Polarization and photometry for blazar W Comae

DOI

An R-band photopolarimetric variability analysis of the TeV bright blazar W Comae between 2008 February 28 and 2013 May 17 is presented. The source showed a gradual tendency to decrease its mean flux level with a total change of 3 mJy. A maximum and minimum brightness states in the R band of 14.25+/-0.04 and 16.52+/-0.1 mag, respectively, were observed, corresponding to a maximum variation of {Delta}F=5.40 mJy. We estimated a minimum variability timescale of {Delta}t=3.3 days. A maximum polarization degree P=33.8%+/-1.6%, with a maximum variation of {Delta}P=33.2%, was found. One of our main results is the detection of a large rotation of the polarization angle from 78{deg} to 315{deg} ({Delta}{theta}~237{deg}) that coincides in time with the {gamma}-ray flare observed in 2008 June. This result indicates that both optical and {gamma}-ray emission regions could be co-spatial. During this flare, a correlation between the R-band flux and polarization degree was found with a correlation coefficient of r_F-p =0.93+/-0.11. From the Stokes parameters, we infer the existence of two optically thin synchrotron components that contribute to the polarized flux. One of them is stable with a constant polarization degree of 11%. Assuming a shock-in jet model during the 2008 flare, we estimated a maximum Doppler factor {delta}_D~27 and a minimum of {delta}D~16; a minimum viewing angle of the jet ~2.0{deg}; and a magnetic field B~0.12 G.

Identifier
DOI http://doi.org/10.26093/cds/vizier.17940054
Source https://dc.g-vo.org/rr/q/lp/custom/CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/794/54
Related Identifier https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/ApJ/794/54
Related Identifier http://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/ApJ/794/54
Metadata Access http://dc.g-vo.org/rr/q/pmh/pubreg.xml?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=oai_b2find&identifier=ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/794/54
Provenance
Creator Sorcia M.; Benitez E.; Hiriart D.; Lopez J.M.; Cabrera J.I.; Mujica R.
Publisher CDS
Publication Year 2017
Rights https://cds.unistra.fr/vizier-org/licences_vizier.html
OpenAccess true
Contact CDS support team <cds-question(at)unistra.fr>
Representation
Resource Type Dataset; AstroObjects
Discipline Astrophysical Processes; Astrophysics and Astronomy; Exoplanet Astronomy; Galactic and extragalactic Astronomy; Natural Sciences; Observational Astronomy; Physics