POLAMI: Polarimetric Monitoring of Active Galactic Nuclei at Millimetre Wavelengths. I. The program, calibration, and calibrators data products

Abstract

We describe the POLAMI program for the monitoring of all four Stokes parameters of a sample of bright radio-loud active galactic nuclei with the IRAM 30m telescope at 3.5 and 1.3mm. The program started in October 2006 and accumulated, until August 2014, 2300 observations at 3.5mm, achieving a median time sampling interval of 22 days for the sample of 37 sources. This first paper explains the source selection, mostly blazars, the observing strategy and data calibration, and gives the details of the instrumental polarisation corrections. The sensitivity (1sigma) reached at 3.5mm is 0.5% (linear polarisation degree), 4.7 deg. (polarisation angle), and 0.23% (circular polarisation), while the corresponding values at 1.3mm are 1.7%, 9.9 deg., and 0.72%, respectively. The data quality is demonstrated by the time sequences of our calibrators Mars and Uranus. For the quasar 3C286, widely used as a linear polarisation calibrator, we give improved estimates of its linear polarisation, and show for the first time occasional detections of its weak circular polarisation, which suggests a small level of variability of the source at millimeter wavelengths.

Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 10 pages, 5 figures, and 5 tables

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Cited by in corpus (35)

• Observational evidence for the origin of high-energy neutrinos in parsec-scale nuclei of radio-bright active galaxies
• Polarized Blazar X-rays imply particle acceleration in shocks
• The X-ray Polarization View of Mrk~421 in an Average Flux State as Observed by the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer
• POLAMI: Polarimetric Monitoring of Active Galactic Nuclei at Millimetre Wavelengths. III. Characterisation of total flux density and polarisation variability of relativistic jets
• POLAMI: Polarimetric Monitoring of Active Galactic Nuclei at Millimetre Wavelengths. II. Widespread circular polarisation
• Multiwavelength behaviour of the blazar 3C279: decade-long study from $\gamma$-ray to radio
• Unravelling the complex behavior of Mrk 421 with simultaneous X-ray and VHE observations during an extreme flaring activity in April 2013
• X-ray Polarization of BL Lacertae in Outburst
• X-ray Polarization Observations of BL Lacertae
• The complex variability of blazars: Time-scales and periodicity analysis in S4 0954+65
• Collimation of the relativistic jet in the quasar 3C 273
• Detection of X-ray Polarization from the Blazar 1ES 1959+650 with the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer
• Ordered magnetic fields around the 3C 84 central black hole
• Insights into the broad-band emission of the TeV blazar Mrk 501 during the first X-ray polarization measurements
• New jet feature in the parsec-scale jet of the blazar OJ287 connected to the 2017 teraelectronvolt flaring activity
• Blazar jet evolution revealed by multi-epoch broadband radio polarimetry
• High optical to X-ray polarization ratio reveals Compton scattering in BL Lacertae's jet
• Magnetic Field Strengths of the Synchrotron Self-Absorption Region in the Jet of CTA 102 During Radio Flares
• Mapping circumstellar magnetic fields of late-type evolved stars with the Goldreich-Kylafis effect: CARMA observations at $\lambda 1.3$ mm of R Crt and R Leo
• Determining the origin of the X-ray emission in blazars through multiwavelength polarization
• The Repeating Flaring Activity of Blazar AO 0235+164
• Sub-milliarcsecond imaging of a bright flare and ejection event in the extragalactic jet 3C 111
• Radio linear polarization of GRB afterglows: Instrumental Systematics in ALMA observations of GRB 171205A
• Circular polarisation in compact radio sources: Constraints on particle acceleration and electron-positron pairs
• The flaring activity of blazar AO 0235+164 during year 2021
• Circular polarisation from inhomogeneous synchrotron sources
• Insights into the Long-term behavior of the optical polarization from the blazar 1ES 1959+650
• First detection of VHE gamma-ray signal from the FSRQ TON 0599
• Probing circular polarization and magnetic field structure in AGN
• Millimeter-wave Monitoring of Active Galactic Nuclei with the Africa Millimetre Telescope
• Gamma-ray flares from the jet of the blazar CTA 102 in 2016-2018
• Where within the 3C 84 jet are $\gamma$-rays produced?
• Detection of Compton scattering in the jet of 3C 84
• 3 mm GMVA Observations of Total and Polarized Emission from Blazar and Radio Galaxy Core Regions
• Probing the innermost regions of AGN jets and their magnetic fields with RadioAstron. V. Space and ground millimeter-VLBI imaging of OJ 287