Related papers: Optical circular polarization in quasars

For a number of physical studies which are planned to be made with the next generation colliders, it is necessary to use polarized beams of both electrons and positrons. The problem of producing and acceleration of polarized electrons may…

While amongst the most luminous objects in the universe, many details regarding the inner structure of quasars remain unknown. One such area is the mechanism promoting increased polarisation in the broad absorption line troughs of certain…

We present optical photo-polarimetric observations with high temporal resolution of the blazar AO 0235+164. Our data, the first to test the photo-polarimetric behaviour of this object at very short time-scales, show significant…

We discuss the constraints that recent observations place on circular polarization in AGN. In many sources the circular polarization is variable on short timescales, indicating that it originates in compact regions of the sources. The best…

We report on the variation in the optical polarization of the blazar PKS 1749+096 observed in 2008--2015. The degree of polarization (PD) tends to increase in short flares having a time-scale of a few days. The object favors a polarization…

We present the first imaging circular polarimetry of the anomalous X-ray pulsar (AXP) 4U 0142+61 at optical wavelengths. The AXP is the only magnetar that has been well studied at optical and infrared wavelengths and is known to have a…

We proposed and demonstrated a scheme of surface emitting circularly polarized light source by introducing strong imbalance between left- and right-circularly polarized vacuum fields in an on-waveguide chiral grating structure. We observed…

We study the optical flux and polarization variability of the binary black hole blazar OJ 287 using quasi-simultaneous observations from 2015 to 2023 carried out using telescopes in the USA, Japan, Russia, Crimea, and Bulgaria. This is one…

We report on full-Stokes L-band observations of 98 MeerKAT calibration sources. Linear polarization is detected in 71 objects above a fractional level of 0.2\%. We identify ten sources with strong fractional linear polarization and low…

Context. The origin, evolution, and ultimate fate of magnetic cataclysmic variables are poorly understood. It is largely the nature of the magnetic fields in these systems that leads to this poor understanding. Fundamental properties, such…

Optical spectropolarimetry and broadband polarimetry in other wavebands has been a key to understanding many diverse aspects of AGN. In some cases polarization is due to synchrotron radiation, and in other cases it's due to scattering.…

The present theoretical status of spin-dependent parton densities Delta f^{\gamma}(x,Q^2) of circularly polarized photons is briefly reviewed. It is then demonstrated that measurements of the deep-inelastic spin asymmetry A_1^{\gamma}\simeq…

Photon splitting due to vacuum polarization in a laser field is considered. Using an operator technique, we derive the amplitudes for arbitrary strength, spectral content and polarization of the laser field. The case of a monochromatic…

Correlated orientations of quasar optical and radio polarisation, and of radio jets, have been reported on Gpc scales, possibly arising from intrinsic alignment of spin axes. Optical quasar polarisation appears to be preferentially either…

We review recent observations of circularly polarized radiation from AGN made with the VLBA and with the ATCA. We also discuss briefly the detections of the Galactic sources Sag A* and SS433. The origin of the circular polarization is still…

We have built and tested a compact, low-cost, but very-high-performance astronomical polarimeter based on a continuously rotating half-wave plate and a high-speed imaging detector. The polarimeter is suitable for small telescopes up to ~1 m…

Standard cosmological models do predict a measurable amount of anisotropies in the intensity and linear polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation (CMB) via Thomson scattering, even though these theoretical models do not…

In this work, we report the presence of rapid intra-night optical variations in both -- flux and polarization of the blazar BL Lacertae during its unprecedented 2020--2021 high state of brightness. The object showed significant flux…

Astrophysical polarization measurements provide some of the strongest constraints on the photon sector of the non-minimal Standard-Model Extension. This paper reviews some recent results obtained by combining optical linear and circular…

X-ray polarization should provide new probes of magnetic field geometry and acceleration physics near the base of blazar jets, but near-future missions will have limited sensitivity. We thus use existing lower energy data and X-ray…