Related papers: Study of correlation between optical flux and pola…
In 2021 BL Lacertae underwent an extraordinary activity phase, which was intensively followed by the Whole Earth Blazar Telescope (WEBT) Collaboration. We present the WEBT optical data in the BVRI bands acquired at 36 observatories around…
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 present the observational results of multi-colour optical monitoring of eight red blazars from 2003 September to 2004 February. The aim of our monitoring is to investigate the spectral variability as well as the flux variations at short…
We investigate the temporal variability of polarization of synchrotron radiation from blazar jets. Multiwavelength observations revealed high-amplitude rotations of the electric vector position angle (EVPA), both in the optical and in the…
Among active galactic nuclei, blazars show extreme variability properties. We here investigate the case of the BL Lac object S4 0954+65 with data acquired in 2019-2020 by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and by the Whole…
We report the detection of high polarization in the first detailed optical linear polarization measurements on the BL Lac object CGRaBS J0211+1051, which flared in $\gamma$-rays on 2011 January 23 as reported by Fermi. The observations were…
In 2022 the BL Lac object S4 0954+65 underwent a major variability phase, reaching its historical maximum brightness in the optical and $\gamma$-ray bands. We present optical photometric and polarimetric data acquired by the Whole Earth…
As a characteristic feature of generic blazars the polarization behavior of the quasi-periodic optical outbursts observed in OJ287 is investigated. The optical light-curves of the December/2015 outburst are also simulated in terms of the…
We developed a method to separate a long-term trend from observed temporal variations of polarization in blazars using a Bayesian approach. The temporal variation of the polarization vector is apparently erratic in most blazars, while…
The RoboPol instrument and the relevant program was developed in order to conduct a systematic study of the optical polarisation variability of blazars. Driven by the discovery that long smooth rotations of the optical polarisation plane…
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…
Even with several thousand {\it Fermi}-LAT blazar detections, the $\gamma$-ray emission mechanism is poorly understood. We explore correlated optical/$\gamma$-ray flux variations for 178 {\it Fermi}-LAT blazars regularly monitored by KAIT,…
(Abridged) OJ287 is a BL Lac object that has shown double-peaked bursts at regular intervals of ~12 yr during the last ~40 yr. We analyse optical photopolarimetric monitoring data from 2005-2009, during which the latest double-peaked…
We investigate the optical polarization properties of high-energy BL Lac objects using data from the RoboPol blazar monitoring program and the Nordic Optical Telescope. We wish to understand if there are differences in the BL Lac objects…
We present a detailed investigation of the flaring activity observed from a BL Lac object, S5 0716+714 , during its brightest ever optical state in the second half of January 2015. Observed almost simultaneously in the optical, X-rays and…
Blazars are the established sources of an intense and variable non-thermal radiation extending from radio wavelengths up to HE and VHE gamma-rays. Understanding the spectral evolution of blazars in selected frequency ranges, as well as…
Polarimetric measurements, especially if extended at high energy, are expected to provide important insights into the mechanisms underlying the acceleration of relativistic particles in jets. In a previous work we have shown that the…
We compare the variability properties of very high energy gamma-ray emitting BL Lac objects in the optical and radio bands. We use the variability information to distinguish multiple emission components in the jet, to be used as a guidance…
Blazars are known for their extreme variability across the electromagnetic spectrum. Variability at very short timescales can push the boundaries between competing models offering us much needed discriminating power. This is particularly…
Recent multifrequency polarimetric observations of the eponymous blazar BL Lac reveal an extremely large degree of polarization in the optical band (average of $25\%$, reaching $45\%$), together with a small ($\lesssim 7\%$) degree of…