Skip to main navigation Skip to search Skip to main content

A Two-week IXPE Monitoring Campaign on Mrk 421

  • W. Peter Maksym
  • , Ioannis Liodakis
  • , M. Lynne Saade
  • , Dawoon E. Kim
  • , Riccardo Middei
  • , Laura Di Gesu
  • , Sebastian Kiehlmann
  • , Gabriele Matzeu
  • , Iván Agudo
  • , Alan P. Marscher
  • , Steven R. Ehlert
  • , Svetlana G. Jorstad
  • , Philip Kaaret
  • , Herman L. Marshall
  • , Luigi Pacciani
  • , Matteo Perri
  • , Simonetta Puccetti
  • , Pouya M. Kouch
  • , Elina Lindfors
  • , Francisco José Aceituno
  • Giacomo Bonnoli, Víctor Casanova, Juan Escudero, José L. Gómez, Beatriz Agís-González, César Husillos, Daniel Morcuende, Jorge Otero Santos, Alfredo Sota, Vilppu Piirola, Ryo Imazawa, Mahito Sasada, Yasushi Fukazawa, Koji S. Kawabata, Makoto Uemura, Tsunefumi Mizuno, Tatsuya Nakaoka, Hiroshi Akitaya, Callum McCall, Helen E. Jermak, Iain A. Steele, George A. Borman, Tatiana S. Grishina, Vladimir A. Hagen-Thorn, Evgenia N. Kopatskaya, Elena G. Larionova, Daria A. Morozova, Sergey S. Savchenko, Ekaterina V. Shishkina, Ivan S. Troitskiy, Yulia V. Troitskaya, Andrey A. Vasilyev, Alexey V. Zhovtan, Ioannis Myserlis, Mark Gurwell, Garrett Keating, Ramprasad Rao, Colt Pauley, Emmanouil Angelakis, Alexander Kraus, Andrei V. Berdyugin, Masato Kagitani, Vadim Kravtsov, Juri Poutanen, Takeshi Sakanoi, Sincheol Kang, Sang Sung Lee, Sang Hyun Kim, Whee Yeon Cheong, Hyeon Woo Jeong, Chanwoo Song, Dmitry Blinov, Elena Shablovinskaya, Lucio Angelo Antonelli, Matteo Bachetti, Luca Baldini, Wayne H. Baumgartner, Ronaldo Bellazzini, Stefano Bianchi, Stephen D. Bongiorno, Raffaella Bonino, Alessandro Brez, Niccoló Bucciantini, Fiamma Capitanio, Simone Castellano, Elisabetta Cavazzuti, Chien Ting Chen, Stefano Ciprini, Enrico Costa, Alessandra De Rosa, Ettore Del Monte, Niccoló Di Lalla, Alessandro Di Marco, Immacolata Donnarumma, Victor Doroshenko, Michal Dovčiak, Teruaki Enoto, Yuri Evangelista, Sergio Fabiani, Riccardo Ferrazzoli, Javier A. Garcia, Shuichi Gunji, Kiyoshi Hayashida, Jeremy Heyl, Wataru Iwakiri, Vladimir Karas, Fabian Kislat, Takao Kitaguchi, Jeffery J. Kolodziejczak, Henric Krawczynski, Fabio La Monaca, Luca Latronico, Simone Maldera, Alberto Manfreda, Frédéric Marin, Andrea Marinucci, Francesco Massaro, Giorgio Matt, Ikuyuki Mitsuishi, Fabio Muleri, Michela Negro, C. Y. Ng, Stephen L. O’Dell, Nicola Omodei, Chiara Oppedisano, Alessandro Papitto, George G. Pavlov, Abel Lawrence Peirson, Melissa Pesce-Rollins, Pierre Olivier Petrucci, Maura Pilia, Andrea Possenti, Brian D. Ramsey, John Rankin, Ajay Ratheesh, Oliver J. Roberts, Roger W. Romani, Carmelo Sgró, Patrick Slane, Paolo Soffitta, Gloria Spandre, Douglas A. Swartz, Toru Tamagawa, Fabrizio Tavecchio, Roberto Taverna, Yuzuru Tawara, Allyn F. Tennant, Nicholas E. Thomas, Francesco Tombesi, Alessio Trois, Sergey S. Tsygankov, Roberto Turolla, Jacco Vink, Martin C. Weisskopf, Kinwah Wu, Fei Xie, Silvia Zane

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

X-ray polarization is a unique new probe of the particle acceleration in astrophysical jets made possible through the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer. Here we report on the first dense X-ray polarization monitoring campaign on the blazar Mrk 421. Our observations were accompanied by an even denser radio and optical polarization campaign. We find significant short-timescale variability in both X-ray polarization degree and angle, including an ∼90° angle rotation about the jet axis. We attribute this to random variations of the magnetic field, consistent with the presence of turbulence but also unlikely to be explained by turbulence alone. At the same time, the degree of lower-energy polarization is significantly lower and shows no more than mild variability. Our campaign provides further evidence for a scenario in which energy-stratified shock-acceleration of relativistic electrons, combined with a turbulent magnetic field, is responsible for optical to X-ray synchrotron emission in blazar jets.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number230
JournalAstrophysical Journal
Volume986
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 20 2025

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Space and Planetary Science

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'A Two-week IXPE Monitoring Campaign on Mrk 421'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this