Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T15:08:05.427Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Strong, Variable Circular Polarization in PKS 1519–273

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2016

Jean-Pierre MacQuart
Affiliation:
RCfTA, School of Physics, University of Sydney, Australia. E-mail: [email protected]
Lucyna Kedziora-Chudczer
Affiliation:
Australia Telescope National Facility/Anglo-Australian Observatory, Australia. E-mail: [email protected]
David Jauncey
Affiliation:
Australia Telescope National Facility, CSIRO, Australia. E-mail: [email protected]
David Rayner
Affiliation:
Australia Telescope National Facility/University of Tasmania, Australia. E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

We find strong (> 1%) circular polarization in the intraday-variable radio source PKS 1519–273. The source exhibits ~ 12 hourly variability in all four Stokes parameters at 4.8 and 8.6 GHz, and longer timescale variability at 2.5 and 1.4 GHz. The characteristics and frequency dependence of the variability suggest that it is due to interstellar scintillation. VSOP limits on the distance to the scattering screen constrain the brightness temperature to TB > 5 × 1013 K. The fluctuations in total intensity are well-correlated with those in circular polarization, implying that the variable component of the source is −3.8 ±0.4% circularly polarized at 4.8 GHz. The origin of the circular polarization is unclear.

Type
Chapter Three Intra-Day Variability, Gravitational Lensing and Polarization
Copyright
Copyright © Kluwer 2001

References

Jones, T.W. and O’Dell, S.L.: 1977, Transfer of radiation in self-absorbed synchrotron sources, Astrophys. J. 215, 236.Google Scholar
Kedziora-Chudczer et al: 2000, The ATCA intraday variability survey of extragalactic sources, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc, submitted.Google Scholar
Legg, M.P.C., and Westfold, K.C.: 1968, Elliptic polarization of synchrotron radiation, Astrophys. J. 154, 99.Google Scholar
Macquart, J.-P., Kedziora-Chudczer, L., Jauncey, D.L. and Rayner, D.P.: 2000, Strong, variable circular polarization in PKS 1519-273, to appear in Astrophys. J. 538.Google Scholar
Macquart, J.-P. and Melrose, D.B.: 2000a, Circular polarization induced by scintillation in a magnetized medium, Phys. Rev. E, in press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Macquart, J.-P. and Melrose, D.B.: 2000b, Scintillation-induced circular polarization in pulsars and quasars, Astrophys. J., submitted.Google Scholar
Pacholczyk, A.G.: 1973, Circular repolarization in compact radio sources, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 163, 29P.Google Scholar