Frequency and time dependence of linear polarization in turbulent jets of blazars
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Published version
Date
2021-04-27
Authors
Marscher, Alan P.
Jorstad, Svetlana G.
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Published version
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Citation
A.P. Marscher, S.G. Jorstad. "Frequency and Time Dependence of Linear Polarization in Turbulent Jets of Blazars." Galaxies, Volume 9, Issue 2, pp. 27 - 27. https://doi.org/10.3390/galaxies9020027
Abstract
Time-variable polarization is an extremely valuable observational tool to probe the dynamical physical conditions of blazar jets. Since 2008, we have been monitoring the flux and linear polarization of a sample of gamma-ray bright blazars at optical frequencies. Some of the observations were performed on nightly or intra-night time-scales in four optical bands, providing information on the frequency and time dependence of the polarization. The observed behavior is similar to that found in simulations of turbulent plasma in a relativistic jet that contains a standing shock and/or a helical background magnetic field. Similar simulations predict the characteristics of X-ray synchrotron polarization of blazars that will be measured in the future by the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE).
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Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.