The Polarized Spectrum of Cygnus-A

Details The Polarized Spectrum of Cygnus-A The Polarized Spectrum of Cygnus-A

May 1993

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1993a%26a...272..105j&link_type=abstract

Astronomy and Astrophysics, Vol.272, NO. 1/MAYI, P. 105, 1993

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

28

Scientific paper

We report the results of a sensitive optical polarization study of the narrow line radio galaxy Cygnus A. The polarization is 2% in the blue, decreasing to 1% in the red, and most of this polarization is likely to be intrinsic to the host galaxy. No polarized broad Hα line is found to a level of approximately 200A, and we find that the polarized intensity spectrum rises to the blue as λ^-2.8+/-0.8^, which is bluer than a typical quasar spectrum. Neither electron or dust scattering alone nor foreground absorption alone is capable of reproducing the observations. We suggest that approximately half the polarized spectrum is due to dust scattering and the other half to foreground extinction in the host galaxy, although we cannot entirely discount the possibility of electron scattering.

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