Spectral energy distribution, polarization, and synthetic radio maps of Cygnus X-1: a lepto-hadronic jet model

TL;DR

This paper models Cygnus X-1's emission across the spectrum, showing jet-originated MeV emission, hadronic high-energy processes, and exploring magnetic field geometries through polarization and synthetic radio maps.

Contribution

It presents a combined analysis of SEDs, radio maps, and polarization to constrain the emission mechanisms and magnetic field structure in Cygnus X-1 using a lepto-hadronic jet model.

Findings

MeV emission originates in the jet

High-energy emission is hadronic in nature

Simple magnetic geometries can explain polarization levels

Abstract

In this work we combine SEDs, radio maps and polarization observations to understand the emission mechanisms in Cygnus X-1. Our radiative model indicates that the MeV emission originates in the jet and that all the very high-energy emission is from hadronic origin. We also performed a synthetic radio map that suggests that our description of the magnetic field should be improved, since it leads to a very compact emission region. In order to choose the most suitable magnetic field geometry, we investigated the polarization in X-rays and we found that very simple geometries can explain the high levels of polarization reported by other authors.