A View through Faraday's fog: Parsec scale rotation measures in AGN
arXiv:astro-ph/0302367 · doi:10.1086/374619
Abstract
Rotation measure observations of 9 quasars, 4 BL Lacertae objects, and 3 radio galaxies are presented. The rest frame rotation measures in the cores of the quasars and the jets of the radio galaxy M87 are several thousand radians per meter squared. The BL Lacertae objects and the jets of the quasars have rest frame rotation measures of a few hundred radians per meter squared. A nuclear rotation measure of 500 radians per meter squared in the rest frame is suggested as the dividing line between quasar and BL Lacertae objects. The substantial rotation measures of the BL Lacertae objects and quasars cast doubt on the previous polarization position angle investigations of these objects at frequencies of 15 GHz or less. BL Lacertae itself has a rotation measure that varies in time, similar to the behavior observed for the quasars 3C273 and 3C279. A simple model with magnetic fields of 40 microgauss or less can account for the observed rotation measures.
Accepted to the Astrophysical Journal: 58 pages, 33 figures
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- Probing the Heart of Active Narrow-line Seyfert 1 Galaxies with VERA Wideband Polarimetry
- High frequency VLBI observations of the scatter broadened quasar B2005+403
- Investigating the Disk-Jet Structure in M87 through Flux Separation in the Linear and Circular Polarization Images