Imaging Photo-Polarimetry of V838 Mon

Mathematics – Metric Geometry

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Scientific paper

The peculiar variable V838 Monocerotis underwent a remarkable outburst in early 2002, exhibiting complex photometric and spectroscopic variability. Spectro-polarimetric observations during initial stages of the outburst revealed a significant intrinsic polarization component, indicating the presence of an asymmetric geometry. This intrinsic component declined shortly after the outburst, and by March of 2002 the remaining polarization was consistent with solely an interstellar polarization component.
We obtained VRI photo-polarimetric observations of V838 Mon and surrounding field stars during an imaging polarimetry run at the 1.5m telescope at CTIO in October 2002. Preliminary reduction of these observations, which give aperture photometry and photo-polarimetry for point sources in the field, reveals that the polarization of V838 Mon in late 2002 is significantly different in both magnitude and position angle from the value obtained in March. The polarization values of field stars near V838 Mon are consistent with the previously derived interstellar polarization component along the line of sight. Our data therefore suggest that V838 Mon once again has an intrinsic polarization component, at a different position angle than the earlier one, implying changes either in the geometry of the circumstellar material that is producing the polarization, or in the illuminating source.
We thank the NOAO and the CTIO TAC for granting time for these observations. This work has been supported in part by NASA LTSA grant NAG5-8054 to the University of Toledo. KSB is a Cottrell Scholar of the Research Corporation and gratefully acknowledges their support. JPW thanks NOAO for supporting his travel to CTIO. AMM acknowledges travel support by FAPESP; he is also partially supported by CNPq. Polarimetry at University of São Paulo (USP) is supported by FAPESP. AMM and KSB acknowledge partial travel support by USP.

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