The Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE)

Abstract

The Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) expands observation space by simultaneously adding polarization measurements to the array of source properties currently measured (energy, time, and location). IXPE will thus open new dimensions for understanding how X-ray emission is produced in astrophysical objects, especially systems under extreme physical conditions—such as neutron stars and black holes. Polarization singularly probes physical anisotropies—ordered magnetic fields, aspheric matter distributions, or general relativistic coupling to black-hole spin—that are not otherwise measurable. Hence, IXPE complements all other investigations in high-energy astrophysics by adding important and relatively unexplored information to the parameter space for studying cosmic X-ray sources and processes, as well as for using extreme astrophysical environments as laboratories for fundamental physics.