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A polarization study of three blazars using uGMRT at \(\sim \)600 MHz

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Abstract

We present results from our radio polarimetric study with the upgraded giant metrewave radio telescope (uGMRT) at band 4 (550–850 MHz) of three blazars: radio-loud quasars 3C390.3, 4C71.07 and BL Lac object 1ES 2344\(+\)514. The aim of this study was (i) to carry out a feasibility study for band 4 polarization with the uGMRT and (ii) to compare and contrast the kpc-scale polarization properties between the blazar sub-classes. We have detected linear polarization in all the three sources. The degree of linear polarization in the cores of the two quasars is higher than the BL Lac object, consistent with similar differences observed on parsec-scales in blazars. The highest fractional polarization of \(\approx \)15% is observed in the hotspot region of 3C390.3, which also shows extended polarized lobe structures. 1ES 2344\(+\)514 shows a core–halo structure, whereas 4C71.07 remains unresolved. A rotation of polarization electric vectors along the northern hotspot of 3C390.3 and the core of 1ES 2344\(+\)514, suggest jet bending. Greater depolarization in the southern lobe of 3C390.3 compared to the northern lobe indicates the presence of Laing–Garrington effect. Multi-frequency uGMRT polarimetric data are underway to study the kpc-scale rotation measures across these sources to find differences in the surrounding media.

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Notes

  1. The upper end of the band up to 900 MHz is affected by RFI from mobile phone band. URL: http://gmrt.ncra.tifr.res.in/doc/ugmrt.pdf.

  2. Half power beam width.

  3. Common astronomy software applications; McMullin et al. (2007).

  4. A Python script for the polarization pipeline of uGMRT data is available at https://sites.google.com/view/silpasasikumar/.

  5. https://science.nrao.edu/facilities/vla/docs/manuals/obsguide/modes/pol.

  6. Astronomical imaging processing system; Wells (1985).

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Acknowledgements

We thank the staff of the giant metrewave radio telescope (GMRT) who have made these observations possible. The GMRT is run by the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. We acknowledge the support of the Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India, under the project 12-R &D-TFR-5.02-0700.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Centre for Radio Astrophysics—Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, S. P. Pune University Campus, Ganeshkhind, Pune, 411007, India

    J. Baghel, S. Silpa & P. Kharb

  2. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Purdue University, 525 Northwestern Ave., West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA

    B. Sebastian

  3. Indian Institute of Astrophysics, II Block Koramangala, Bengaluru, 560034, India

    P. Shastri

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  1. J. Baghel
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  2. S. Silpa
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  3. P. Kharb
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Correspondence to J. Baghel.

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Retired: P. SHASTRI.

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Baghel, J., Silpa, S., Kharb, P. et al. A polarization study of three blazars using uGMRT at \(\sim \)600 MHz. J Astrophys Astron 43, 88 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12036-022-09879-8

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