Polarization swings from curved trajectories of the emitting regions

Abstract

We present a model of polarization swings in blazars from axially symmetric blobs propagating on curved trajectories. If the minimum inclination of the velocity vector to the line of sight is smaller than Gamma^{-1}, the polarization angle maximum rotation rate is simultaneous with the polarization degree minimum and a spike in the total flux. By measuring the maximum rotation rate and the moment of the polarization maximum, it is possible to estimate the distance covered by the blob and thus its approximate position. We apply this model to the recent polarization event in blazar 3C 279.

6 pages, 2 figures, proceedings of the HEPRO II conference, Buenos Aires, October 2009

References in corpus (3)

• Correlated Multi-Waveband Variability in the Blazar 3C~279 from 1996 to 2007
• Results of WEBT, VLBA and RXTE monitoring of 3C 279 during 2006-2007
• An Extremely Curved Relativistic Jet in PKS 2136+141

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• A Model of Polarisation Rotations in Blazars from Kink Instabilities in Relativistic Jets
• The Time-Dependent Distribution of Optical Polarization Angle Changes in Blazars
• Optical polarization variations in the blazar PKS 1749+096
• The Method of Searching for Rotations of the Polarization Position Angle of Quasars