Study of photo polarimetric microvariability in the blazars 1ES 1959+659 and HB89 2201+044

M. S. SOSA; S. A. CELLONE; I. ANDRUCHOW; C. VON ESSEN

Tandil, Buenos Aires

Congreso; Reunion anual de la Asociacion Argentina de Astronomia; 2013

Asociación Argentina de Astronomía

We present a study carried out to determine variations in scalesranging from hours to days, both in the total flux and optical linearpolarization in two blazars: 1ES,1959+650 and HB89,2201+044. Bothblazars are relatively nearby active galactic nuclei (AGN), so theirhost galaxies are well resolved, having accurately measuredphotometric parameters. This allowed us to apply models that take into account the depolarizing effect introduced by the (un-polarized) light of the galaxy, and, at the same time, to evaluate any spuriousvariation in polarization time-curves due to variable seeingconditions, that affect differently the (point-like) core and the(extended) host galaxy. Our results provide information on the opticalbehavior of high energy blazars, taking advantage of a scarcelyexplored technique as optical polarimetry with high-temporalresolution.