Imaging the magnetic field in the acceleration zone of the Vela pulsar

Bob Yirka is a research scientist at Phys.org.

There is a magnetic field in the acceleration zone of the Vela pulsar. In a paper published in the journal Nature, the group describes how they used data from NASA's X-ray polarimetry explorer to get a good look at the magnetic field. The background history of the study of the death of massive stars and the work done by the team has been explained in a News and Views piece.

Huge stars explode as supernovas when they die. A pulsar is a very small, rapidly rotating star that is highly magnetized. Due to their magnetic field, latinos produce gas clouds around them, called nebula. The acceleration zone is where material speeds up as the wind pushes it. The researchers were able to image the magnetic field associated with the acceleration zone of a pulsar.

Magnetic fields are not visible so it is not possible to directly image them. Astronomers use the light that is emitted from particles that are being accelerated to make pictures. Magnetic fields change in the path of particles as they speed up. Prior research has shown that the particles of light that are emitted tend to vibrate in a single direction. Scientists can see the direction of the magnetic field by measuring the direction of the vibrating object.

The researchers were able to detect the polarization from Vela using data from IXPE and they were able to create images showing how the magnetic field generated by VELA lights up the area around it. Symmetric and highly ordered, the images are described.

There are X-rays that are near the synchrotron limit. It's 10.1038 and it's referred to as s41586.

Nature shows the magnetic field lighting up a graveyard. The DOI is 10.1038/d41586-.

Journal information: Nature

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