Polarimetry with POLAR

TL;DR

This paper presents the initial results from the POLAR satellite instrument, which detected 55 Gamma-Ray Bursts in its first six months, including detailed polarization measurements for the brightest events, forming the first GRB polarization catalog.

Contribution

It introduces the POLAR detector and provides the first in-flight performance results and polarization measurements of Gamma-Ray Bursts.

Findings

Detected 55 GRBs in six months

Identified 10 bright GRBs suitable for polarization analysis

Established the first GRB polarization catalog

Abstract

In the first half year of operation the satellite borne POLAR instrument detected a total of 55 Gamma-Ray Bursts about 10 of which were bright enough to allow for detailed polarization studies, thereby forming the start of the first Gamma-Ray Burst polarization catalog. In this paper a brief overview of the previous GRB polarization studies will be presented followed by an overview of the POLAR detector along with the first result of the in-flight performance. The detected Gamma-Ray bursts will be presented and finally prospects for polarization measurements of these events will be discussed.