Mapping Magnetic Fields in PWNe

Wong+ 2023 and Wong+ 2024 measured the phase-resolved pulsar polarization, identifying an S-shaped polarization angle sweep in the main pulse and finding significant (>1σ) deviations from the optical polarization. They also recovered the toroidal magnetic field in the nebula and measured the polarization in two regions along the jet, though no solid conclusion about the orientation of the magnetic field could be made due to the limited spatial resolution. 

Romani+ 2023 found magnetic fields were generally aligned along the X-ray filaments. The X-ray jet, invisible in the radio, shows polarization degree increasing with distance from the base and a significant orthogonal component of the magnetic field direction to the jet axis. Invoking the rotating vector model to interpret the X-ray and radio pulsar polarization, they place constraints on the magnetic axis and jet inclination angle.

Fei+ 2024 measured the spatially-integrated nebula polarization between 4-6 keV with a consistent polarization angle with the optical. The pulsar polarization was found to be quite high. With the sensitive method described above, they detected significant polarization in two phase bins, bracketing two lower-significance, lower-PD bins. The location of the significant bins roughly aligns with the bifurcation of the broad pulse in the X-ray light curve.

Bucciantini+ 2025 measured the integrated nebula polarization and found that it aligns with the torus symmetry axis, as expected for a toroidal magnetic field. They modeled its trend with integration area using various geometries and polarizations for the inner torus and extended nebula and find implications for a highly polarized inner torus.

(in progress)