J/ApJS/245/18 9yr R-band photopolarimetric data of 3C 279 (Fraija+, 2019)
Optical polarimetric and multiwavelength flaring activity of blazar 3C 279.
Fraija N., Benitez E., Hiriart D., Sorcia M., Lopez J.M., Mujica R.,
Cabrera J.I., Galvan-Gamez A.
<Astrophys. J. Suppl. Ser., 245, 18 (2019)>
=2019ApJS..245...18F 2019ApJS..245...18F
ADC_Keywords: QSOs; Polarization; Photometry, RI
Keywords: Polarimetry ; Quasars ; Radiative processes ; Gamma-ray astronomy ;
Optical telescopes
Abstract:
An exhaustive analysis of 9yr optical R-band photopolarimetric data of
the flat-spectrum radio quasar 3C 279 from 2008 February 27 to 2017
May 25 is presented, along with multiwavelength observing campaigns
performed during the flaring activity exhibited in 2009
February/March, 2011 June, 2014 March/April, 2015 June, and 2017
February. In the R band, this source showed the maximum brightness
state of 13.68±0.11mag (1.36±0.20mJy) on 2017 March 2 and the
lowest brightness state ever recorded of 18.20±0.87 mag
(0.16±0.03mJy) on 2010 June 17. During the entire period of
observations, the polarization degree varied between 0.48%±0.17% and
31.65%±0.77%, and the electric vector position angle (EVPA)
exhibited large rotations between 82.98±0.92° and
446.32±1.95°. Optical polarization data show that this source
has a stable polarized component that varied from∼6% (before the 2009
flare) to∼13% after the flare. The overall behavior of our polarized
variability data supports the scenario of jet precessions as
responsible for the observed large rotations of the EVPA. Discrete
correlation function analysis shows that the lags between gamma-rays
and X-rays compared to the optical R-band fluxes are Δt∼31 days
and 1 day in 2009. Lags were also found among gamma-rays compared with
X-rays and radio of Δt∼30 and 43 days in 2011, and among radio
and optical R band of Δt∼10 days in 2014. A very intense flare
in 2017 was observed in optical bands, with a dramatic variation in
the polarization degree (from∼6% to 20%) in 90 days without exhibiting
flaring activity in other wavelengths.
Description:
The optical R-band photopolarimetric data reported in this paper were
carried out with the 0.84m f/15 Ritchey-Chretien telescope at the
Observatorio Astronomico Nacional of San Pedro Martir (OAN-SPM) in
Baja California, Mexico. A single-beam polarimeter, POLIMA, was used.
The long-term R-band photopolarimetric light curves were built with
188 data points collected during the period 2008 February 27 (MJD 54523)
to 2017 May 25 (MJD 57898).
Objects:
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RA (ICRS) DE Designation(s)
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12 56 11.17 -05 47 21.5 3C 279 = LEDA 2817645
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File Summary:
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FileName Lrecl Records Explanations
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ReadMe 80 . This file
table1.dat 57 188 R-band photopolarimetric data of quasar 3C 279
from 2008 February 27 to 2017 May 25
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See also:
VII/283 : The Million Quasars (Milliquas) catalog (6.3) (Flesch, 2019)
J/A+A/332/410 : Quasar polarization (Hutsemekers 1998)
J/ApJS/123/79 : Third EGRET catalog (3EG) (Hartman+, 1999)
J/ApJ/522/846 : Optical monitoring of GeV loud blazars (Xie+, 1999)
J/A+A/353/77 : Variability + polarization of luminous QSOs (Teerikorpi+, 2000)
J/A+A/409/857 : Optical polarization of 3C 279 (Andruchow+, 2003)
J/A+A/433/757 : Optical polarization of 203 QSOs (Sluse+, 2005)
J/A+A/441/915 : Alignments of quasar polarization vectors (Hutsemekers+, 2005)
J/AJ/130/1389 : Linear polarization of AGN jets at 15GHz (Lister+, 2005)
J/AJ/133/2866 : 2001-02 opt. variability of blazar 3C 279 (Kartaltepe+, 2007)
J/AJ/134/799 : Multiwaveband polarimetry of 15 AGN (Jorstad+, 2007)
J/AJ/135/1384 : R-band variability in 5 blazars (Gupta+, 2008)
J/ApJS/194/29 : Observations of blazars at 15GHz (Richards+, 2011)
J/A+A/548/A79 : INTEGRAL-OMC optically variable sources (Alfonso-Garzon+, 2012)
J/ApJ/772/13 : VLBI observations of 3C 279 at 230GHz (Lu+, 2013)
J/ApJ/794/54 : Polarization and photometry for blazar W Comae (Sorcia+, 2014)
J/ApJ/829/5 : S-PASS & NVSS bright extragalactic radio sources (Lamee+, 2016)
J/A+A/590/A10 : 3C 279 optical photometry and polarimetry (Kiehlmann+, 2016)
J/A+A/591/A21 : Optical flux behaviour of Fermi blazars (Marchesini+, 2016)
J/ApJS/232/7 : 8yr R-band photopolarimetric data of Mrk 421 (Fraija+, 2017)
J/A+A/609/A68 : Full-Stokes polarimetry of 5 radio sources (Myserlis+, 2018)
J/A+A/620/A68 : Polarization of quasars (Hutsemekers+, 2018)
J/A+A/630/A56 : A gamma-ray emission zone in 3C 279 (Patino-Alvarez+, 2019)
J/MNRAS/493/L54 : Optical polarization properties of AGNs (Kovalev+, 2020)
Byte-by-byte Description of file: table1.dat
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Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
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1- 9 F9.4 d JD [4524/7898.9] Julian Date; JD-2450000
11- 15 F5.2 % Pol [0.48/31.7] Polarization degree
17- 20 F4.2 % e_Pol [0.3/6.5] Uncertainty in Pol
22- 27 F6.2 deg EVPA [82.9/446.4] Electric vector position angle
29- 33 F5.2 deg e_EVPA [0.7/24] Uncertainty in EVPA
35- 39 F5.2 mag Rmag [13.6/18.2] Apparent R band magnitude
41- 44 F4.2 mag e_Rmag [0.1/0.9] Uncertainty in Rmag
46- 51 F6.3 mJy FR [0.16/10.4] R band flux density
53- 57 F5.3 mJy e_FR [0.02/0.2] Uncertainty in FR
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History:
From electronic version of the journal
(End) Prepared by [AAS], Emmanuelle Perret [CDS] 25-Mar-2020