Related papers: Circular Polarization in AGN
We discuss the polarization of broad emission lines in the type 1 active galactic nuclei (AGNs). The polarization depends on the geometry of the broad line region (BLR), and also on the polarization mechanism, or distribution of the…
Partially coherent electromagnetic sources with cylindrical symmetry and infinite extent radiating outwards are introduced. Their 3x3 cross-spectral density matrix is given through expansions of the field components in terms of basis…
We report the detection of circular polarization in the compact radio jet of the nearby spiral galaxy M81 (M81*). The observations were made with the Very Large Array at 4.8 and 8.4 GHz and circular polarization was detected at both…
Microlensing of extended stellar sources in the LMC and Galaxy by low mass lenses can produce variable polarisation. The characteristics of the polarisation and flux profiles can provide considerable information about the lens geometry, and…
X-ray observations of active galactic nuclei (AGN) show variability on timescales ranging from a few hours up to a few days. Some of this variability may be associated with occultation events by clouds in the broad line region. In this…
Photon-photon interactions mediated by the neutral hydrogen background can transform plane polarization into circular polarization, through completely forward processes, [gamma+gamma+atom-> gamma+ gamma+atom], in which only the photon…
X-ray polarimetry is a fine tool to probe the accretion geometry and physical processes operating in the proximity of compact objects, black holes and neutron stars. Recent discoveries made by the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer put our…
Linear and circular polarizations of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) have been detected during recent years. We adopt a simplified model to investigate GRB polarization characteristics in this paper. A compressed two-dimensional turbulent slab…
We show that the parameter space of axion-like particles can be severly constrained using high-precision measurements of quasar polarisations. Robust limits are derived from the measured bounds on optical circular polarisation and from the…
In a series of paper, it has been shown that the distribution of polarisation position angles for visible light from quasars is not random in extremely large regions of the sky. As explained in a recent article, the measurement of vanishing…
The polarisation properties of the intrinsically small (< 20 kpc) radio sources are briefly discussed. At centimetric and decimetric wavelengths, substantial polarised emission is often detected in quasars and, at a lower level, in radio…
We interpret the linear polarization structures observed in extragalactic radio sources, even those oriented at oblique angles to the jet flows, to be due to oblique, relativistic shock fronts in the emitting regions. Many sources exhibit…
The circular polarization of gravitational waves is a powerful observable to test parity violation in gravity and to distinguish between the primordial or the astrophysical origin of the stochastic background. This property comes from the…
We consider the effect of spatial correlations on sources of polarized electromagnetic radiation. The sources, assumed to be monochromatic, are constructed out of dipoles aligned along a line such that their orientation is correlated with…
Sagittarius A* is the source of near infrared, X-ray, radio, and (sub)millimeter emission associated with the supermassive black hole at the Galactic Center. In the submillimeter regime, Sgr A* exhibits time-variable linear polarization on…
Various methods of obtaining longitudinally polarized positrons for future linear colliders are reviewed. Special attention is paid to the schemes using circularly polarized high-energy photons for positron production. Most effectively 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.…
Sgr A* is variable at radio and submillimeter wavelengths on hourly time scales showing time delays between the peaks of flare emission as well as linearly polarized emission at millimeter and sub-mm wavelengths. To determine the…
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…
We report strong variability in the circular and linear polarization of the intraday variable source PKS 1519-273. The circular polarization varies on a timescale of hours to days at frequencies between 1.4 and 8.6 GHz, and is strongly…