NASA’s IXPE Challenges Theories on Black Hole Corona and Polarised X-Ray Emissions

NASA’s IXPE Challenges Theories on Black Hole Corona and Polarised X-Ray Emissions

NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) has made surprising observations in a black hole binary system, detecting a high degree of X-ray polarisation that challenges current models of corona structure and accretion discs. In X-ray binaries, black holes pull matter from nearby stars, forming hot accretion discs and coronas.