Vacuum polarization and cyclotron resonance effects on radiative transfer and plasma deceleration in subcritical X-ray pulsars
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2026
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| author | Markozov, I. D. Potekhin, A. Y. Kaminker, A. D. Mushtukov, A. A. |
| author_facet | Markozov, I. D. Potekhin, A. Y. Kaminker, A. D. Mushtukov, A. A. |
| contents | We investigate the spectrum and polarization of radiation emerging from a subcritical X-ray pulsar using self-consistent radiation-hydrodynamic simulations of an accretion channel in a strong magnetic field. The polarized radiative transfer in the channel above the hot spot is simulated for the two normal modes, taking into account resonant Compton scattering in a strongly magnetized plasma and the effects of vacuum polarization. We show that the deceleration of the accreting matter in the subcritical regime is mainly governed by resonant scattering. Our simulations provide the velocity profiles of the plasma flow and demonstrate that vacuum polarization dominates over plasma birefringence, enhancing both the cyclotron spectral feature and the radiative deceleration of the plasma. The linear polarization degree changes sign at photon energies above the cyclotron resonance when vacuum polarization is included. We also find that the centroid energy of the cyclotron scattering feature increases with accretion luminosity, indicating a positive correlation consistent with previous observational results and theoretical interpretation. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_06162 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Vacuum polarization and cyclotron resonance effects on radiative transfer and plasma deceleration in subcritical X-ray pulsars Markozov, I. D. Potekhin, A. Y. Kaminker, A. D. Mushtukov, A. A. High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena We investigate the spectrum and polarization of radiation emerging from a subcritical X-ray pulsar using self-consistent radiation-hydrodynamic simulations of an accretion channel in a strong magnetic field. The polarized radiative transfer in the channel above the hot spot is simulated for the two normal modes, taking into account resonant Compton scattering in a strongly magnetized plasma and the effects of vacuum polarization. We show that the deceleration of the accreting matter in the subcritical regime is mainly governed by resonant scattering. Our simulations provide the velocity profiles of the plasma flow and demonstrate that vacuum polarization dominates over plasma birefringence, enhancing both the cyclotron spectral feature and the radiative deceleration of the plasma. The linear polarization degree changes sign at photon energies above the cyclotron resonance when vacuum polarization is included. We also find that the centroid energy of the cyclotron scattering feature increases with accretion luminosity, indicating a positive correlation consistent with previous observational results and theoretical interpretation. |
| title | Vacuum polarization and cyclotron resonance effects on radiative transfer and plasma deceleration in subcritical X-ray pulsars |
| topic | High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.06162 |