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X-ray polarimetry directly probes the radiation geometry and large-scale magnetic configuration of magnetars. We present a uniform Bayesian comparison between a dipole-dominated classical rotating vector model and a modified rotating vector model (MRVM) including a first-order magnetospheric twist correction. The models are applied to the phase-resolved Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) polarization position angle (PA) curves of 1E 2259+586 and 1E 1547.0−5408. Parameters are inferred with a PA-level likelihood, and the models are compared using χ 2 , the Akaike information criterion, Bayesian information criterion, and Bayesian evidence. For 1E 1547.0−5408, we also test radio-derived geometrical constraints using radio-informed priors and radio-fixed fits. The current IXPE PA data for both sources are consistent with a dipole-dominated geometry and do not require a significant global twist. The MRVM gives only a marginal improvement for 1E 2259+586, with a Bayes factor of ≃3.3, and no meaningful improvement for 1E 1547.0−5408, with a Bayes factor of ≃1.29. We confirm that, for 1E 1547, the nearly aligned radio geometry is not ruled out, but the radio rotating vector model central geometry is not preferred by the X-ray PA data alone. The two sources show different impact angles, suggesting that magnetar X-ray polarization diversity reflects both viewing geometry and source-dependent emission physics. This work provides a framework for future Stokes-level and multiepoch polarimetric studies with missions such as eXTP.
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李 et al. (2026) studied this question.
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