Polarization Parameters of 183 Extragalactic Radio Sources

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Abstract
Estimates are presented of the rotation measures, intrinsic position angles, maximum degrees of polarization and depolarization wavelengths of 183 extragalactic radio sources. These have been derived from all the integrated polarization data, published and unpublished, available to the author. It is shown that the effects of the 180° ambiguities in the position angle measurements may be more severe than has been thought previously, and some published values of rotation measure appear not to be the best fit to the data. A procedure is developed for classifying rotation measures so as to eliminate as far as possible incorrect or ambiguous values, and to estimate the realiability of the values retained. For each source in the list presented the quoted rotation measure is the only good fit in the range – 300 to + 300 rad m–2. It is estimated that the correct choice of position angle has been made for all but ~ 1 per cent of the list, and that for most sources excluded there are insufficient data to define their rotation measures unambiguously.

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