A new analysis of quasar polarisation alignments

We propose a new method to analyse the alignment of optical polarisation vectors from quasars. This method leads to a definition of intrinsic preferred axes and to a determination of the probability \(p^{\sigma}\) that the distribution of polarisation directions is random. This probability is found...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inarXiv.org
Main Authors Pelgrims, Vincent, Jean-Rene Cudell
Format Paper Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Ithaca Cornell University Library, arXiv.org 19.05.2014
Subjects
Optical polarization
Physics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Quasars
Red shift
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Summary:We propose a new method to analyse the alignment of optical polarisation vectors from quasars. This method leads to a definition of intrinsic preferred axes and to a determination of the probability \(p^{\sigma}\) that the distribution of polarisation directions is random. This probability is found to be as low as 0.003% for one of the regions of redshift.
ISSN:2331-8422
DOI:10.48550/arxiv.1402.4313