Intra-night optical flux and polarization variability of BL~Lacertae during its 2020 −- 2021 high state

In this work, we report the presence of rapid intra-night optical variations in both -- flux and polarization of the blazar BL Lacertae during its unprecedented 2020--2021 high state of brightness. The object showed significant flux variability and some color changes, but no firmly detectable time delays between the optical bands. The linear polarization was also highly variable in both -- polarization degree and angle (EVPA). The object was observed from several observatories throughout the world, covering in a total of almost 300 hours during 66 nights. Based on our results, we suggest, that the changing Doppler factor of an ensemble of independent emitting regions, travelling along a curved jet that at some point happens to be closely aligned with the line of sight can successfully reproduce our observations during this outburst. This is one of the most extensive variability studies of the optical polarization of a blazar on intra-night timescales.Comment: 23 pages,7 figures, 5 Tables (2 as appendix). Accepted for publication in MNRA

Modelling and Investigation of a Hybrid Thermal Energy Harvester

The presented paper deals with dynamical and experimental investigations of a hybrid energy harvester containing shape memory alloy (SMA) wire and elastic cantilever with piezoelectric layer. The SMA wire periodically changes its temperature under the influence of a heated plate that approaches and moves away from the SMA wire. The change of SMA wire length causes rotation of the hot plate. The plate is heated by a heater with constant temperature. The repeated SMA wire extensions and contractions bend the piezoelectric cantilever which generates electric charges. The shape memory effect is presented as a temperature approximation of the Young’s modulus. A dynamical model of the energy harvester is created and some analytical investigations are presented. With the help of an experimental setup the acceleration, the force, the temperature, and the output voltage have been measured. The theoretical results are validated experimentally. Some conclusions are made about the best performance of the energy harvester

Modelling and Investigation of a Hybrid Thermal Energy Harvester

The presented paper deals with dynamical and experimental investigations of a hybrid energy harvester containing shape memory alloy (SMA) wire and elastic cantilever with piezoelectric layer. The SMA wire periodically changes its temperature under the influence of a heated plate that approaches and moves away from the SMA wire. The change of SMA wire length causes rotation of the hot plate. The plate is heated by a heater with constant temperature. The repeated SMA wire extensions and contractions bend the piezoelectric cantilever which generates electric charges. The shape memory effect is presented as a temperature approximation of the Young’s modulus. A dynamical model of the energy harvester is created and some analytical investigations are presented. With the help of an experimental setup the acceleration, the force, the temperature, and the output voltage have been measured. The theoretical results are validated experimentally. Some conclusions are made about the best performance of the energy harvester

Polarimetric Reverberation Mapping in Medium-Band Filters

Earlier, we suggested the “reload” concept of the polarimetric reverberation mapping of active galactic nuclei (AGN), proposed for the first time more than 10 years ago. We have successfully tested this approach of reverberation mapping of the broad emission line on the galaxy Mrk 6. It was shown that such an idea allows one to look at the AGN central parsec structure literally in a new light. However, the method originally assumed the use of spectropolarimetric observations, expensive in terms of telescope time, and implemented on rare large telescopes. Currently, we propose an adaptation of the polarimetric reverberation mapping of broad lines in medium-band filters following the idea of the photometric reverberation mapping, when filters are selected so that their bandwidth is oriented to the broad line and the surrounding continuum near. In this paper, we present the progress status of such monitoring conducted jointly at the Special astrophysical observatory and Asiago Cima Ekar observatory (OAPd/INAF) with support from Rozhen National Astronomical Observatory (NAO), some first results for the most frequently observed AGNs Mrk 335, Mrk 509, and Mrk 817, and the discussion of the future perspectives of the campaign