MAPCAT: Monitoring AGN with Polarimetry at the Calar Alto Telescopes

Abstract

We introduce MAPCAT, a long-term observing program for "Monitoring of AGN with Polarimetry at the Calar Alto Telescopes". Multi-spectral-range studies are critical to understand some of the most relevant current problems of high energy astrophysics of blazars such as their high energy emission mechanisms and the location of their gamma-ray emission region through event associations across the spectrum. Adding multi-spectral-range polarimetry allows for even more reliable identification of polarized flares across the spectrum in these kind of objects, as well as for more accurate modeling of their magnetic field. As part of a major international effort to study the long term multi-spectral range polarimetric behavior of blazars, MAPCAT uses -since mid 2007- CAFOS on the 2.2m Telescope at the Calar Alto Observatory (Almeria, Spain) to obtain monthly optical (R-band) photo-polarimetric measurements of a sample of 34 of the brightest gamma-ray, optical, and radio-millimeter blazars accessible from the northern hemisphere.

To be published in the proceedings of High Energy Phenomena in Relativistic Outflows III (HEPRO III, IJMPCS). 4 pages

References in corpus (12)

• Probing the Inner Jet of the Quasar PKS 1510-089 with Multi-waveband Monitoring during Strong Gamma-ray Activity
• A change in the optical polarization associated with a gamma-ray flare in the blazar 3C 279
• Location of gamma-ray Flare Emission in the Jet of the BL Lacertae Object OJ287 more than 14pc from the Central Engine
• Results of WEBT, VLBA and RXTE monitoring of 3C 279 during 2006-2007
• On the Location of the Gamma-ray Emission in the 2008 Outburst in the BL Lacertae Object AO 0235+164 through Observations across the Electromagnetic Spectrum
• Fermi Large Area Telescope and multi-wavelength observations of the flaring activity of PKS 1510-089 between 2008 September and 2009 June
• A new activity phase of the blazar 3C 454.3. Multifrequency observations by the WEBT and XMM-Newton in 2007-2008
• The brightest gamma-ray flaring blazar in the sky: AGILE and multi-wavelength observations of 3C 454.3 during November 2010
• Multi-wavelength Observations of the Flaring Gamma-ray Blazar 3C 66A in 2008 October
• The high activity of 3C 454.3 in autumn 2007. Monitoring by the WEBT during the AGILE detection
• Multiwavelength Observations of the Gamma-Ray Blazar PKS 0528+134 in Quiescence
• Identification of gamma-ray emission from 3C345 and NRAO512

Cited by in corpus (8)

• A multi-wavelength polarimetric study of the blazar CTA 102 during a Gamma-ray flare in 2012
• Detection of persistent VHE gamma-ray emission from PKS 1510-089 by the MAGIC telescopes during low states between 2012 and 2017
• Polarization swings in blazars
• A Fast Very High Energy $\gamma$-ray Flare from BL Lacertae during a Period of Multiwavelength activity in June 2015
• The RoboPol Program: Optical Polarimetric Monitoring of Blazars
• High optical to X-ray polarization ratio reveals Compton scattering in BL Lacertae's jet
• Characterization of High-polarization Stars and Blazars with DIPOL-1 at Sierra Nevada Observatory
• Insights from the first flaring activity of a high-synchrotron-peaked blazar with X-ray polarization and VHE gamma rays