RoboPol: connection between optical polarization plane rotations and gamma-ray flares in blazars
Journal article, 2018

We use results of our 3 yr polarimetric monitoring programme to investigate the previously suggested connection between rotations of the polarization plane in the optical emission of blazars and their gamma-ray flares in the GeV band. The homogeneous set of 40 rotation events in 24 sources detected by RoboPol is analysed together with the gamma-ray data provided by Fermi-LAT. We confirm that polarization plane rotations are indeed related to the closest gamma-ray flares in blazars and the time lags between these events are consistent with zero. Amplitudes of the rotations are anticorrelated with amplitudes of the gamma-ray flares. This is presumably caused by higher relativistic boosting (higher Doppler factors) in blazars that exhibit smaller amplitude polarization plane rotations. Moreover, the time-scales of rotations and flares are marginally correlated.

galaxies: nuclei

galaxies: active

galaxies: jets

Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

polarization

gamma-rays: galaxies

Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics

Author

Dmitriy Blinov

University of Crete

Saint Petersburg State University - Spsu

et al.

Georgia Panopoulou

California Institute of Technology (Caltech)

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

0035-8711 (ISSN) 1365-2966 (eISSN)

Vol. 474 1 1296-1306

Subject Categories

Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology

DOI

10.1093/mnras/stx2786

More information

Latest update

11/16/2023