Title: The High-Energy Polarization-Limiting Radius of Neutron Star Magnetospheres I -- Slowly Rotating Neutron Stars Show Chinese title

Title: 中子星磁层的高能极化限制半径 I —— 慢速旋转中子星

Abstract: In the presence of strong magnetic fields, the vacuum becomes a birefringent medium. We show that this QED effect decouples the polarization modes of photons leaving the NS surface. Both the total intensity and the intensity in each of the two modes is preserved along a ray's path through the neutron-star magnetosphere. We analyze the consequences that this effect has on aligning the observed polarization vectors across the image of the stellar surface to generate large net polarizations. Counter to previous predictions, we show that the thermal radiation of NSs should be highly polarized even in the optical. When detected, this polarization will be the first demonstration of vacuum birefringence. It could be used as a tool to prove the high magnetic field nature of AXPs and it could also be used to constrain physical NS parameters, such as $R/M$, to which the net polarization is sensitive. Show Chinese abstract

Abstract: 在强磁场存在的情况下，真空成为双折射介质。 我们表明，这种QED效应使光子的偏振模式在离开中子星表面时解耦。 沿着中子星磁层中光线的路径，总强度以及两个模式中的强度都得到保持。 我们分析了这种效应对对恒星表面图像中观测到的偏振矢量进行对齐以产生大净偏振的影响。 与之前的预测相反，我们表明中子星的热辐射即使在光学波段也应高度偏振。 当被探测到时，这种偏振将是真空双折射的第一个实验证据。 它可以作为证明AXPs高磁场特性的工具，并且还可以用于限制物理中子星参数，如$R/M$，净偏振对此敏感。