Full-Stokes, Multi-Frequency Radio Polarimetry of Fermi Blazars; Monitoring and Modelling

The polarised emission from active galactic nuclei (AGN) jets carries information about the physical conditions at the emitting plasma elements, while its temporal evolution probes the physical processes that introduce variability and dynamically modify the local conditions. Here we present the analysis of multi-frequency radio linear and circular polarisation datasets with the aim of exactly quantifying the conditions in blazar jets. Our analysis includes both the careful treatment of observational datasets and numerical modelling for the reproduction of synthetic polarisation curves that can be compared to the observed ones. In our approach, the variability is attributed to traveling shocks. The emission from the cells of our jet model is computed with radiative transfer of all Stokes parameters. The model also accounts for Faraday effects which map the low-energy particle populations. We present two extreme cases in terms of the significance of Faraday conversion in the production of circular polarisation. As we show, in both regimes the model gives a realistic reproduction of the observed emission