J/ApJS/194/19 Optical linear polarization at McDonald Obs. (Wills+, 2011)
McDonald Observatory archive of optical linear polarization measurements.
Wills B.J., Wills D., Breger M.
<Astrophys. J. Suppl. Ser., 194, 19 (2011)>
=2011ApJS..194...19W 2011ApJS..194...19W
ADC_Keywords: Polarization ; QSOs ; Active gal. nuclei
Keywords: catalogs - polarization - quasars: general
Abstract:
We present 976 previously unpublished optical linear polarization
measurements of quasars, active galactic nuclei, and some stars
observed for interstellar polarization. The observations, covering the
period 1981-2000, were made with McDonald Observatory's 2.1m Struve
reflector and the Breger photopolarimeter.
File Summary:
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FileName Lrecl Records Explanations
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ReadMe 80 . This file
table1.dat 176 976 McDonald Observatory broadband linear polarization
archive for 290 quasars, AGN or stars
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See also:
J/ApJS/187/64 : The simultaneous optical-to-X-ray SED of AGNs (Grupe+, 2010)
J/A+A/433/757 : Optical polarization of 203 QSOs (Sluse+, 2005)
J/A+A/415/549 : High-frequency polarization of Kuehr sources (Ricci+, 2004)
J/A+A/427/107 : Polarization in BAL QSOs (Lamy+, 2004)
J/ApJ/569/23 : Optical polarisation of 2MASS QSOs (Smith+, 2002)
J/A+A/363/141 : Radio-loud galaxies in the ROSAT survey. IV. (Reich+, 2000)
J/A+AS/142/451 : Optical Polarization of 47 QSOs (Lamy+, 2000)
J/ApJ/512/125 : Polarization of broad absorption line QSOs (Schmidt+, 1999)
J/A+AS/129/87 : ROSAT RASS II observations of IRAS galaxies (Boller+ 1998)
J/A+A/332/410 : Quasar polarization (Hutsemekers 1998)
J/A+A/340/371 : Quasar polarization (Hutsemekers+ 1998)
Byte-by-byte Description of file: table1.dat
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Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
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1- 9 A9 --- Name IAU source name from B1950 coordinates
11- 18 A8 --- OName Other source name or survey designation
20- 22 A3 --- n_Name [ISP ] Bright star flag (1)
24- 33 A10 "YYYY/MM/DD" Obs.Date ? UT date of the observation
35- 44 F10.4 d MJD ? Modified Julian Date of observation (2)
46- 51 F6.3 % Pol ? Percentage polarization
53- 57 F5.3 % e_Pol ? RMS uncertainty in Pol (3)
59- 64 F6.2 deg polPA ? Polarisation position angle (4)
66- 75 A10 --- Filter Filter used in the observation (5)
77-153 A77 --- Notes Notes on the source observed (6)
155-176 A22 --- Program Program information data obtained under (7)
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Note (1): For a given quasar the flag "ISP" indicates the given
measurements are of a nearby bright star that may be suitable for
constraining the Galactic interstellar polarization towards the
quasar.
Note (2): MJD=JD-2400000.5. Where there is only a single measurement of a
source on one night, we assume UT 7 hours to correct approximately to
the average MJD for that night at McDonald Observatory. Where there
are several observations on a given night, the MJD is given to an
accuracy of a few seconds.
Note (3): The uncertainty, which is always dominated by photon statistics,
is determined from the count rates on 'object plus sky' and sky.
Note (4): from North to East. A good estimate of the statistical
uncertainties in PA is given by 28.65°*e_Pol/Pol. The uncertainty
in defining the zero point of PA is about 1 degree.
Note (5): No entry means no filter. Sometimes, where spectral dependence of
polarization has been measured, we have also combined results from
different filters, as indicated. U, B, and V are similar to Johnson
system filters, with effective wavelengths of approximately 0.35um(U),
0.44um (B), and 0.54um (V). Interference filters were chosen to more
accurately define the wavelengths at R(0.65um) and I(0.75um) bands.
For faint QSOs, we have used a copper sulfate filter (CuSO4) for the
blue, and a Schott RG630 glass filter (usually 3mm thick) for the red.
See section 2 for further details.
Note (6): Gives other source names, especially where there may be ambiguity
in the short name information of columns 1 and 2, or as a way of
identifying the stars chosen for ISP measurements. We also indicate
where non-standard apertures were used, although this information may
not be complete. Reference and note therein are:
Kuhr77 = Kuhr (1977A&AS...29..139K 1977A&AS...29..139K);
Meisenheimer+83 = Meisenheimer & Roser (1983A&AS...51...41M 1983A&AS...51...41M);
Tapia+77 = Tapia et al. (1977ApJ...215L..71T 1977ApJ...215L..71T).
Q = QSO;
BALQ = Broad Absorption Line Quasar;
gal = galaxy;
obj = object;
obv = obvious;
nucl = nucleus;
pol = polarization;
brt = bright;
fnt = faint;
obsd = observed.
Note (7): The sample, project name, or principal investigator as follows:
Bol = Observations of ROSAT-IRAS identifications (Boller et al. 1998,
Cat. J/A+AS/129/87);
DGSX = Observations for D. Grupe's sample of ROSAT soft-X-ray-selected AGN
(Grupe et al. 1998A&A...333..827G 1998A&A...333..827G); for sample selection, see Grupe
et al. (2010, Cat. J/ApJS/187/64);
DW = Derek Wills' program for monitoring OJ 287 and other blazars;
I92 = C. Impey, private communication;
PS = Prajval Shastri's quasars of low radio core-dominance;
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History:
From electronic version of the journal
(End) Greg Schwarz [AAS], Emmanuelle Perret [CDS] 25-Jul-2011