Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2005-11-30
Astron.J.131:1262-1279,2006
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
24 pages, accepted to appear in Astronomical Journal
Scientific paper
10.1086/500256
We report first-epoch circular polarization results for 133 active galactic nuclei in the MOJAVE program to monitor the structure and polarization of a flux limited sample of extra-galactic radio jets with the VLBA at 15 GHz. We found strong circular polarization ($\geq 0.3$%) in approximately 15% of our sample. The circular polarization was usually associated with jet cores; however, we did find a few strong jet components to be circularly polarized. The levels of circular polarization were typically in the range of $0.3-0.5$% of the local Stokes-$I$. We found no strong correlations between fractional circular polarization of jet cores and source type, redshift, EGRET detections, linear polarization, or other observed parsec-scale jet properties. There were differences between the circular-to-linear polarization ratios of two nearby galaxies versus more distant quasars and BL Lac objects. We suggest this is because the more distant sources either have (1) less depolarization of their linear polarization, and/or (2) poorer effective linear resolution and therefore their VLBA cores apparently contain a larger amount of linearly polarized jet emission. The jet of 3C 84 shows a complex circular polarization structure, similar to observations by Homan & Wardle five years earlier; however, much of the circular polarization seems to have moved, consistent with a proper motion of 0.06$c$. The jet of 3C 273 also has several circularly polarized components, and we find their fractional circular polarization decreases with distance from the core.
Homan Daniel C.
Lister Matthew L.
No associations
LandOfFree
MOJAVE: Monitoring of Jets in AGN with VLBA Experiments - II. First-Epoch 15 GHz Circular Polarization Results does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with MOJAVE: Monitoring of Jets in AGN with VLBA Experiments - II. First-Epoch 15 GHz Circular Polarization Results, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and MOJAVE: Monitoring of Jets in AGN with VLBA Experiments - II. First-Epoch 15 GHz Circular Polarization Results will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-429625