Normalized to: 3.
[1]
oai:arXiv.org:1511.07641 [pdf] - 1347680
A recent change in the optical and {\gamma}-ray polarization of the Crab
nebula and pulsar
Submitted: 2015-11-24
We report on observations of the polarization of optical and {\gamma}-ray
photons from the Crab nebula and pulsar system using the Galway Astronomical
Stokes Polarimeter (GASP), the Hubble Space Telescope/Advanced Camera for
Surveys (HST/ACS) and the International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory
satellite (Integral). These, when combined with other optical polarization
observations, suggest that the polarized optical emission and {\gamma}-ray
polarization changes in a similar manner. A change in the optical polarization
angle has been observed by this work, from 109.5 \pm 0.7\deg in 2005 to 85.3
\pm 1.4 \deg in 2012. On the other hand, the {\gamma}-ray polarization angle
changed from 115 \pm 11 \deg in 2003-2007 to 80 \pm 12 \deg in 2012-2014.
Strong flaring activities have been detected in the Crab nebula over the past
few years by the high energy {\gamma}-ray missions Agile and Fermi, and
magnetic reconnection processes have been suggested to explain these
observations. The change in the polarized optical and {\gamma}-ray emission of
the Crab nebula/pulsar as observed, for the first time, by GASP and Integral
may indicate that reconnection is possibly at work in the Crab nebula. We also
report, for the first time, a non-zero measure of the optical circular
polarization from the Crab pulsar+knot system.