gamma-ray bright blazars optical polarization Virtual Observatory Resource

Authors
  1. Itoh R.
  2. Nalewajko K.
  3. Fukazawa Y.
  4. Uemura M.
  5. Tanaka Y.T.
  6. Kawabata K.S.,Madejski G.M.
  7. Schinzel F..K.
  8. Kanda Y.
  9. Shiki K.
  10. Akitaya H.
  11. Kawabata M.,Moritani Y.
  12. Nakaoka T.
  13. Ohsugi T.
  14. Sasada M.
  15. Takaki K.
  16. Takata K.
  17. Ui T.,Yamanaka M.
  18. Yoshida M.
  19. Published by
    CDS
Abstract

Blazars are highly variable active galactic nuclei that emit radiation at all wavelengths from radio to gamma rays. Polarized radiation from blazars is one key piece of evidence for synchrotron radiation at low energies, and it also varies dramatically. The polarization of blazars is of interest for understanding the origin, confinement, and propagation of jets. However, even though numerous measurements have been performed, the mechanisms behind jet creation, composition, and variability are still debated. We performed simultaneous gamma-ray and optical photopolarimetry observations of 45 blazars between 2008 July and 2014 December to investigate the mechanisms of variability and search for a basic relation between the several subclasses of blazars. We identify a correlation between the maximum degree of optical linear polarization and the gamma-ray luminosity or the ratio of gamma-ray to optical fluxes. Since the maximum polarization degree depends on the condition of the magnetic field (chaotic or ordered), this result implies a systematic difference in the intrinsic alignment of magnetic fields in parsec-scale relativistic jets between different types of blazars (flat-spectrum radio quasars vs. BL Lacs) and consequently between different types of radio galaxies (FR I versus FR II).

Keywords
  1. active-galactic-nuclei
  2. bl-lacertae-objects
  3. polarimetry
  4. photometry
Bibliographic source Bibcode
2016ApJ...833...77I
See also HTML
https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/ApJ/833/77
IVOA Identifier IVOID
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/833/77
Document Object Identifer DOI
doi:10.26093/cds/vizier.18330077

Access

Web browser access HTML
http://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/ApJ/833/77
https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/ApJ/833/77
http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/ApJ/833/77
IVOA Table Access TAP
http://tapvizier.cds.unistra.fr/TAPVizieR/tap
Run SQL-like queries with TAP-enabled clients (e.g., TOPCAT).
IVOA Cone Search SCS
For use with a cone search client (e.g., TOPCAT).
https://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/conesearch/J/ApJ/833/77/ident?
https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/conesearch/J/ApJ/833/77/ident?
http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/conesearch/J/ApJ/833/77/ident?

History

2016-12-09T14:57:02Z
Resource record created
2016-12-09T14:57:02Z
Created
2017-10-12T13:00:50Z
Updated

Contact

Name
CDS support team
Postal Address
CDS, Observatoire de Strasbourg, 11 rue de l'Universite, F-67000 Strasbourg, France
E-Mail
cds-question@unistra.fr