The DOI matches its Crossref record; 6 of the 6 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
A change in the optical polarization associated with a γ-ray flare in the blazar 3C 279
Open accessAbstract
It is widely accepted that strong and variable radiation detected over all accessible energy bands in a number of active galaxies arises from a relativistic, Doppler-boosted jet pointing close to our line of sight. The size of the emitting zone and the location of this region relative to the central supermassive black hole are, however, poorly known, with estimates ranging from light-hours to a light-year or more. Here we report the coincidence of a gamma (γ)-ray flare with a dramatic change of optical polarization angle. This provides evidence for co-spatiality of optical and γ-ray emission regions and indicates a highly ordered jet magnetic field. The results also require a non-axisymmetric structure of the emission zone, implying a curved trajectory for the emitting material within the jet, with the dissipation region located at a considerable distance from the black hole, at about 105 gravitational radii.
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Cites
THE LARGE AREA TELESCOPE ON THE FERMI GAMMA-RAY SPACE TELESCOPE MISSION
Atwood, W. B., Abdo, A. A., Ackermann, M., Althouse, W., Anderson, B., Axelsson, M., Baldini, L., Ballet, J., Band, D. L., Barbiellini, G., et al. (2009) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1088/0004-637x/697/2/1071 · Cited by 4,198
Self-citationVARIABILITY OF ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI
Ulrich, M.-H., Maraschi, L., & Urry, C. M. (1997) · Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics · doi:10.1146/annurev.astro.35.1.445 · Cited by 937
Jorstad, S. G., Marscher, A. P., Lister, M. L., Stirling, A. M., Cawthorne, T. V., Gear, W. K., Gómez, J. L., Stevens, J. A., Smith, P. S., Forster, J. R., et al. (2005) · The Astronomical Journal · doi:10.1086/444593 · Cited by 716
A model for the magnetic-field structure in extended radio sources
Laing, R. A. (1980) · Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society · doi:10.1093/mnras/193.3.439 · Cited by 290
EARLY FERMI GAMMA-RAY SPACE TELESCOPE OBSERVATIONS OF THE QUASAR 3C 454.3
Abdo, A. A., Ackermann, M., Ajello, M., Atwood, W. B., Axelsson, M., Baldini, L., Ballet, J., Barbiellini, G., Bastieri, D., Battelino, M., et al. (2009) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1088/0004-637x/699/1/817 · Cited by 176
Time variability in the gamma-ray emission of 3C 279
Kniffen, D. A., Bertsch, D. L., Fichtel, C. E., Hartman, R. C., Hunter, S. D., Kanbach, G., Kwok, P. W., Lin, Y. C., Mattox, J. R., Mayer‐Hasselwander, H. A., et al. (1993) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1086/172813 · Cited by 98
Metadata
- Authors
- The Fermi-LAT Collaboration and members of the 3C 279 multi-band campaign
- Venue
- Nature
- Published
- 2010-02
- Volume
- 463
- Issue
- 7283
- Pages
- 919-923
- ISSN
- 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-4687
- OpenAlex
- W2119367243
- Cited by
- 331
- References
- 6
- FWCI
- 18.71
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
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