieta de la Astronomı́a s/n
Jenni Jormanainen: University of Turku
Svetlana G. Jorstad: Institute for Astrophysical Research, Boston University
Masato Kagitani: Tohoku University
Evgenia N. Kopatskaya: St Petersburg State University
Vadim Kravtsov: University of Turku
Henric Krawczynski: Washington University in St Louis
Elina Lindfors: University of Turku
Elena G. Larionova: St Petersburg State University
Grzegorz M. Madejski: Stanford University and SLAC
Frédéric Marin: Observatoire Astronomique de Strasbourg, UMR 7550
Alessandro Marchini: Department of Physical Sciences, Earth and Environment, Astronomical Observatory, University of Siena
Herman L. Marshall: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Daria A. Morozova: St Petersburg State University
Francesco Massaro: , Sezione di Torino
Joseph R. Masiero: Caltech/IPAC
Dimitri Mawet: California Institute of Technology
Riccardo Middei: Space Science Data Center, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana
Maxwell A. Millar-Blanchaer: University of California
Ioannis Myserlis: Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique
Michela Negro: Center for Research and Exploration in Space Science and Technology (CRESST)
Kari Nilsson: University of Turku
Stephen L. O’Dell: NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
Nicola Omodei: Stanford University
Luigi Pacciani: INAF Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali
Alessandro Paggi: , Sezione di Torino
Georgia V. Panopoulou: California Institute of Technology
Abel L. Peirson: Stanford University
Matteo Perri: Space Science Data Center, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana
Pierre-Olivier Petrucci: Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IPAG
Juri Poutanen: University of Turku
Simonetta Puccetti: Via del Politecnico snc
Roger W. Romani: Stanford University
Takeshi Sakanoi: Tohoku University
Sergey S. Savchenko: St Petersburg State University
Alfredo Sota: Instituto de Astrofı́sica de Andalucı́a, IAA-CSIC, Glorieta de la Astronomı́a s/n
Fabrizio Tavecchio: INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera
Samaporn Tinyanont: University of California Santa Cruz
Andrey A. Vasilyev: St Petersburg State University
Zachary R. Weaver: Institute for Astrophysical Research, Boston University
Alexey V. Zhovtan: Crimean Astrophysical Observatory RAS, P/O Nauchny
Lucio A. Antonelli: Space Science Data Center, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana
Matteo Bachetti: INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Cagliari
Luca Baldini: Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Pisa
Wayne H. Baumgartner: NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
Ronaldo Bellazzini: Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Pisa
Stefano Bianchi: Universitá degli Studi Roma Tre
Stephen D. Bongiorno: NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
Raffaella Bonino: , Sezione di Torino
Alessandro Brez: Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Pisa
Niccoló Bucciantini: INAF Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri
Fiamma Capitanio: INAF Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali
Simone Castellano: Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Pisa
Stefano Ciprini: Space Science Data Center, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana
Enrico Costa: INAF Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali
Alessandra Rosa: INAF Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali
Ettore Monte: INAF Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali
Alessandro Marco: INAF Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali
Victor Doroshenko: Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Michal Dovčiak: Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences
Teruaki Enoto: RIKEN Cluster for Pioneering Research
Yuri Evangelista: INAF Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali
Sergio Fabiani: INAF Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali
Riccardo Ferrazzoli: INAF Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali
Javier A. Garcia: California Institute of Technology
Shuichi Gunji: Yamagata University
Kiyoshi Hayashida: Osaka University
Jeremy Heyl: University of British Columbia
Wataru Iwakiri: Chuo University
Vladimir Karas: Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences
Takao Kitaguchi: RIKEN Cluster for Pioneering Research
Jeffery J. Kolodziejczak: NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
Fabio Monaca: INAF Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali
Luca Latronico: , Sezione di Torino
Simone Maldera: , Sezione di Torino
Alberto Manfreda: Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Pisa
Andrea Marinucci: Via del Politecnico snc
Giorgio Matt: Universitá degli Studi Roma Tre
Ikuyuki Mitsuishi: Nagoya University
Tsunefumi Mizuno: Hiroshima University
Fabio Muleri: INAF Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali
Stephen C.-Y. Ng: University of Hong Kong
Chiara Oppedisano: , Sezione di Torino
Alessandro Papitto: INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma
George G. Pavlov: Pennsylvania State University
Melissa Pesce-Rollins: Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Pisa
Maura Pilia: INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Cagliari
Andrea Possenti: INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Cagliari
Brian D. Ramsey: NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
John Rankin: INAF Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali
Ajay Ratheesh: INAF Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali
Carmelo Sgró: Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Pisa
Patrick Slane: Harvard & Smithsonian
Paolo Soffitta: INAF Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali
Gloria Spandre: Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Pisa
Toru Tamagawa: RIKEN Cluster for Pioneering Research
Roberto Taverna: Universitá degli Studi di Padova
Yuzuru Tawara: Nagoya University
Allyn F. Tennant: NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
Nicolas E. Thomas: NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
Francesco Tombesi: Universitá degli Studi di Roma Tor Vergata
Alessio Trois: INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Cagliari
Sergey Tsygankov: University of Turku
Roberto Turolla: Universitá degli Studi di Padova
Jacco Vink: University of Amsterdam
Martin C. Weisskopf: NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
Kinwah Wu: University College London
Fei Xie: INAF Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali
Silvia Zane: University College London

Nature, 2022, vol. 611, issue 7937, 677-681

Abstract: Abstract Most of the light from blazars, active galactic nuclei with jets of magnetized plasma that point nearly along the line of sight, is produced by high-energy particles, up to around 1 TeV. Although the jets are known to be ultimately powered by a supermassive black hole, how the particles are accelerated to such high energies has been an unanswered question. The process must be related to the magnetic field, which can be probed by observations of the polarization of light from the jets. Measurements of the radio to optical polarization—the only range available until now—probe extended regions of the jet containing particles that left the acceleration site days to years earlier1–3, and hence do not directly explore the acceleration mechanism, as could X-ray measurements. Here we report the detection of X-ray polarization from the blazar Markarian 501 (Mrk 501). We measure an X-ray linear polarization degree ΠX of around 10%, which is a factor of around 2 higher than the value at optical wavelengths, with a polarization angle parallel to the radio jet. This points to a shock front as the source of particle acceleration and also implies that the plasma becomes increasingly turbulent with distance from the shock.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-05338-0

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