Speaker
Francesco Ursini
Description
This talk discusses IXPE X-ray polarimetric measurements of low-mass X-ray binaries hosting weakly magnetized neutron stars. IXPE observations reveal that most of these sources are significantly polarized in the X-rays, providing unprecedented insight into the geometry of their accretion flow. These results challenge scenarios based on a standard accretion disk plus boundary layer, suggesting more complex geometries and a significant contribution from scattering. Possible physical interpretations and implications for NewAthena will be discussed.
