Blazars are thought to possess a relativistic jet that is pointing toward the direction of the Earth and the elect of relativistic beaming enhances its apparent brightness. They radiate in all wavebands from the radio to the gamma-ray bands via the synchrotron and the inverse Compton scattering process. Numerous observations are performed but the mechanism of variability, creation and composition of jets are still controversial.
We performed multi-wavelength monitoring with optical polarization for 3C 66A, Mrk 421, CTA 102 and PMN J0948+0022 to investigate the mechanisms of variability and research the emission region in the relativistic jets. Consequently, an emergence of new emission component in flaring state is suggested in each object. The most significant aspect of these results is its wide range of sizes of emission regions from $10^{14}-10^{16}$ cm, which implies the model with a number of independent emission regions with variety sizes and randomly orientation. The "shock-in-jet" scenario can explain high PD and direction of PA in each objects. It might reflect the common mechanism of flares in the relativistic jets.
Jet precessions are widely involved in astrophysical phenomena from galaxies to X-ray binaries and gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Polarization presents a unique probe of the magnetic fields in GRB jets. The precession of GRBs relativistic jets will change the geometry within the observable emitting region of the jet, which can potentially affect the polarization of the afterglow. In this paper, we take into account jet precession to study the polarization evolution and corresponding light curves in GRB early optical afterglows with ordered and random magnetic field geometries. We find that the jet p…
Understanding magnetic field strength and morphology is very important for studying astrophysical jets. Polarization signatures have been a standard way to probe the jet magnetic field. Radio and optical polarization monitoring programs have been very successful in studying the space- and time-dependent jet polarization behaviors. A new era is now arriving with high-energy polarimetry. X-ray and $γ$-ray polarimetry can probe the most active jet regions with the most efficient particle acceleration. This new opportunity will make a strong impact on our current understanding of jet systems. This…
Knots (emission features in jets of active galactic nuclei) often show non-ballistic dynamics and variable emission/polarization properties. We model these features as emission pattern propagating in a jet that carries helical magnetic field and is launched along a changing direction. The model can reproduce a wide range of phenomena observed in the motion of knots: non-ballistic motion (both smooth and occasional sudden change of direction, and/or oscillatory behavior), variable brightness, confinement of knots' motion within an overlaying envelope. The model also reproduces smooth large pola…
We used 15 GHz multi-epoch Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) polarization sensitive observations of 484 sources within a time interval 1996--2016 from the MOJAVE program, and also from the NRAO data archive. We have analyzed the linear polarization characteristics of the compact core features and regions downstream, and their changes along and across the parsec-scale active galactic nuclei (AGN) jets. We detected a significant increase of fractional polarization with distance from the radio core along the jet as well as towards the jet edges. Compared to quasars, BL Lacs have a higher degree of …
Polarization offers a unique view in the physical processes of astrophysical jets. We report on optical circular polarization observations of two famous blazars, namely 3C 279 and PKS 1510-089, at high linearly polarized states. This is the first time PKS 1510-089 is observed in optical circular polarization. While only upper limits can be extracted from our observing campaign, the non-detection of optical circular polarization allows us to provide meaningful constraints on their magnetic field strength and jet composition. We find that high-energy emission models requiring high magnetic field…
We describe a geometric model for synchrotron radiation from blazar jets, involving multiple emission zones with turbulent magnetic fields and a transient core with a helical B field. Including the effects of jet divergence, particle cooling and the Relativistic PA rotation (RPAR) to the observer frame, we find polarization behavior consistent with recent data from monitoring campaigns. We predict that under some circumstances multi-$π$ rotation phases should exhibit relativistically-induced steps in rate $d{\rm PA}/dt$ and modulation in polarization $Π$ that can be helpful in pinning down the…
We investigate the polarization properties of Comptonized X-rays from relativistic jets in Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) using Monte Carlo simulations. We consider three scenarios commonly proposed for the observed X-ray emission in AGN: Compton scattering of blackbody photons emitted from an accretion disk; scattering of cosmic microwave background (CMB) photons; and self-Comptonization of intrinsically polarized synchrotron photons emitted by jet electrons. Our simulations show that for Comptonization of disk and CMB photons, the degree of polarization of the scattered photons increases with …
We investigate the polarization of Compton scattered X-rays from relativistic jets in active galactic nuclei using Monte Carlo simulations. We consider three scenarios: scattering of photons from an accretion disk, scattering of cosmic microwave background (CMB) photons, and synchrotron self-Comptonization (SSC) within the jet. For Comptonization of thermal disk photons or CMB photons the maximum linear polarization attained is slightly over 20% at viewing angles close to 90 degrees. The value decreases with the viewing inclination. For SSC, the maximum value may exceed 80%. The angle dependen…
We describe a geometric model for synchrotron and synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) radiation from blazar jets, involving multiple emission zones with turbulent magnetic fields and fully self-consistent seed photon mixing for SSC. Including the effects of jet divergence, particle cooling and the Relativistic PA rotation (RPAR) to the observer frame, we find that the multi-zone model recovers simple predictions for SSC polarization, but describes new dependencies on jet viewing geometry and zone multiplicity. Increasing the zone number decreases both synchrotron and SSC polarization, but with diff…
We describe and present initial results from a Fermi cycle 2 program designed to monitor the behavior of the centimeter-band linear polarization and total flux density emitted by gamma-ray-bright blazars during flaring. The goal of the program is to identify changes in the magnetic field structure in the radio jet associated with gamma-ray flaring and ultimately to test whether gamma-ray flaring is associated with the onset of shocks in the radio jet. Light curves illustrating radio band variability patterns are shown for sample program sources.
The polarimetric measurement on the prompt phase of GRB 100826A shows that the polarization angle changes $\sim 90^{\circ}$ between two adjacent time intervals. We will show that this phenomenon can be naturally interpreted in the framework of the magnetic-dominated jet (MDJ) model. The MDJ model suggests that the bulk Lorentz factor of the outflow increases as $Γ\propto r^{1/3}$, until reaching a saturated value $Γ_{\rm sat}$. Electrons move in the globally ordered magnetic field advected by the jet from the central engine and produce synchrotron photons. The polarized synchrotron photons tra…
We study the variation of the optical polarization angle in the blazar OJ287 and compare it with the precessing binary black hole model with a 'live' accretion disk. First, a model of the variation of the jet direction is calculated, and the main parameters of the model are fixed by the long term optical brightness evolution. Then this model is compared with the variation of the parsec scale radio jet position angle in the sky. Finally, the variation of the polarization angle is calculated using the same model, but using a magnetic field configuration which is at a constant angle relative to t…
Time-variable polarization is an extremely valuable observational tool to probe the dynamical physical conditions of blazar jets. Since 2008, we have been monitoring the flux and linear polarization of a sample of gamma-ray bright blazars at optical frequencies. Some of the observations were performed on nightly or intra-night time-scales in four optical bands, providing information on the frequency and time dependence of the polarization. The observed behavior is similar to that found in simulations of turbulent plasma in a relativistic jet that contains a standing shock and/or a helical back…
In this first paper from forthcoming series of works devoted to radio image of relativistic jets from active galactic nuclei the role of internal structure of a flow is discussed. We determine the radial profiles of all physical values for reasonable Michel magnetization parameter $σ_{\rm M}$ and ambient pressure $P_{\rm ext}$. Maps of Doppler boosting factor $δ$ and observed directions of linear polarization of synchrotron emission are also constructed.
The study of the polarization direction is crucial in the issue of restoring the spatial structure of the magnetic field in the active galaxy parsec-scale jets. But, due to relativistic effects, the magnetic field projected onto the celestial sphere in the source reference frame cannot be assumed to be orthogonal to the observed direction of the electric vector in the wave. Moreover, the local axis of the jet component may not coincide with its motion direction, which affects the observed polarization direction. In this article, we analyze the transverse to jet distributions of the electric ve…
We explore the spectral and polarization properties of photospheric emissions from stratified jets in which multiple components, separated by a sharp velocity shear regions, are distributed in lateral direction. Propagation of thermal photons injected at high optical depth region are calculated until they escape from the photosphere. It is found that presence of the lateral structure within the jet leads to non-thermal feature of the spectra and significant polarization signal in the resulting emission. The deviation from thermal spectra as well as the polarization degree tends to be enhanced …
We employ a length-dependent conical jet model for the jet structure and emission properties of flat spectrum radio quasar 3C 279 in the steady state. In the model, ultra-relativistic leptons are injected at the base of jet and propagate along the jet structure, non-thermal photons are produced by both synchrotron emission and inverse Comtpon scattering off synchrotron photons and external soft photons at each segment of jet. We derive the total energy spectra contribution through integrating every segment. We apply the model to the quasi-simultaneous multi-wavelength observed data of two quie…
In a prior paper (Kim et al. 2015) we considered the linear stability of magnetized jets that carry no net electric current and do not have current sheets. In this paper, in addition to physically well-motivated magnetic field structures, we also include the effects of jet shear. The jets we study have finite thermal pressure in addition to having realistic magnetic field structures and velocity shear. We find that shear has a strongly stabilizing effect on various modes of jet instability. Increasing shear stabilizes the fundamental pinch modes at long wavelengths and short wavelengths. Incre…
We have used single-dish centimeter-band, multi-frequency linear polarization and total flux density monitoring observations obtained by UMRAO at 14.5, 8, and 4.8 GHz during gamma-ray flaring to constrain propagating shock-in-jet models; this procedure allows us to probe jet conditions at or near the presumed parsec-scale gamma-ray emission site within the relativistic jet. Results are presented for the blazar 0420-014 during the gamma-ray flare detected by the LAT which peaked in late January 2010. Our work identifies the passage of three forward-moving transverse shocks during the radio-band…
In this work we combine SEDs, radio maps and polarization observations to understand the emission mechanisms in Cygnus X-1. Our radiative model indicates that the MeV emission originates in the jet and that all the very high-energy emission is from hadronic origin. We also performed a synthetic radio map that suggests that our description of the magnetic field should be improved, since it leads to a very compact emission region. In order to choose the most suitable magnetic field geometry, we investigated the polarization in X-rays and we found that very simple geometries can explain the high …
We perform polarimetry analysis of 20 active galactic nuclei (AGN) jets using the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) at 1.4, 1.6, 2.2, 2.4, 4.6, 5.0, 8.1, 8.4, and 15.4 GHz. The study allowed us to investigate linearly polarized properties of the jets at parsec-scales: distribution of the Faraday rotation measure (RM) and fractional polarization along the jets, Faraday effects and structure of Faraday-corrected polarization images. Wavelength-dependence of the fractional polarization and polarization angle is consistent with external Faraday rotation, while some sources show internal rotation. Th…
It is generally supposed that a transition from the normal decay phase (decay slope $\sim -1$) to a steeper phase (decay slope $\sim -2$) could be suggested as a jet break. The jet opening angle $θ_{\rm jet}$ is then calculated from the jet break time of the afterglow light curve. This allows the derivation of the collimation-corrected energy $E_{\rm jet}$ of those GRBs. We extensively searched for the GRBs with jet break features from multi-wavelength afterglow light curves, and 138 GRBs with significant breaks were collected. The jet break times of those GRBs mainly range from 1000 s to $10^…
X-ray polarization should provide new probes of magnetic field geometry and acceleration physics near the base of blazar jets, but near-future missions will have limited sensitivity. We thus use existing lower energy data and X-ray variability measurements in the context of a basic synchro-Compton model to predict the X-ray polarization level and the probability of detection success for individual sources, listing the most attractive candidates for an IXPE campaign. We find that, as expected, several high-peak blazars such as Mrk 421 can be easily measured in 100 ksec exposures. Most low peak …
We present a stationary, axisymmetric, self-similar semi-analytic model of magnetically dominated jet plasma based on force-free regions of a relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulation. We use this model to illustrate how the composition of relativistic jet plasma can be determined, with special attention to the example of M87. In particular, we compute synthetic Stokes maps in e-e+p plasmas with various positron-to-proton ratios using synchrotron emission models scaling the partial pressure of electrons and positrons emitting at the observed frequency to the magnetic pressure, taking into ac…
We present a high resolution polarimetry and variability study of the M87 jet using VLA and HST data taken during 2002 to 2008. Both data-sets have an angular resolution as high as 0.06$"$, which is 2-3 times better than previous observations. New morphological details are revealed in both the optical and radio, which can help to reveal the energetic and magnetic field structure of the jet. By comparing the data with previously published HST and VLA observations, we show that the jet$'$s morphology in total and polarized light is changing significantly on timescales of $\sim$a decade. We compa…
A single measurement of linear polarization of a nonthermal source provides direct information about the mean direction and level of ordering of the magnetic field. Monitoring of the polarization in blazars, combined with millimeter-wave VLBI imaging in both total and polarized intensity, has the potential to determine the geometry of the magnetic field. This is a key probe of the physical processes in the relativistic jet, such as ordered field components, turbulence, magnetic reconnections, magnetic collimation and acceleration of the jet flow, particle acceleration, and radiative processes …
Time-dependent photospheric radiative transfer in structured GRB jets: spectral evolution and polarization diagnostics
Nanchang University（南昌大学）；Henan Institute for Drug and Medical Device Control (Henan Vaccine Issuance Center)（河南省药品医疗器械检验研究院（河南省疫苗发放中心））；Shanghai Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceuticals, Ltd.（上海强生制药有限公司）
A number of extragalactic jets show periodic structures at different scales that can be associated with growing instabilities. The wavelengths of the developing instability modes and their ratios depend on the flow parameters, so the study of those structures can shed light on jet physics at the scales involved. In this work, we use the fits to the jet ridgeline obtained from different observations of S5 B0836$+$710 and apply stability analysis of relativistic, sheared flows to derive an estimate of the physical parameters of the jet. Based on the assumption that the observed structures are ge…
The high-mass X-ray binary LS I +61$^\circ$303 is detected across the electromagnetic spectrum from radio until the very high energy gamma-ray regime. The emission is not only highly variable on many time scales, but is also periodic at all observed wavelengths. Periodic modulation was observed on different time-scales, ranging from hours, over months to several years. The subject of this article is a super-orbital, long-term modulation of ~4.6 years. We review the observation of this periodic modulation at multiple wavelengths and investigate systematic relationships between them. In particul…
Peculiar Behavior of Optical Polarization in Blazar 1ES 1959+650: Role of Jet Magnetic Field and Geometry
Homi Bhabha National Institute（霍米·巴巴国立研究所）；Astrophysical Sciences Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre（巴哈原子研究中心天体物理科学部）；Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences（阿耶波多观测科学研究所以）
Discovery of minute-scale polarization angle rotation in a supermassive black hole jet
University of Crete（克里特大学）；Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas（希腊研究与技术基金会）；The Pennsylvania State University（宾夕法尼亚州立大学）；Institute of Astrobiology, University of Crete（克里特大学天体生物学研究所）；Chalmers University of Technology（查尔姆斯理工大学）；Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg（埃尔朗根-纽伦堡弗里德里希·亚历山大大学）
The low-luminosity Active Galactic Nuclei M87, archetype of Fanaroff-Riley I radio-galaxies, was observed in a historically quiet state in 2017. While one-zone leptonic jet models alone cannot explain the core radio-to-gamma-ray spectrum, we explore a hybrid jet-disc scenario. In this work, we model the overall spectral energy distribution of M87's core with a dominating one-zone lepto-hadronic jet component, coupled with the contribution from the accretion flow. We find close-to-equipartition parameter sets for which the jet component fits the radio-to-optical data as well as the gamma-ray ba…
We report a polarimetric constraint on the hard X-ray synchrotron jet emission from the Cygnus X-1 black-hole binary system. The observational data were obtained using the PoGO+ hard X-ray polarimeter in July 2016, when Cygnus X-1 was in the hard state. We have previously reported that emission from an extended corona with a low polarization fraction is dominating, and that the polarization angle is perpendicular to the disk surface. In the soft gamma-ray regime, a highly-polarized synchrotron jet is reported with INTEGRAL observations. To constrain the polarization fraction and flux of such a…
The high polarization observed in the prompt phase of some gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) arouses extensive studies on the emission mechanism. In this paper, we investigate the polarization properties of the synchrotron-self-Compton (SSC) process from a highly relativistic jet. A magnetic-dominated, baryon-loaded jet ejected from the central engine travels with a large Lorentz factor. Shells with slightly different velocities collide with each other and produce shocks. The shocks accelerate electrons to power-law distribution, and at the same time, magnify the magnetic field. Electrons move in the ma…
Since the mid-1980s the shock-in-jet model has been the preferred paradigm to explain radio-band flaring in blazar jets. We describe our radiative transfer model incorporating relativistically-propagating shocks, and illustrate how the 4.8, 8, and 14.5 GHz linear polarization and total flux density data from the University of Michigan monitoring program, in combination with the model, constrain jet flow conditions and shock attributes. Results from strong Fermi-era flares in 4 blazars with widely-ranging properties are presented. Additionally, to investigate jet evolution on decadal time scale…
We consider the polarization properties of photospheric emission originating in jets consisting of a highly relativistic core of opening angle theta_j and Lorentz factor Gamma_0, and a surrounding shear layer where the Lorentz factor is decreasing as a power law of index p with angle from the jet axis. We find significant degrees of linear polarization for observers located at viewing angles theta_v \gtrsim theta_j. In particular, the polarization degree of emission from narrow jets (theta_j \approx 1/Gamma_0) with steep Lorentz factor gradients (p \gtrsim 4) reaches \sim 40%. The angle of pol…
A comprehensive understanding of Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) has been elusive due to the variety of questions surrounding the radiation mechanism at play in these events. Polarization measurements of GRBs can heavily constrain the relevant radiation mechanisms and the structure of the GRB jet; however, there is a limited number of theoretical predictions that observed GRB polarizations can be compared against. Here, we conduct radiative transfer calculations of a set of two dimensional relativistic hydrodynamic long GRB (LGRB) jet simulations, of a constant and a variable jet, using the Monte Carl…
Context. SS 433 is historically a well-known microquasar in the Galaxy that has been deeply studied during the four decades elapsed since its discovery. However, observations at very high radio frequencies with good angular resolution are still very scarce in the literature. The present paper tries to partially fill this gap using archival data of the source obtained with the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA). Aims. We aim to study the SS 433 jet properties at radio frequencies corresponding to millimetre wavelengths where the synchrotron emitting particles are expected to lose their energ…
Polarization Dynamics of X-Ray Synchrotron Emission from a Multi-Zone Blazar Jet
Washington University in St Louis（圣路易斯华盛顿大学）；University of Maryland Baltimore County（马里兰大学巴尔的摩县分校）；NASA Goddard Space Flight Center（美国国家航空航天局戈达德太空飞行中心）
We present a detailed analysis of time- and energy-dependent synchrotron polarization signatures in a shock-in-jet model for gamma-ray blazars. Our calculations employ a full 3D radiation transfer code, assuming a helical magnetic field throughout the jet. The code considers synchrotron emission from an ordered magnetic field, and takes into account all light-travel-time and other relevant geometric effects, while the relevant synchrotron self-Compton and external Compton effects are taken care of with the 2D MCFP code. We consider several possible mechanisms through which a relativistic shock…
The characteristic two-component blazar spectral energy distribution (SED) can be of either leptonic and/or hadronic origins. The potential association of the high-energy neutrino event IceCube-170922A with the flaring blazar TXS~0506+056 indicates that hadronic processes may operate in a blazar jet. Despite multi-wavelength follow-ups of the event and extensive theoretical modelings, the radiation mechanisms and the underlying magnetic field strength and configuration remain poorly understood. In this paper, we consider generic leptonic and hadronic blazar spectral models with distinct magnet…
The magnetic field is believed to play a critical role in the bulk acceleration and propagation of jets produced in active galactic nuclei (AGN). Polarization observations of AGN jets provide valuable information about their magnetic fields. As a result of radiative transfer, jet structure, and stratification, among other factors, it is not always straightforward to determine the magnetic field structures from observed polarization. We review these effects and their impact on polarization emission at a variety of wavelengths, including radio, optical, and ultraviolet wavelengths in this paper.…
A central compact object (CCO, e.g. a black hole) with an accretion disk has been suggested as the common central engine of various astrophysical phenomena, such as gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), tidal disruption events (TDEs) and active galactic nuclei (AGNs). A jet powered by such a system might precess due to the misalignment of the angular momenta of the CCO and accretion disk. Some quasi-periodic behaviors observed in the light curves of these phenomena can be well interpreted within the framework of a precessing jet model. In this paper, we study the emission polarization of precessing jets in…
A number of works reported on the existence of a large scale alignment of the polarization plane of extragalactic sources as well as the alignment of radio-sources structural axes. However, both claims and their interpretation remain controversial. For the first time we explore the parsec-scale jets alignments. Additionally, we use archival polarimetric data at different wavelengths in order to compare relative orientations of the jets and the polarization planes of their emission. Using the flux density distribution in very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) radio maps from the Astrogeo data…
We analysed the parsec-scale linear polarization properties of 436 active galactic nuclei (AGN) based on 15 GHz polarimetric Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) observations. We present polarization and total intensity images averaged over at least five epochs since 1996 January 19 through 2019 August 4. Stacking improves the image sensitivity down to $\sim$30 $μ$Jy/beam and effectively fills out the jet cross-section both in total intensity and linear polarization. It delineates the long-term persistent magnetic field configuration and its regularity by restoring spatial distributions of the elec…
We present an analysis of the core linear polarization properties of 387 parsec-scale active galactic nuclei (AGN) jets. Using 15 GHz VLBA data, we revisit the conclusions of the first paper in this series with multi-epoch measurements and more detailed analysis of a larger AGN sample which spans a broader range of synchrotron peak frequencies. Each AGN has been observed for at least five epochs between 1996 and 2017. We find that BL Lac objects have core electric vector position angles (EVPAs) which tend towards alignment with the local jet direction; compared to flat spectrum radio quasars (…
One possible origin for polarization structures across jets of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) with a central "spine" of orthogonal magnetic field and a "sheath" of longitudinal magnetic field along one or both edges of the jet is the presence of a helical jet magnetic field. Simultaneous Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) polarization observations of AGN displaying partial or full spine--sheath polarization structures were obtained at 4.6, 5.0, 7.9, 8.9, 12.9 and 15.4 GHz, in order to search for additional evidence for helical jet magnetic fields, such as transverse Faraday rotation gradients (due…
We have compared the parsec-scale jet linear polarization properties of the Fermi LAT-detected and non-detected sources in the complete flux-density-limited (MOJAVE-1) sample of highly beamed AGN. Of the 123 MOJAVE sources, 30 were detected by the LAT during its first three months of operation. We find that during the era since the launch of Fermi, the unresolved core components of the LAT-detected jets have significantly higher median fractional polarization at 15 GHz. This complements our previous findings that these LAT sources have higher apparent jet speeds, brightness temperatures and Do…
