The RoboPol instrument and the relevant program was developed in order to conduct a systematic study of the optical polarisation variability of blazars. Driven by the discovery that long smooth rotations of the optical polarisation plane can be associated with the activity in other bands and especially in gamma rays, the program was meant to investigate the physical mechanisms causing them and quantify the optical polarisation behaviour in blazars. Over the first three nominal observing seasons (2013, 2014 and 2015) RoboPol detected 40 rotations in 24 blazars by observing a gamma–ray-loud and gamma–ray-quite unbiassed sample of blazars, providing a reliable set of events for exploring the phenomenon. The obtain datasets provided the ground for a systematic quantification of the variability of the optical polarisation in such systems. In the following after a brief review of the discoveries that relate to the gamma-ray loudness of the sources we move on to discuss a simple jet model that explains the observed dichotomy in terms of polarisation between gamma–ray-loud and quite sources and the dependence of polarisation and the stability of the polarisation angle on the synchrotron peak frequency

Angelakis, Emmanouil

Blinov, Dmitry

Böttcher, Markus

Hovatta, Talvikki

Kiehlmann, Sebastian

Myserlis, Ioannis

Pavlidou, Vassiliki

Zensus, J. Anton

Caltech Authors - Main

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S(IFS2017)019
The dependence of optical polarisation of blazars
on the synchrotron peak frequency
Emmanouil Angelakis∗†
Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Auf dem Hügel 69, Bonn 53121, Germany
E-mail: eangelakis@mpifr.de
Dmitry Blinov
Department of Physics and Institute for Plasma Physics, University of Crete, 71003, Heraklion,
Greece
Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas, IESL, Voutes, 71110 Heraklion, Greece
Astronomical Institute, St. Petersburg State University,Universitetsky pr. 28, Petrodvoretz,
198504 St. Petersburg, Russia
E-mail: blinov@physics.uoc.gr
Markus Böttcher
North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, Private Bag X6001, Potchefstroom 2520, South
Africa
E-mail: Markus.Bottcher@nwu.ac.za
Talvikki Hovatta
Tuorla Observatory, University of Turku, Väisäläntie 20, 21500, Piikkiö, Finland
E-mail: talvikki.hovatta@utu.fi
Sebastian Kiehlmann
Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, California Institute of Technology, 1200 E
California Blvd, MC 249-17, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
E-mail: skiehl@caltech.edu
Ioannis Myserlis
Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Auf dem Hügel 69, Bonn 53121, Germany
E-mail: imyserlis@mpifr-bonn.mpg.de
Vassiliki Pavlidou
Department of Physics and Institute for Plasma Physics, University of Crete, 71003, Heraklion,
Greece
Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas, IESL, Voutes, 71110 Heraklion, Greece
E-mail: pavlidou@physics.uoc.gr
J. Anton Zensus
Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Auf dem Hügel 69, Bonn 53121, Germany
E-mail: azensus@mpifr-bonn.mpg.de
c© Copyright owned by the author(s) under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). https://pos.sissa.it/
P
o
S(IFS2017)019
The RoboPol instrument and the relevant program was developed in order to conduct a systematic
study of the optical polarisation variability of blazars. Driven by the discovery that long smooth
rotations of the optical polarisation plane can be associated with the activity in other bands and
especially in gamma rays, the program was meant to investigate the physical mechanisms causing
them and quantify the optical polarisation behaviour in blazars. Over the first three nominal ob-
serving seasons (2013, 2014 and 2015) RoboPol detected 40 rotations in 24 blazars by observing
a gamma–ray-loud and gamma–ray-quite unbiassed sample of blazars, providing a reliable set of
events for exploring the phenomenon. The obtain datasets provided the ground for a systematic
quantification of the variability of the optical polarisation in such systems. In the following after
a brief review of the discoveries that relate to the gamma-ray loudness of the sources we move
on to discuss a simple jet model that explains the observed dichotomy in terms of polarisation
between gamma–ray-loud and quite sources and the dependence of polarisation and the stability
of the polarisation angle on the synchrotron peak frequency.
7th Fermi Symposium 2017
15-20 October 2017
Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany
∗Speaker.
†Presented on behalf of the entire RoboPol collaboration (see note at the end of the manuscript)
P
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S(IFS2017)019
The dependence of optical polarisation of blazars on the synchrotron peak frequency Emmanouil Angelakis
1. Introduction
The first detection of a smooth and long rotation of the optical polarisation plane i.e. the
electric vector position angle (EVPA), was reportedly found in OJ287 [1]. The attention of the
community was however intrigued when [2] reported a similar event in BL Lacertae that was asso-
ciated with a radio-to-gamma-ray outburst. On the basis of their observation that "a bright feature in
the jet" induced "a double flare" observed from optical bands to TeV energies, as well as "a delayed
outburst at radio wavelengths", they concluded that the event started in a region with a helical mag-
netic field configuration. They identified that region "with the acceleration and collimation zone
predicted by the theories". The latest brightening of the feature was attributed to its crossing "a
standing shock wave" which appeared as the bright radio "core". The importance of the discovery
lies mostly on the fact that it offers a way to probe the inner jet of Active Galactic Nuclei in the
region where the the jet gets accelerated and collimated in an an environment of coiled magnetic
field. Thus, address the very question of the jet formation. Later studies (e.g. [3], [4] etc.) pro-
posed several alternative explanations; all however inevitably based on hand-picked events given
the transit character of the phenomenon. The RoboPol program [5], [6] was developed to conduct a
systematic study of the phenomenon alongside with quantifying the optical polarisation of blazars
and its variability.
Starting from the Second Fermi Source Catalog (2FGL) [7] and after excluding 10◦ on either
side of the galactic plane, setting a minimum integrated photon flux at around 10−8 cm−2 s−1
and complying with observational constrains, we composed a sample of 62 gamma–ray-loud (GL)
blazars to be monitored (for details c.f. [6]). A comparison gamma–ray-quite (GQ) sample was
drawn from the the 15 GHz OVRO monitoring sample [8]. The selection was based on a the
amplitude of radio variability (> 5 %), the radio mean flux density (at least 60 mJy), the absence
from the 2FGL, and again the observability from Skinakas telescope.
In the following we start with a review of angle domain findings that relate with the gamma-
ray activity of the sources. Later we focus our attention on the amplitude domain and examine
the dichotomy between GL and GQ sources. Finally we propose a jet model that can explain the
observations and especially the dependence of both the degree of polarisation and the uniformity
of the angle on the synchrotron peak frequency.
The convention we adopt for the definition of a rotations includes: a continuous EVPA change
larger than 90◦, comprised by at least four consecutive measurements with significant swings be-
tween them.
2. EVPA rotations and gamma-ray activity
The first three seasons of nominal RoboPol operation (2013, 2014 and 2015) revealed a total of
40 EVPA rotations that happened in 24 blazars summarised in [9] and [10]. Before robopol a mere
total of 16 events had been found in 10 sources. As it is discussed there the EVPA rotations do not
seem to be favouring any of the source classes that were examined. High and Low-Synchrotron
Peaked (LSP, HSP) sources can show rotations alike as much as BL Lacs and quasars or TeV and
non-TeV emitting ones. Interestingly, the rotation rate (deg day−1) can vary noticeably for the same
source from one event to the other and so is the sense of rotation. Given the adopted conditions
1
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The dependence of optical polarisation of blazars on the synchrotron peak frequency Emmanouil Angelakis
needed for a sequence of measurements to constitute a rotation, all detected events are in GL
sources. This already indicates a relevance with the gamma-ray loudness. Within the uncertainties,
there is no indication that for an "orphan" rotation which is unassociated with some activity in
gamma rays. There has not been any rotation that occurred with a non-zero lag from the associated
gamma-ray event (Blinov et al. submitted). Finally, Figure 8 of [11] shows that the "rotators" are
both more luminous and more variable in gamma-rays.
3. The polarisation of GL and GQ sources
Already on the basis of single-shot measurement obtained during the RoboPol instrument com-
missioning, [6] noted that GL sources as a population are significantly more polarised that GQ ones.
Using the datasets collected during the 2013 and 2014 observing seasons and after implementing
a maximum likelihood analysis that accounts for uneven sampling and measurement uncertainties,
[12] confirmed beyond a 4σ level that GL sources are on average more polarised (∼ 9 %) than GQ
ones (∼ 3 %).
4. The jet model
A jet populated by a helical magnetic field and possibly an underlying turbulent one, was
thought to be adequate for explaining the observed dichotomy. Occasional mild shocks would lo-
cally energise the particles and increase the local field uniformity. The particles in the small volume
immediately downstream the shock will emit the high energy photons. Since this emission origi-
nates at an environment of increased field uniformity it will be associated with higher polarisation.
As the particles propagate downstream losing energy, the associated low energy photons are inte-
grated over larger volumes with different orientations of the field.This naturally being associated
with lower polarisation. Hence, high energy emission should be more polarised that low energy
one.
In this context, GL which are know to be jet dominated and intensely variable, show often
impulsive events of particle acceleration. They hence often reach the necessary high energy limit
to produce high energy and high polarisation emission as well as reach gamma-ray detection limits
and be classified as GL ones. On the contrary, GQ sources are deprived of such activity. The rarely
managed to produce high energy photons and hence are characterised by lower polarisation. In
parallel they barely ever pass the detection threshold that would classify them as GL sources.
Though simple, this model includes all the basic components of relativistic jets as they are
thought today. Beyond the explanation it offers for the dichotomy of the GL and GQ sources, it also
provides a natural explanation of the observed dependence of the polarisation on the synchrotron
component peak frequency as we discuss in the next.
5. The polarisation dependence on the synchrotron peak frequency
As we show in Figure 5 of [12], the degree of optical polarisation drops with the frequency
of the peak in the synchrotron SED component. So that HSP sources deliver less polarised optical
emission compared to sources with their peak of the synchrotron component at much lower energies
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The dependence of optical polarisation of blazars on the synchrotron peak frequency Emmanouil Angelakis
(LSP). For the LSP sources the synchrotron peak appears in the vicinity of IR so that the optical
emission observed by RoboPol constitutes the high energy part of their spectrum. So as we said
earlier high energy photons must be associated with higher polarisation. For the HSP sources on the
other hand the optical emission corresponds to low energy part of their SED as their synchrotron
peak lives in UV or even higher bands. Hence the low energy emission will be characterised by
lower polarisation.
This picture further implies a predictable behaviour for the EVPA whose "randomness" should
depend also on the synchrotron peak frequency. The topic is discussed immediately.
6. The dependence of the EVPA randomness on the synchrotron peak frequency
As we discussed earlier, the optical emission from HSP sources should be coming from a larger
region downstream the shock than in the LSP sources. In a larger region, the helical component of
the field would dominate over the turbulent one. Further more, any variability would be happening
slower that for a smaller region which would include a smaller number of random field cells.
Statistically then, the EVPA of HSPs would tend to align with a preferred direction. That is, a plot
of EVPA "stability" would increase with increasing synchrotron peak frequency. Figure 6 in [12]
shows that this prediction is indeed seen. Although the data points there do not show a correlation
of high significance, the fitted slope is so. For some example cases we show the gradual increase
if the EVPA stability with the synchrotron peak position in Figure 1. In the plot only cases with
a minimum of 20 measurements are shown. As it becomes apparent, towards higher frequencies
the EVPA tends to concentrate around a preferred direction thus its PDF appears less uniform (or
equivalently the reduced χ2 increases).
7. The orientation of the non-uniform EVPAs
According to our model which predicts the dominance of the helical over the turbulent field
component in HSP sources and given the small angles to the line of site for blazars, one would
expect that the projected magnetic field would orient itself perpendicularly to the jet axis. As a
consequence, the EVPA – a proxy of the projected magnetic field – would appear in close align-
ment to the jet axis in HSPs as the optical emission is in the optically thin part of the synchrotron
component.
The best study of this prediction came from [13] (Figures 7 and 8) who conducted careful
study of the optical polarisation of high energy BL Lacertae objects in order to identify possible
systematic differences with sources that appear in the TeV sky. For a limited sample of sources for
which the EVPA as well as the jet orientation was known, they found that indeed six out of nine
sources orient their EVPA within 20 degrees from the jet axis implying that the projected magnetic
field is indeed perpendicular to the jet. This is the best test of our hypothesis so far as these sources
would populate the right-hand part of Figure 1. Unfortunately, the lack of high angular resolution
radio observations will make the expansion of this sample challenging. In Figure 2, we show
the stacked radio VLBA images from the MOJAVE 15-GHz program [14], for all the sources in
Figure 1 with synchrotron peak frequency above 1015 Hz. The red double-headed arrows there
mark the direction of the optical EVPA. For the cases with a clear jet presence a preferentially
3
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The dependence of optical polarisation of blazars on the synchrotron peak frequency Emmanouil Angelakis
Figure 1: The increase of the EVPA stability as a function of the synchrotron peak frequency. The EVPA
stability is measured with the reduced χ2 of the comparison with a uniform distribution. The satellite panels
show the PDFs for some example cases of progressively (from left to right) increasing EVPA stability.
close alignement of the EVPA and the jet axis is observed. Hence, the magnetic field is oriented
perpendicular to the jet, in support of our model.
Acknowledgments
The RoboPol program is a collaboration between: University of Crete (Heraklion, Greece),
Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie (Germany), California Institute of Technology (USA),
Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (India) and the Torun Centre for Astron-
omy, Nicolaus Copernicus University (Poland) . This research has made use of data from the
MOJAVE database that is maintained by the MOJAVE team [14]. We wish to thank the internal
MPIfR referee Dr C. Casadio for the careful reading and the thorough comments.
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The dependence of optical polarisation of blazars on the synchrotron peak frequency Emmanouil Angelakis
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The dependence of optical polarisation of blazars on the synchrotron peak frequency

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The dependence of optical polarisation of blazars on the synchrotron peak frequency

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