Mar 24, 2011
First gamma-ray polarisation measure around a galactic black hole
Prototype of the X-ray binary systems harboring a black hole, Cygnus X-1 is the subject of many studies since its discovery in the 1960s. By studying its behavior at high energy, an international team led by Philippe Laurent, astrophysicist at the Service d'Astrophysique of the CEA-Irfu and laboratory APC discovered a surprising property of the light emitted by the system, a high degree of polarization.
