Polarized synchrotron emission in quiescent black hole X-ray transients

TL;DR

This study presents near-infrared polarimetric observations of quiescent black hole X-ray binaries, revealing polarized synchrotron emission indicative of stable, highly variable jets with tangled magnetic fields, and compares magnetic field orientations across different systems.

Contribution

First detection of polarized infrared synchrotron emission in quiescent black hole X-ray binaries, providing insights into jet magnetic field structure and variability in low luminosity states.

Findings

Swift J1357.2-0933 shows 8% polarization, indicating a stable, highly variable jet.

A0620-00 exhibits polarization components from dust, scattering, and synchrotron emission.

Magnetic fields in low luminosity jets are similarly tangled as in more luminous states.

Abstract

We present near-infrared polarimetric observations of the black hole X-ray binaries Swift J1357.2-0933 and A0620-00. In both sources, recent studies have demonstrated the presence of variable infrared synchrotron emission in quiescence, most likely from weak compact jets. For Swift J1357.2-0933 we find that the synchrotron emission is polarized at a level of 8.0 +- 2.5 per cent (a 3.2 sigma detection of intrinsic polarization). The mean magnitude and rms variability of the flux (fractional rms of 19-24 per cent in K_s-band) agree with previous observations. These properties imply a continuously launched (stable on long timescales), highly variable (on short timescales) jet in the Swift J1357.2-0933 system in quiescence, which has a moderately tangled magnetic field close to the base of the jet. We find that for A0620-00, there are likely to be three components to the optical-infrared polarization; interstellar dust along the line of sight, scattering within the system, and an additional source that changes the polarization position angle in the reddest (H and K_s) wave-bands. We interpret this as a stronger contribution of synchrotron emission, and by subtracting the line-of-sight polarization, we measure an excess of ~ 1.25 +- 0.28 per cent polarization and a position angle of the magnetic field vector that is consistent with being parallel with the axis of the resolved radio jet. These results imply that weak jets in low luminosity accreting systems have magnetic fields which possess similarly tangled fields compared to the more luminous, hard state jets in X-ray binaries.