Astron. Astrophys. 327, 947-951 (1997)

Polarization and beaming effect for BL Lacertae objects

J.H. Fan ^{1, 2}, K.S. Cheng ³, L. Zhang ³ and C.H. Liu <sup>2

1</sup> CCAST(World Laboratory), PO Box 8730, Beijing 100080, P.R. China
² Center for Astrophysics, Department of Physics, Guangzhou Normal University, Guangzhou 510400, P.R. China
³ Department of Physics, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong

Received 30 January 1997 / Accepted 11 June 1997

Abstract

We derive a relation between the observed polarization and beaming factor (Doppler factor) and compare this relation with the observed data for BL Lac objects. Our results indicate that the high optical polarization is correlated to the beaming effect and the difference in polarizations between X-ray selected (XBLs) and radio selected (RBLs) BL Lac objects is due to the difference in their beaming effects.

Key words: BL Lac objects galaxies: jets-radio continuum: galaxies polarization

Send offprint requests to: K.S. Cheng

SIMBAD Objects

Contents

• 1. Introduction
• 2. Polarization of BL Lac objects
  • 2.1. Relation
  • 2.2. Observed polarization and Doppler factor
  • 2.3. Comparison with observations
• 3. Conclusion
• Acknowledgements
• References

© European Southern Observatory (ESO) 1997

Online publication: April 6, 1998
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