Pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe) are powerful sources of non-thermal X-ray radiation, which is intrinsically polarized due to synchrotron emission. The magnetic field strength and structure in these sources play a crucial role in shaping their dynamics, energetics and evolution, as well as in accelerating particles to very high energies. X-ray polarimetry can provide unique insights into understanding the local orientation and degree of order of the magnetic field, as well as the distribution and spectrum of the emitting particles. In this talk, I will review the current status and future prospects of X-ray polarimetry applied to extended source PWN, with a focus on the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) mission, which is a NASA/ASI explorer launched in December 2021.

BIO

Fei Xie received her Ph.D. degree from the Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2016. From 2016 to 2018, she conducted postdoctoral research at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Sweden. From 2018 to 2021, she worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the National Institute for Astrophysics (IAPS/INAF) in Italy. She returned to China and joined Guangxi University in 2021, she is a professor and doctoral supervisor now. Her main research focuses on space X-ray polarimetry detection technology and observational science, with particular interests in pulsar wind nebulae and X-ray binaries.