Investigation of the accuracy of polarization map deconvolution under ideal conditions

Abstract In 2021 September, the IXPE satellite was launched. It was the first satellite designed to map X-ray polarization. In this study, using the Crab Nebula as an example, we aim to clarify the correlation between deconvolution accuracy and the number of X-ray counts by correcting the polarization map of pseudo-observational data with known input values. To achieve this goal, we apply the conventional deconvolution correction formula in its matrix form and utilize the IXPE satellite simulator (xpobssim) in conjunction with the Chandra count map. We found that the deconvolution of Stokes Q and U requires higher photon statistics than that of Stokes I, and that the required count level depends on physical quantities in and around the region of interest, such as polarization degree and angle. Furthermore, we found that the effect of deconvolution is superior in more than half of the spatial regions of the Crab Nebula if an on-source time about five times longer than that of the IXPE 2022 observation (obsID 01001099) is applied.