Anisotropy and polarization effects in blazar emission

Abstract

Blazars, characterized by radio-loud active galactic nuclei with relativistic jets directed at us, exhibit features such as polarization in various wavebands and double-peak spectral energy distribution (SED). These features are influenced by various parameters, including the viewing angle and the magnetic field orientation with respect to the jet-axis. This study reports on the development of a full angle- and polarization-dependent synchrotron and synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) blazar emission model with relativistic electrons in a perfectly ordered magnetic field. Using our developed code, we simulate different magnetic field orientations (parallel, perpendicular, and oblique geometries) and viewing angles relative to the jet axis, and study the impacts on the SED and linear polarization degree of a generic blazar. We demonstrate that the synchrotron emission is much more sensitive to the viewing angle and the field orientations compared to the SSC emission. Particularly, the close alignment of the viewing direction with the magnetic field direction suppresses the synchrotron emission, while leaving the SSC emission almost unaffected.