Polarization of Radio Galaxies

•Radio galaxies are a subset of all galaxies that emit high amounts of radio waves into space. •The radio emission originates in their supermassive black holes at the galaxy core, fueled by a continuous infall of mass. •Particles are accelerated to relativistic speeds creating synchrotron radiation, which is detected by radio telescopes. •Jets of fast moving plasma emerge, creating structures that can be detected through their radio emission. •The primary purpose of this project is to determine why radio galaxies are polarized differently from each other. •Studying these sources through their polarization provides insight to the magnetic field structures in the plasma, and thus can help evaluate different physical models for the origin and evolution of radio galaxies. •The project involves measuring the changes in size and structure of radio galaxies, and their relation to change in polarization. • Further work will involve the comparison of polarization properties with other radio galaxy properties, such as luminosity, size, structure and spectrum. What are Radio Galaxies