X-ray Polarization of the Intrabinary Shock in Redback Pulsar J1723$-$2837

TL;DR

This study measures the X-ray polarization of the intrabinary shock in the redback pulsar J1723$-$2837, providing insights into magnetic field structures and confirming the potential of polarization data to test pulsar wind models.

Contribution

It presents the first polarization measurement of the intrabinary shock in a redback pulsar, favoring a striped pulsar wind model and setting new upper limits on polarization degree.

Findings

Maximum polarization degree of IBS emission is approximately 36%.

Data slightly favors striped wind model over other magnetic configurations.

Upper limit of total polarization is set at 36% with 99% confidence.

Abstract

The intrabinary shocks (IBS) in spider pulsars emit non-thermal synchrotron X-rays from accelerated electrons and positrons in the shocked pulsar wind, likely energized by magnetic reconnection. The double-peaked X-ray light curves from these shocks have been well characterized in several spider systems. In this paper, we analyze Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) observations of the redback pulsar J1723$-$2837 to examine the expected synchrotron polarization. Using advanced extraction methods that include spatial, temporal, and particle background weights, we constrain the polarization of the IBS. We compare different models for the magnetic field in the radiation zone and find that the best fit prefers a striped pulsar wind model over other polarized models, with maximum polarization degree of the IBS emission component $\Pi_{\rm IBS}=36^{+16}_{-15}\%$, in addition to an unpolarized non-IBS component. Since this is only 2.4$\sigma$, we cannot claim strong preference over an unpolarized model; we report a $99\%$ confidence level upper limit on the total polarization of both IBS and non-IBS components $\Pi_{99}<36\%$, which is improved over the $50\%$ limit obtained in previous work. The best-fit polarization of the IBS component is consistent with numerical simulations. Detailed tests of such models are accessible to future measurements.