An Optical and Near Infrared Polarization Survey of Early Type Radio Galaxies

Details An Optical and Near Infrared Polarization Survey of Early Type Radio Galaxies An Optical and Near Infrared Polarization Survey of Early Type Radio Galaxies

Nov 1990

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1990mnras.247..327b&link_type=abstract

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 247, NO.2/NOV15, P. 327, 1990

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

6

Scientific paper

We present optical and near-infrared (0.43-2.2 micron) polarization and flux density measurements of 18 early-type radio galaxies which show excess 10-micron infrared emission. The observed degrees of polarization are generally small (P<1 per cent) and for many galaxies there is likely to be significant contamination from interstellar polarization produced in our Galaxy. IC 5063 and NGC 5128, and possibly NGC 1052 and 838, have degrees of polarization which show a likely increase in the near-infrared. For the first three, the increase in polarization can be explained by dilution with unpolarized galaxy light of a relatively steep-spectrum source, having high and wavelength-dependent polarization. This source may be a low-luminosity BL Lac, viewed at a large angle to the radio jet axis, but the lack of confirmed polarization variability in the optical and the near-infrared allows for alternative explanations, such as scattering. There is a tendency for the polarization E-vector (especially in the infrared) to be perpendicular to the radio axis. For some galaxies, the wavelength-dependence of polarization is consistent with that produced by the transmission of light through aligned dust grains, with the optical polarization E-vector parallel to a dust lane. There is no evidence for polarization variability from our few repeat measurements of individual galaxies. We review the evidence for radio ellipticals containing a low-luminosity BL Lac type source.

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