Related papers: RoboPol: Do optical polarization rotations occur i…
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…
Study of the polarization behaviour in blazars is a powerful tool to discern the role of magnetic field in the variable emission process in their relativistic jets. We present here results of our systematic investigation on the correlation…
We present first results from RoboPol, a novel-design optical polarimeter operating at the Skinakas Observatory in Crete. The data, taken during the May - June 2013 commissioning of the instrument, constitute a single-epoch linear…
In any flux-density limited sample of blazars, the distribution of the timescale modulation factor $\Delta t'/\Delta t$, which quantifies the change in observed timescales compared to the rest-frame ones due to redshift and relativistic…
Due to the first results on astrophysical X-ray polarization provided by \textit{IXPE} observatory, the interest in wavelength-dependent synchrotron polarization of BL Lac type objects increases. This paper presents the results of…
At present three pulsars are known which clearly show a strongly increasing degree of circular polarization with frequency. As this is accompanied by a smooth decrease of linear polarization, we investigate, if this observation can be…
Polarization offers a unique view in the physical processes of astrophysical jets. We report on optical circular polarization observations of two famous blazars, namely 3C 279 and PKS 1510-089, at high linearly polarized states. This is the…
The optical radiation and polarization signatures in blazars are known to be highly variable during flaring activities. It is frequently argued that shocks are the main driver of the flaring events. However, the spectral variability…
The magnetic field conditions in astrophysical relativistic jets can be probed by multiwavelength polarimetry, which has been recently extended to X-rays. For example, one can track how the magnetic field changes in the flow of the…
We present ~2000 polarimetric and ~3000 photometric observations of 15 gamma-ray bright blazars over a period of 936 days (11/10/2008 - 26/10/2012) using data from the Tuorla blazar monitoring program (KVA DIPOL) and Liverpool Telescope…
We present the results of a systematic observational campaign designed to search for microvariability in the optical polarization of BL Lac objects. We have observed a sample formed by 8 X-ray-selected and 10 radio-selected sources, looking…
We investigate the rotation of the polarization of a light ray propagating in the gravitational field of a circularly polarized laser beam. The rotation consists of a reciprocal part due to gravitational optical activity, and a…
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…
Gamma-ray emitting blazars have been the targets of many recent or ongoing monitoring programmes. The resulting multi-wavelength data archives are ideal for studying the quiescent and variable behaviour of the blazar PKS 2155-304. Here,…
The population of radio pulsars is observed to demonstrate certain polarization properties not explained by the conventional picture of pulsar polarization, namely frequency evolution of polarization, deviations of the linear polarization…
Relativistic magnetic reconnection events can widely exist in magnetized plasmas in astrophysical systems. During this process, oppositely directed magnetic field lines reconnect and release magnetic energy, efficiently accelerating…
We present an analysis of the cross-correlation between optical brightness and polarization degree in different types of blazars. The aim is to identify objects with simultaneous and consistent changes in characteristics and to determine if…
The occurrence of low-amplitude flux variations in blazars on hourly timescales, commonly known as microvariability, is still a widely debated subject in high-energy astrophysics. Several competing scenarios have been proposed to explain…
Quasar 3C 279 is known to exhibit episodes of optical polarization angle rotation. We present new, well-sampled optical polarization data for 3C 279 and introduce a method to distinguish between random and deterministic electric vector…
We examine the long-term stability (on decade-like time scales) of optical `high polarization' (HP) state with $p_{opt}$ $> 3\%$, which commonly occurs in flat-spectrum (i.e., beamed) radio quasars (FSRQs) and is a prominent marker of…