INTEGRATED OPTICAL POLARIZATION OF NEARBY GALAXIES

Journal Article · Tue Mar 20 00:00:00 EDT 2012 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/748/1/17· OSTI ID:22016193

Jones, Amy; Lifan, Wang; Krisciunas, Kevin; Freeland, Emily ^[1]

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1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, George P. and Cynthia W. Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy, Texas A and M University, College Station, TX 77843 (United States)

We performed an integrated optical polarization survey of 70 nearby galaxies to study the relationship between linear polarization and galaxy properties. To date this is the largest survey of its kind. The data were collected at McDonald Observatory using the Imaging Grism Polarimeter on the Otto Struve 2.1 m telescope. Most of the galaxies did not have significant level of linear polarization, where the bulk is <1%. A fraction of the galaxies showed a loose correlation between the polarization and position angle of the galaxy, indicating that dust scattering is the main source of optical polarization. The unbarred spiral galaxies are consistent with the predicted relationship with inclination from scattering models of {approx}sin{sup 2} i.

• OSTI ID: 22016193
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 748, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
DUSTS
GALAXIES
INCLINATION
MAGNETIC FIELDS
POLARIMETERS
POLARIZATION